By Roman Rickwood, Collegiate Sports Enthusiast

The NCAA and universities have been able to use the names, images, and likenesses of college athletes since the dawn of television and endorsement deals, but the college athletes have not been able to profit off their own names, images, and likenesses. This all changed in July that completely shook up the collegiate sports world. The Supreme Court ruled that college athletes would be able to profit off their Name, Image, and Likeness (otherwise known as the NIL rule). Up until this rule was enacted, the tyrannical and poorly run NCAA was very strict about players making or accepting any money. There have been multiple cases of players accepting money to buy necessities and then being punished by the NCAA through suspension or sometimes stripping them of their achievements. The most famous case of this is what happened to Reggie Bush and his Heisman. This story was one of the most controversial involving the NCAA to date and is an example of what The Atlantic calls a “theft of college athletes’ labor” (“Give Reggie Bush His Heisman Back”). 

In 2005, Reggie Bush was the running back for the University of Southern California, Bush broke tons of records and was looking forward to owning the record books and forever being a collegiate legend. In 2005, USC won 12 games and the National Championship with the tremendous effort of running-back Reggie Bush. That year deservedly so the Heisman Trophy was awarded to Reggie Bush. Soon after both USC and Bush were under investigation by the NCAA for accepting money. The NCAA investigation found that Bush and his family accepted money and perks throughout his time at USC from multiple sports marketers hoping to sign him when he eventually went to the NFL. The NCAA made USC forfeit all wins in which Bush played, including the 2005 National Championship. He also famously was the only player in college football history to return his Heisman Trophy. Not even OJ Simpson had to return his 1967 Heisman after being found guilty of double homicide in civil court. The return of the trophy angered many people who felt that Bush was robbed, and many believe that this was the start of the conversation about college athletes’ right to earn money.

For many years most people believed that college athletes were already getting paid in the form of scholarship as well as food, room, and board. However, because less than 1% of all college athletes make it to their sports’ respective professional leagues, people thought it unfair that the majority of these college athletes would graduate and go into the real world with nothing monetary to show for it. Another common thing that would happen to these elite athletes is injury. Too often they would have to stop playing the sport. Although there is an incredible amount of money that is generated through collegiate sports, the college players do not see this money. I have always struggled with the argument that collegiate athletes should be paid because to me it would have to be a flat rate to each player, which does not make sense as different players hypothetically generate different hype. If you take a football team, for example, people may tune in to watch the quarterback, so it does not make a whole lot of sense that the starting quarterback and the 3rd-string right tackle are making the same money. Because of this, the Name, Image, and Likeness ruling makes the most sense. It allows for an equal playing field for all athletes to profit off of their name and use their platform as athletes on social media. This opens the door for all athletes to profit and not just athletes that play televised and monetized sport. However, as much as I like this ruling and as much as I think that it is long overdue, I do see a few things that could lead to issues down the road in these young athletes’ careers. Right now with the tremendous influence of social media, there is potential for big brand deals and marketing opportunities.

Currently, the highest reported earner (and you could say the face of collegiate NIL deals) is Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. It was reported a month ago that he was closing in on almost a million-dollars worth of deals in just two short months (fortune.com). While this sounds great and in theory is great for these young people’s families and futures, you do have to bring up the elephant in the room. Young people coming into a significant amount of money, very quickly, can have negative consequences. You can make the comparison to child actors or really anybody who came into a lot of money at a young age and lost perspective, resulting in the derailing of life. While the rule is new, I can expect that these big universities with students making huge amounts of money will begin to offer some form of financial planning or financial literacy courses among their athletes making money from NIL. I am excited to see the NCAA finally be told off, and I am even more excited for the opportunities that these young people will now have. This ruling was a long time coming, and I am extremely confident that it is not going anywhere.

*The opinions expressed by blogger Roman Rickwood are his own and may not represent those of the entire thebirdonfire.org editorial team.