The NCAA Division III Name, Image and Likeness Oversight Working Group has recommended two legislative concepts to be considered by the Management and Presidents Councils at their upcoming summer meetings.
The first concept would allow student-athletes to use their status as athletes to promote their own work product or service.
Work product and service examples would include promotion of private lessons, camps and clinics; monetizing social media platforms; pay for autographs; promotion of creative and/or academic endeavors; promotion of their own business; and general promotion of other work products or services.
Schools would be permitted to support name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes only in the same manner they support such opportunities for their students generally.
The second concept would allow student-athletes to use their status as athletes to endorse third-party products or services, provided there is no institutional involvement in procuring promotional opportunities for student-athletes (except to the extent the school is involved with assisting students generally). Name, image and likeness opportunities would not be part of the recruiting process, and compensation would not be a substitute for pay for play.
In April, the Board of Governors supported rule changes in each division to allow student-athletes to receive compensation for third-party endorsements both related to and separate from athletics.
It also supported compensation for other student-athlete opportunities, such as social media, businesses they have started and personal appearances within the guiding principles originally outlined by the board in October. The goal is to have new name, image and likeness legislation adopted by each division at the 2021 NCAA Convention and then implemented for the 2021-22 academic year.
The recommendations come on the heels of the membership survey in June that collected feedback on the name, image and likeness concepts from Division III presidents and chancellors, athletics directors, conference commissioners and the national Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Division III SAAC will review the survey results and the working group’s recommendations Saturday and Sunday, followed by the Management Council on Sunday through Tuesday, the Presidents Advisory Group on Aug. 3 and the Presidents Council on August 5.
