A Win Win: College Athletes Get Paid for Their Names, Images, and Likenesses and Colleges Maintain the Primacy of Academics

Authors

Jayma Meyer
Andrew S. Zimbalist, Smith CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2020

Publication Title

Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law

Abstract

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act (SB 206) into law on September 30, 2019. The bill made it illegal for California's universities to prohibit college athletes from receiving compensation for use of their Names, Images, and Likenesses ("NILs"). Lawmakers soon introduced similar bills in other states1 and in Congress.

In this Article, we explain the history and role of amateurism in college athletics (Part I); the legal landscape of amateurism and paying college athletes, including NIL payments (Part II); the potential scope of NIL payments (Part III); and the NCAA NIL Committee’s recommendations (Part IV). We conclude by offering a public policy proposal for implementing circumscribed NIL rights for college athletes (Part V).

Keywords

Sports Economics, Sports Law, Intercollegiate Athletics

Volume

11

Issue

2

First Page

247

Last Page

303

Comments

Archived as published. Open access article.

Recommended Citation

Meyer, Jayma and Zimbalist, Andrew S., "A Win Win: College Athletes Get Paid for Their Names, Images, and Likenesses and Colleges Maintain the Primacy of Academics" (2020). Economics: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eco_facpubs/53