NCAA announces it will review impact of NIL on student-athletes

The NCAA is already eager to investigate the ins and outs of the recently introduced name, image, and likeness (NIL) laws.

On Friday, the NCAA announced that the D1 Board of Directors has directed the D1 Council to review the impact that NIL has had on college student-athletes since its inception in June 2021. Among the items being reviewed: “school choice, transfer opportunities, academics and mental health,” reads the organization’s press release. The first report is due in April with a final decision expected in June.

“We are concerned that some activity in the name, image and likeness space may not only be violating NCAA recruiting rules, particularly those prohibiting booster involvement, but also may be impacting the student-athlete experience negatively in some ways,” said board chair Jere Morehead, president at the University of Georgia. “We want to preserve the positive aspects of the new policy while reviewing whether anything can be done to mitigate the negative ones.”

In essence, the NCAA is concerned that improper NIL benefits are leading to illegal recruitments. In the press release, the NCAA goes on to say that NIL may “also may be impacting the student-athlete experience negatively in some ways,” although no examples are provided of what that might pertain to. The final report in June should clarify that. The release adds that the national office enforcement staff continues to investigate possible NCAA infractions.

The University of Kentucky, in particular, has embraced the NIL era from the jump. Athletic director Mitch Barnhart recently spoke in favor of the new pay-for-play rules during a hearing for Senate Bill 6, a new NIL bill that outlines proper guidelines for Kentucky’s student-athletes. Kentucky Men’s Basketball head coach, John Calipari, has been consistently outspoken in his support of NIL.

“The goal for us is that even as rules change in the landscape in which our students play and work continues to evolve, UK’s student athletes will be able to maximize opportunities while also continuing their education and benefiting from all the things that come from being on a college campus,” Barnhart said, according to the Herald-Leader. “There is no question that a federal solution that creates a single standard for all student athletes in all states is the best path forward. We also believe that we shouldn’t wait for one uniform federal policy to continue finding ways to support our student athletes and ensure that they have the best possible experience in their name, image and likeness.”

Barnhart added that roughly 800 NIL deals have already been agreed upon by 250 different UK student-athletes.