Assembly Committee Backs College Athletes’ Control Over Name, Image, Likeness

By: Justus Wilhoit

A bill to give university athletes control over their name, image and likeness – and the earnings from their use – won approval on June 12 from the Assembly Higher Education committee. 

The bill would allow each Division 1 and 2 school to pay a total $20.5 million annually to its athletes, including scholarships and other support. It would prohibit universities from blocking compensation to athletes from sponsors and other third-party sources. And it would ban school interference if the students seek to hire agents, attorneys and other representatives.

Stars’ names and images are powerful advertising tools for schools as the world of college sports is turning from amateur governance to rules more typical in big-money professional organizations. Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning, for instance, has a name, image and likeness valuation of $6.6 million. Yaxel Lendeborg, a basketball player from Pennsauken with a valuation of $2.2 million, will spend his senior year at the University of Michigan rather than turning pro.

Thirty-two states have passed so-called NIL laws, and five more have legislation pending, according to Saul Ewing, a multi-state law firm that advises colleges.

In New Jersey, a Senate version of the bill passed on June 2 by a 25-11 vote. The Assembly committee released S4439/A5729 on a 5-2 vote, with Republicans opposing. 

The bill stipulates that payments, contracts and other details would be exempt from the state’s open public records law.

“The intent of the bill is good. I just do not think it provides enough transparency,” said committee member Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis of New Providence. A Republican colleague, Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger of Middletown, said he was “against the concept in total.”

“It’s a very slippery slope when you start to make amateur athletes into quasi-professionals and bring agents and big money into the college level,” Scharfenberger said.

The bill would require student agents and advisers to act as fiduciaries, and it would require the institutions to provide “financial literacy; brand management; life skills; and other programming on skills necessary for success as a student athlete.”

The bill’s approval follows a June 6 settlement in U.S. district court in California in a lawsuit known as House vs. NCAA. In that complaint, former Arizona State University swimmer Grant House sought to end the sports governing body’s limits on earning power. The association will make available almost $2.8 billion to athletes who were competing as of 2016.

If signed by Governor Phil Murphy, the New Jersey law would replace the state’s Fair Play Act, which critics call outdated. 

“The law we have in place makes illegal, some of the norms that have evolved over time,” said Eugene Lapore, vice president of state government relations and policy for Rutgers University, who testified in favor of the bill. “It’s critically important to have that flexibility to remain competitive with peer institutions, and this bill gives us that opportunity.”