INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA athletes will be able to make money from their name, image and likeness starting Thursday. The NCAA announced on Wednesday in a press release that governing bodies from Division I, Division II and Division III had agreed to suspend the previous NIL rules for current and future NCAA athletes in all sports.
The NCAA gave the following outlines for college athletes, recruits, their families and member schools:
- Individuals can engage in NIL activities that are consistent with the law of the state where the school is located. Colleges and universities are responsible for determining whether those activities are consistent with state law.
- College athletes who attend a school in a state without an NIL law can engage in this type of activity without violating NCAA rules related to name, image and likeness.
- Individuals can use a professional services provider for NIL activities.
- Student-athletes should report NIL activities consistent with state law or school and conference requirements to their school.
The new temporary policy is in place until either federal legislation or new NCAA rules are adopted, and does not allow "pay-for-play" or improper recruiting scenarios.
In the release, NCAA President Mark Emmert said:
“This is an important day for college athletes since they all are now able to take advantage of name, image and likeness opportunities. With the variety of state laws adopted across the country, we will continue to work with Congress to develop a solution that will provide clarity on a national level. The current environment — both legal and legislative — prevents us from providing a more permanent solution and the level of detail student-athletes deserve.”
Montana is one of more than 20 states that have signed NIL legislation into law. Montana's will go into effect in June 1, 2023.
Montana State director of athletics Leon Costello had previously come out in support of the move.
“I’m all for it," Costello told MTN Sports last week. "I think student-athletes should be able, when they come on campus, they should be able to work, they should be able to act like normal students. (Montana State has) some partnerships with some departments here on campus to try and help them throughout the business school and the marketing departments to really help them, educate them and show them how they can do these things.”
In addition to Costello, Missoula Loyola and Carroll College alum Patrick Kosena, who is set to start as the assistant to the athletic director at the University of Nebraska on Thursday, told MTN Sports he supported the move.
“It’s going to give these young men and women a voice and then it’s going to give them essentially a piece of the pie, but it’s going to give them a piece of the pie off of what they have earned,” Kosena said. “They’ve worked a lot of years to get to a place to where their name, image and likeness means something, and now if people want to give them money or essentially pay them to come do an endorsement or autograph signing or whatever it is, they worked hard to make their name worth something.”
