College Players Granted Rights to Image

December 16, 2021 by Staff

A major change had been announced earlier in the year that would lead to a significant change for college players, something that had been long suggested but not put in place. Representation for name, image, and likeness had been a muddy area in the past but some clarity has been made in recent months, and there are some caveats and other considerations that will need to be made. There’s certainly the possibility for future change too – fans just need to look at the emergence of the college sports betting growth as players take advantage of the best promo code for online gambling in Canada for those looking to wager further, but there are some important considerations currently standing for college athletes looking to substantially increase earnings as a college athlete.

The first to note will be in the contracts that can be signed – schools can’t directly pay the players to play for a certain team, and whilst they can help set-up potential earning possibilities the schools themselves will need to be sure not to profit directly from any arrangement made. This may certainly be something closely monitored to ensure that the schools don’t step out of line, but still may encourages students that feel some better deals or arrangements can be found at different schools or in different states in particular and will be a fine line to manage.

Secondly come the agents. While many players will look to arrange for agents and accountants to represent them and potential earnings, these agents may only represent them during their college sports career and a new contract will have to be signed if the athlete then turns professional. No binding contract can remain throughout a players college and pro career and, likely in an attempt to prevent situations which had been seen from other professional sports where representation may extend beyond a reasonable time.

There are those who have spoken positively about these changes, too. Donald De La Haye, also known on popular video streaming platform YouTube as “Deestroying”, gained attention back in 2017 after refusing to delete or demonetize his channel and ultimately gave up his scholarship and student-athlete standing in favour of chasing a career on social media which has been incredibly favourable – but had this suspension of NCAA rules come earlier then it would be a very different, and perhaps even preferable situation. De La Haye has certainly shown a lot of support for this change though and has encouraged other student athletes to take full advantage of the situation particularly as it can provide an opportunity for student athletes to learn the necessary lessons if they are inevitably to go pro and use their NIL as professional athletes.