By David Gordon, associate editor
College athletes at all levels are finally able to market their identities without forfeiting their eligibility but, so far, no one from either UW-Eau Claire or UW-Stout has taken this step.
In late June, the NCAA – under pressure from several directions – dropped its long-standing opposition to student-athletes receiving income beyond their athletic scholarships. Specifically, it said it would no longer oppose laws or executive orders in some 28 states that give these athletes the right to arrange endorsement agreements without losing their eligibility.
The NCAA’s decision was announced in a policy statement released about eight hours before some of the state laws were to take effect.
Endorsement agreements enable athletes to be paid for the commercial use of their name, image or likeness (NIL). Some Division 1 athletes have been quick to take advantage of this opportunity but the athletic directors at UW-EC and UW-Stout told the CVPost that this has not happened at either school.
Both Duey Naatz and Dan Schumacher, the ADs at UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire, said this was not yet an issue at the Division 3 level. Nonetheless, both schools have developed policies to cover these situations when they eventually do arise.
Similarly, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), to which both schools belong, is developing a policy to guide its eight member schools, according to an email from its commissioner. Danielle Harris wrote that a task force including “members from our institutions” has been working on “developing best practices and educational strategies to assist our student-athletes, coaches and staff on how to navigate the new opportunities” for endorsements.
Schumacher said this has not become an issue at UW-Eau Claire because Blugold athletes haven’t indicated an interest in taking advantage of the NIL opportunity. Natz said the situation is similar at UW-Stout.
The UW-EC policy runs some 1,350 words and covers topics ranging from the definition of an individual’s “right of publicity” (the use of name, image or likeness) to prohibiting any display of a brand that competes with UW-EC’s contract with Nike.
It also specifies that university employees may not be involved in arranging NIL contracts for student-athletes and requires that any attorney representing an athlete in such negotiations “must be a member in good standing of a state bar association.”
Both the UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout policies list prohibited sponsorship categories. For both schools, these include – among others – any that would ridicule or demean people “on the basis of their age, color, creed, physical or mental disability, . . . race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity” plus five additional categories.
Both also forbid sponsorships that promote tobacco, marijuana products, alcohol and “gambling/sports wagering” and those that “adversely affect the University’s reputation.” The UW-Stout policy includes just over 300 words.
Naatz said in an email that the university’s responsibility “is to educate our team(s) and our student-athletes on what NIL is, the proper procedures, and to ensure they enter into good agreements with good companies.
“The last thing we want is student-athletes to enter into a bad agreement that negatively impacts themselves or the university,” he added.