Understanding the Right of Publicity and College Athletics - An Introduction
Wow. Just… wow.
This feels like a weird time to be discussing college athletes’ right of publicity with everything else going on in the world, even from my perspective as a college athlete rights advocate. At the same time, what better time to have this conversation since we may finally be at the tipping point that the sports law community has been alluding to for decades. Admittedly, this is only one of numerous social inequities that needs to be addressed in the college athletics business, and while it is an area that should be addressed as soon as possible, it feels less urgent than addressing a college athlete’s health, safety, and well-being in a COVID-19 world full of unknowns, or their lack of benefits and a bargaining unit from not being recognized as an employee despite physical demands and potential physical injury in a multi-billion dollar industry, or the racial undertones common in the model.
Well, the NCAA stubbornly refused to change its ways and actively opted for inaction, governing bodies with true legal function began to recognize the inequities and opted to act themselves, and now we are here.
We had the opportunity to watch and listen to a second Senate Committee hearing on college athlete name, image, and likeness earlier in July (“Exploring a Compensation Framework for Intercollegiate Athletics”), and we have another opportunity to hear legislative discussion with a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on this conversation this Wednesday, July 22. This hearing will be in two parts, covering NIL and sports betting, but it would not be surprising if the witnesses testifying have to weigh in on other conversations earlier mentioned in this article just like at the previous hearing.
Anyone who knows me understands I have more thoughts and emotions about college athletes’ rights than what I can write. Sometimes on this blog, we have fun with writing, but this topic demands a more sober tone. In writing these segments, I aim to be concise, informative, serious, and stimulative. In this multi-part series, I will do the following:
Paint a picture of what the right of publicity is, legally speaking;
Explain how it operates in real-world applications outside the college athletics business;
Review legal precedent concerning college athletics;
Objectively analyze proposed regulations and arguments for a college athletics NIL model; and
Provide my own subjective opinion, discussing why a free market could work and should be allowed.
Stay tuned, y’all, & read the “Power 5” Summary of the “Student Athlete Equity Act of 2020” in the meantime.