For years, name, image, and likeness rights for college athletes have been a contentious issue in the sports world. It has been debated across the country, but until recently, there was little to no real momentum pushing the idea to the forefront.
All this changed last October when California passed the Fair Pay to Play Act and threw the existing college sports system into confusion. The California law created a state-level race to pass name, image, and likeness laws, with over 20 states proposing an inconsistent hodge-podge of legislation that would govern the world of college athletics going forward.
While the NCAA announced it is working to update its own policies to provide for name, image, and likeness rights, any NCAA rule change cannot supersede the quickly approaching state-by-state reality. Name, image, and likeness rights are no longer a debate of hypotheticals but are rather a real policy discussion. To create certainty and enforce the appropriate guardrails that protect the system as a whole, Congress must enact a national standard that grants new economic opportunities for athletes in all college sports across the nation.
For me, my time as a wide receiver at Ohio State University is among the most treasured experiences of my life. Like many of my teammates, I arrived on campus immature, homesick, and a bit more confident than my talent warranted. Four years later, when I left Ohio State as a graduate, I walked into my career certain that the lessons I learned on and off the field would shape me forever.
College athletics influence the lives of thousands of athletes across the country. For many low-income and minority students, college athletics provides a unique opportunity to attend college and earn a degree. I saw this firsthand as a college athlete. Many of my own teammates arrived on campus having overcome some of the most difficult childhoods that anyone could possibly imagine in our country.
That said, over the years, college athletics has morphed into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. When the NCAA first formed in 1906, few could have envisioned college athletics generating more than $10 billion in revenue — as it did in 2018.
While the majority of attention has been spent talking about the implications for high profile athletes in sports such as football and basketball, name, image, and likeness rights will be beneficial for the vast majority of college athletes across the country. Athletes are barred from capitalizing on their names, images, and likenesses and face expulsion from the game as punishment if they do so.
In fact, student-athletes are the only students on campus who are subject to this restriction. An award-winning, full-scholarship chemist can accept any financial rewards that may come her way. But the fastest runner on the track team, whether on scholarship or not, is precluded from such activity.
In a free society, this discrepancy does not make sense.
Moreover, the reality for most athletes is that they are not on full scholarships and face the same financial pressures that students who are not athletes face — rising costs of attendance and exorbitant student loan debt. By allowing swimmers to conduct swim lessons, wrestlers to coach summer camps, and rowers to produce instructional videos for compensation, we will provide a meaningful financial benefit that will ensure student-athletes are better equipped to start their careers and raise their families. Simply put, granting name, image, and likeness rights to college athletes is the right thing to do.
As Congress moves toward action, there are a handful of issues that we must grapple with as policymakers. First, any federal legislation must prohibit true “pay to play” recruitment schemes. High school students and their parents should not be bought and paid for by the highest bidder. Pay to play would fundamentally undermine the college system by fostering unfair recruitment and undermining competition.
Second, legislation must make clear that name, image, and likeness rights do not imply employment of the student-athlete. A student-athlete who is an employee of a school can be hired and also fired. For athletes who arrive on campus in need of more development, this would be a fate many of them could suffer before even stepping foot on the field or in the classroom.
Third, we must remember to protect what makes college sports great. If we lose sight of the awesome opportunity that college athletics provides to our student-athletes, we risk destroying the very thing that has lifted so many athletes to heights they never dreamed possible. This would be a catastrophic mistake.
What should not be up for debate, though, is whether or not student-athletes should be able to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness. Now is the time to grant this long overdue right while protecting our student-athletes and the nature of the college sports that we love.
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a Republican, represents Ohio’s 16th Congressional District. He is a former wide receiver, two-time Big Ten Champion, and Academic All-American at Ohio State University. Gonzalez was a first-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts and played five years in the NFL.
