Student-athletes’ lives are busier than ever in 2023. With Name, Image and Likeness being enacted on January 1, 2023, in Colorado, Colorado State University (CSU) athletes are experiencing monetary compensation for their athletic accomplishments for the first time. 

What is NIL?

Name, Image and Likeness, or NIL is the way in which college athletes are able to gain financial compensation for their athletic performance through marketing and promotion. These marketing and promotional ventures can come in the form of signing autographs, endorsing products, participating in advertisement campaigns, posting on various social media platforms, instructing camps or lessons or kick-starting their own businesses. 

“I happened to be at Texas A&M while Johnny Manziel was there. If Johnny was playing right now in college football, he would be like some of these guys right now, they’re making two or three million a year to play,” Senior Associate A.D. and Football Chief of Staff at Colorado State University Tim Cassidy said at a sports public relations panel. 

“The thing was set up on name, image and likeness (NIL). It wasn’t set up on getting a paycheck in the mailbox every week. That’s kind of where it’s going. I think that’s very scary.”

Cassidy says that going to college simply for a paycheck is where the future is headed, and that the current trajectory of monetary incentivization is the wrong direction. From a competitive standpoint, in Cassidy’s eyes, whoever has the most money wins. In student-athletes’ eyes, it is a market that must be worked like a career.

As NIL will continue to grow and progress, so will the guidelines. Currently, the rules surrounding Name, Image and Likeness and how the universities can be involved are fairly straightforward and open to interpretation and can vary by state. Per the NCAA, the guidelines are:

• Collegiate athletes can participate in NIL activities if they agree with the law of the state in which the school is located.
• The school is in charge of determining if those activities align with state law.
• Student-athletes should report that the NIL activities are consistent with the state law to their school.
• Athletes who attend a school in a state without the NIL law in place can engage in NIL activities without violating NCAA rules relating to NIL.
• Athletes have access to and can use a professional service provider to help them with their name, image and likeness.
• Some (not all) state laws prohibit athletes from endorsing alcohol, tobacco, or gambling products
• Some (not all) state laws prohibit athletes from using their school logo or other copyrighted material in their endorsements

With all of this in mind, the addition of Name, Image and Likeness doesn’t mean:

• College coaches can offer money to prospective players as an incentive to play at their school.
• Athletes receive financial compensation directly from their university derived from their athletic ability and/or achievements.

Where did NIL come from?

NIL was created with the intention of allowing collegiate athletes to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness. NIL can find roots in the class-action lawsuit O’Bannon v. NCAA from 2015.

In 2009, an All-American basketball player from UCLA named Ed O’Bannon sued the NCAA and the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) for using his name and image in an Electronic Arts (EA) video game. 

O’Bannon had never authorized the use of his likeness for the video game or received compensation for his image. He argued that the current NCAA rules prevented student-athletes from financially benefitting from their name, image and likeness and it was an illegal restraint of trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act which reads:

“Every contact, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal.”

The court ruled in O’Bannon’s favor after agreeing that the disallowing of student-athletes to receive monetary compensation violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.The court then declared that Division One schools should allow two things.

The first one being the allowance of awarding stipends to student-athletes to the full extent of the cost of their attendance and making up for slack in their grants-in-aid. The second one is the permission for schools to hold a portion of their licesncing revenue in trust and distributed to student-athletes and are evenly distributed after they leave college.

On March 20, 2020, Colorado Governor, Jared Polis signed Bill 123 in law allowing college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness. The bill went into effect on the first of this year, 2023, and makes Colorado the second state in the nation to allow NIL deals.

California was the first state to pass a similar bill in September 2019. At the time of its passing, 20 other states were also in the process of passing similar laws. 

Why is NIL important?

NIL is not only important to the student-athletes themselves but also the schools they attend. Student-athletes at Division I schools could be viewed as part of a college’s advertising campaign. Colleges and universities can use popular, fan-favorite student-athletes to their advantage in bringing in future athletes, which then benefits the school by filling sets in the stadium and in the classroom.

In the short time it’s been around, NIL has produced many benefits to colleges and universities around the nation. Many student-athletes are making money, and not just athletes who compete in the high-revenue sports.

Women’s collegiate sports are also noticing many positives. Women have been very active on social media andbrought more attention to female athletics. One of the biggest women in sport utilizing NIL is LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne who has over 6 million social media followers. 

Another huge positive is that athletic talent and ability is becoming more spread out as opposed to concentrated. Before NIL, monetary benefits was a huge deciding factor for athletes in which school they were going to attend and play for. Now, athletes have the chance to make their own money wherever they choose to go.

The Green and Gold Guard

One way that Colorado State University has utilized the NIL is through the Green and Gold Guard. The Green and Gold Guard is Colorado State’s official NIL collective and is built upon empowering, engaging, enhancing, and enriching the lives of Colorado State student-athletes. CSU athletes are using the Green and Gold Guard to participate in opportunities and events that allow them to connect and support the local community of Fort Collins.