From Ed O’Bannon to a pared-down NCAA proposal: A timeline of name, image and likeness
Seven state laws allowing college athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness rights are set to go into effect Thursday. The NCAA is also scheduled to meet Wednesday to approve what is expected to be a blanket waiver allowing athletes to endorse products and otherwise profit from their image.
Here’s the breakdown of how we got here.
July 21, 2009
Former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon files a lawsuit against the NCAA, alleging it unlawfully licensed his likeness to EA Sports for the use in video games as well as for merchandise and apparel. Basically, the O’Bannon case challenged whether the NCAA and its licensing arm could profit from video games and merchandise that used representations of real-life players -- by skin color, height, weight, position and jersey number -- without using their actual names. It becomes a class-action lawsuit and the plaintiffs later ask for a share of all NCAA revenue to go to athletes.
March 15, 2013
In a statement to the court handling the O’Bannon lawsuit, then-Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany says the power conference would have to drop to non-scholarship Division III if it were forced to share television revenue with athletes.
March 5, 2014
In a separate lawsuit, former West Virginia running back Shawne Alston and others sued the NCAA arguing that artificial caps on scholarships -- limiting them to tuition, room and board, and other items -- was an antitrust violation.
August 8, 2014
A federal court judge rules for O’Bannon in his lawsuit against the NCAA, ruling that the NCAA’s restrictions on athletes violate antitrust law. The ruling is narrow, however, allowing schools to offer up to $5,000 in “cost of attendance” payments above what is currently allowed. The plaintiffs previously settled the claims over video games.
November 6, 2018
Duke basketball announces a partnership with consultant INFLCR, which gives athletes and coaches access to university photos and videos for use on their personal social-media accounts, a proto-NIL branding arrangement.
November 11, 2018
UNC basketball announces a similar partnership with INFLCR.
February 4, 2019
California state legislator Nancy Skinner introduces the “Fair Play to Pay Act,” which would require colleges to allow their athletes to earn compensation for use of their name, image and likeness.
March 8, 2019
The same federal court judge rules for Alston in his lawsuit against the NCAA, ruling that schools cannot be prohibited from offering what she describes as “education-related benefits” to athletes, including graduate scholarships, laptops and study abroad. The NCAA appeals the decision, which goes all the way to the Supreme Court.
March 14, 2019
Rep. Mark Walker (R-Greensboro) introduces the first national NIL bill to Congress, which would alter the tax code to strip the NCAA of its non-profit status if it doesn’t allow athletes to profit from their NIL. It does not make it out of committee.
September 30, 2019
California’s Fair Pay to Play act passes both chambers of the legislature and is signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It’s the first state NIL law in the country. The original effective date was January 1, 2023; it would later be moved up to Sept. 1, 2021.
October 7, 2019
Durham-based Teamworks, a software platform and app for team communication used by more than 2,000 college and pro teams and founded by a former Duke football player, acquires INFLCR.
October 29, 2019
The NCAA’s Board of Directors votes unanimously to direct the association to alter its rules to allow players to profit from their likeness “in a manner consistent with the collegiate model.” Michael Drake, the president of the University of California and chairman of the NCAA board, said it was time to “embrace change” for the benefit of college athletes.
April 7, 2020
A study conducted by Athletic Director U and Navigate Research showed that North Carolina freshman Cole Anthony could have made more than $476,000 in endorsements and licensing revenue if allowed by NCAA rules. Anthony was the highest earner in his class, although football players from the fall of 2019 were not considered in the study. Duke’s Cassius Stanley was third at $405,000, with Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence fourth at $390,000.
April 29, 2020
The NCAA’s Board of Governors approves a working group’s framework for NIL reform that includes restrictions on any NIL activities considered “pay for play” and any school, conference or booster involvement. All three divisions were ordered to finalize and adopt new rules by January 2021. Walker, who proposed the first national NIL bill, cautions against an NCAA “bait and switch.”
May 23, 2020
The commissioners of the Power 5 conferences -- the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC -- write a letter asking Congress to pass NIL legislation as soon as possible and not to wait for the NCAA.
June 4, 2020
North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham writes a letter to the nonpartisan Uniform Law Commission, which proposes model legislation for states, arguing against the NCAA’s recommendations on NIL reform “despite public pressure that has been exerted on NCAA leaders from some vocal opponents of college athletics.” Duke’s Kevin White issued a statement supporting Cunningham, saying he was also “concerned about potential complications attendant upon the actual implementation of NIL legislation.”
June 12, 2020
Florida becomes the first state to pass an NIL law with an effective date of July 1, 2021, moving up the clock on NIL by two years. By the end of June 2021, seven states would pass laws that take effect on July 1.
July 22, 2020
NCAA president Mark Emmert appears before a Senate judiciary committee hearing on “the integrity of college athletics“ and pleads for an antitrust exemption from Congress. Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, Pittsburgh athletic director Heather Lyke and National College Players Association executive director Ramogi Huma also testify. No current athletes are invited to testify.
December 18, 2020
N.C. State announces a five-year partnership with INFLCR.
January 8, 2021
The head of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division sends a letter to Emmert warning him that the NCAA’s proposed NIL restrictions “may raise concerns under the antitrust laws.”
January 11, 2021
The NCAA’s vote on NIL is delayed indefinitely when the NCAA Division I Council decides there was not enough information to move forward. “External factors require this pause,” council chairperson Grace Calhoun, the athletic director at Penn, says in a statement.
March 18, 2021
State Sen. Wiley Nickel (D-Wake) files an NIL bill in North Carolina, his second. This bill, like the previous session’s, lacks bipartisan support and does not make it out of committee.
March 29, 2021
An Axios/Opendorse study finds that seven of the top 10 potential earners among basketball players, if allowed to capitalize on their NIL, are women. The study looked at social-media followers, engagement rate, school and size of market.
April 1, 2021
In the wake of the #NotNCAAProperty movement at the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Emmert has a conference call with three college athletes about issues regarding athlete rights, including NIL. In the meeting, the players requested that the NCAA establish a temporary blanket waiver that would allow athletes to receive money through endorsement deals, beginning in the fall of 2021.
May 14, 2021
New ACC commissioner Jim Phillips says Congress has to address NIL and not the NCAA: “I’m not that optimistic we’re going to get something done by July 1 but that’s not going to be catastrophic. We’ll be OK. We’ll figure out a temporary kind of bridge until we get national legislation.“
May 18, 2021
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) says there’s no chance of Congress passing NIL legislation before July 1. “We’ve tried for a year,” Rubio said. “Ideally, the NCAA would have fixed it. They’re going to have a mess on their hands.”
May 21, 2021
Nina King is introduced as White’s successor as Duke athletic director and takes a very different tone regarding NIL reform. “We are going to continue to innovate and be modern,” King said. “Name, image and likeness is a good thing. Change is OK.”
June 9, 2021
Emmert, Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few and ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore testify before the Senate commerce committee. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) directly questions Emmert why the NCAA has left the work to states. “Don’t you think it is time to call your leadership of the organization into question?” Blackburn asks. Again, no current athletes were invited before the committee.
June 16, 2021
North Carolina announces a new NIL program for athletes, called LAUNCH, that includes a disclosure program for athlete NIL deals, expanded INFLCR services and “high-level strategic guidance” for the university from Altius Sports Partners, an NIL consultant.
June 17, 2021
Three current and former athletes and the father of Maryland football player Jordan McNair, who died during a preseason practice, testify before the same Senate committee. “By allowing student-athletes the opportunity to better explore their own avenues of revenue or other items outside of the college individual setting, you’re empowering them,” Vanderbilt track athlete Kaira Brown said.
June 18, 2021
A group of power-conference commissioners including the ACC’s Phillips sends a letter to the NCAA and other commissioners urging a minimalist approach to NIL, fearing that the restrictions in the proposed NIL framework may invite lawsuits. Schools would be allowed to set their own NIL policies within state law.
June 21, 2021
The Supreme Court rules unanimously in favor of the Alston plaintiffs, dealing a stinging rebuke to the NCAA and tearing out the pillars of its legal defense of the so-called “amateur model.” Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, delivers a relatively narrow and technical antitrust opinion affirming Alston but dismissing almost all of the NCAA’s legal logic. In a fiery concurrence, Justice Brett Kavanaugh excoriates the NCAA for making billions “on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated” and concludes the NCAA “is not above the law.”
June 28, 2021
Oregon becomes the seventh state to pass an NIL law with a July 1, 2021, effective date. Twenty-two states have some kind of NIL law or executive order in place.
June 30, 2021
The NCAA Board of Directors is scheduled to meet, a day before the first state laws go into effect, to consider a pared-down NIL proposal that amounts, essentially, to a waiver of all current NCAA rules against NIL.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 5:55 PM with the headline "From Ed O’Bannon to a pared-down NCAA proposal: A timeline of name, image and likeness."
