Since 2021, college sports have charted a new course, one in which participants can enjoy the spoils of the billion-dollar industry that college sports have become. This journey was born of individual states granting student athletes the right to monetize their name, image and likeness (NIL), without jeopardizing their amateur status, an initiative the NCAA had been unwilling to take on. On July 1, 2025, the NCAA allowed member institutions to begin direct revenue sharing with student athletes. This is a direct result of the much-publicized House v. NCAA settlement, which, among other things, allowed for groundbreaking opportunities for student athletes to share in the billions of dollars that flow through athletics departments while compensating former NCAA athletes for the exploitation of their NIL. In 2025 alone, it is estimated that Division I student athletes received more than $2 billion in compensation.
While there is much to celebrate, college athletics remains in flux, as there is not a uniform body of law for which student athletes or the institutions that they play for can rely. Laws regarding NIL vary from state to state, attempts to institute federal laws to govern college athletics have failed and the NCAA’s attempts to institute interim policies and guidance have left institutions, athletic departments and student athletes confused. The result: Well-funded athletics programs benefit while many underfunded programs are left in jeopardy of losing athletes, staff and sports.
College sports cannot afford to wait for Congress to sort this out. Our colleges, universities and their administrations, along with the NCAA, must lead in establishing clear and transparent NIL policies. That means taking a commonsense business approach to legislating rules to govern NIL. If we are going to allow for the exploitation of an athlete’s intellectual property rights (name, image and likeness) then let them exploit those rights like every other person in a free market can. This isn’t pay for play, right? Furthermore, thresholds need to be established to ensure that athletes have access to both legal and financial professionals to assist them in negotiating and navigating this process, as a vast majority of student athletes are uninformed and go unrepresented in this process.
Arguments can be made that NIL has put the final nail in the coffin to eliminate amateurism in college sports, but truthfully, amateurism in college sports died some time ago as the NCAA, institutions and media profited off the athletes. How do we solve what feels like the unsolvable? Can an equitable, sustainable and transparent system be established to facilitate athletes monetizing their intellectual property rights, or does the Wild West moniker remain true while boosters and private equity play an outsized role?
Every city and town in our country knows the power of sports to shape a community. We know the financial impact that sports can have in transforming lives. This is about an opportunity for student athletes to finally take control of a personal asset and have a seat at the table that they have long been denied by antiquated rules. Colleges and universities should embrace that same ethos as they navigate this new NIL era.
If no one acts, the federal government will eventually enact legislation, whether through the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement (SAFE) Act or some other version to push student athletes toward employee status, and once again they will be prohibited from operating in a free market to exploit their intellectual property rights. The time is now for all stakeholders to work together to provide a fair and transparent framework in which everyone is able to prosper.
The NIL era is here, and the proverbial horse is out of the barn. Who will lead it?