As states pass bills allowing college athletes to begin earning money off their name, image and likeness, NCAA president Mark Emmert wants the NCAA and other college sports’ governing bodies to approve new NIL rules “before, or as close to, July 1,” he told The New York Times.
Emmert was disappointed that the NCAA did not vote to adopt its own NIL legislation in January when the Division I Council expected to do so. Right before the scheduled vote, Emmert received a letter from the antitrust division of the Department of Justice due to concerns over the built-in restrictions to the rules. The NCAA’s proposal, which would allow athletes to cash in on endorsement and sponsorship deals, has been essentially tabled ever since.
“We need to get a vote on these rules that are in front of the members now,” Emmert said in the interview with the Times.
Georgia became the most recent state to sign its respective NIL bill into law on Thursday, joining Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and New Mexico as states that will see these changes come into effect on July 1. The question between now and July 1 is whether federal legislation ends up superseding state laws.
“It’s important. We hope we’ll get a solution this year,” Georgia president Jere Morehead told The Athletic‘s Seth Emerson.
“ … I think all that will play out in the next several weeks. But I don’t want to speak for the NCAA president and what he may or may not propose to the board until he does. But I would expect that accommodations will be made to student-athletes that are in states that have NIL laws.”
Nearly two years ago, around the time when California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the Fair Pay to Play Act, Emmert claimed that passing such laws would be an “existential threat” to the collegiate model.
This is a developing story. More to come.
