As NCAA schools prepare for the implementation of name, image, and likeness (NIL) contracts, some deals have raised eyebrows due to their restrictive nature. These contracts may demand athletes relinquish control over personal branding, including tattoos and dance moves. The anticipation centers on a looming court decision regarding a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement, which may shift the legal landscape further, possibly designating athletes as employees and affording them collective bargaining rights, contradicting the NCAA's stance that they are merely students.
Some college athletes are being asked to sign away the rights to their own tattoos. At least one college wants to sell the rights to its players' dance moves.
A federal judge is nearing a decision on the NCAA's $2.8 billion antitrust settlement -- a deal that was supposed to dampen a frenzy of litigation surrounding athletes' demands to share in the profits generated by college sports.
Experts who reviewed a sampling of more than a dozen NIL contracts obtained by ESPN said the deals bear the hallmarks of employment contracts.
The contracts 'cross those red lines very clearly,' said Michael LeRoy, a law professor at the University of Illinois who has researched employment law in the context of college sports.
Collection
[
|
...
]