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- NIL has changed college athletics.
- As the landscape continues to evolve, athletes are asking for help.
- Now it’s the NCAA’s job to stand up.
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The NCAA instituted “interim” bylaws on Name, Image and Likeness in July of 2021 and it changed the landscape of collegiate athletics forever. The ruling allowed athletes still in school to cash-in on their person while still in school.
College athletes were previously shackled by the intentionally ambiguous term “student-athlete.”
As athletes, they must reach the academic standards of their peers. As students, they can’t be compensated beyond cost of studies and livelihood.
The latter half of that statement is no longer true. NIL allows athletes the opportunity to make money while in school.
As college athletes seek opportunities for compensation, many are struggling with what to do or how to go about the market. In turn, they are asking for more educational resources and it’s time for the NCAA to step up.
In a recent study on athlete well-being revealed that nearly 50% of all athletes want to know more.
According to the NCAA, the athletes want help with tax and financial literacy.
Here are some of the results from the survey:
Student-athletes were most likely to indicate a desire for educational resources on tax and financial literacy; career planning; navigating name, image and likeness opportunities; and professional opportunities in sport.
Fifty percent of the women’s sports participants and 49% of the male sports participants wanted more resources on tax literacy and education.
In regard to navigating NIL opportunities, 42% of the men’s sports participants and 39% of the women sports participants said they wanted more educational resources.
Forty-one percent of the men’s sports participants and 35% of the women’s sports respondents wanted resources regarding professional opportunities in their sport.
The athletes have made themselves clear. There is a now legal opportunity for them to make money and they want help.
Educational resources are necessary in regard to finances and NIL. The NCAA’s job is to look out for the well-being of their “student-athletes.”
And now the athletes are telling them what they want.
Will the NCAA listen and step up? History would say likely not.