NIL: An Analysis of the New Financial Compensation Policy for College Athletes and Its Impact on College Athletics

The newly introduced NCAA Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) laws allow college athletes to have additional opportunities for financial compensation, permitting them to generate revenue out of their image and personal brand. Due to these new regulations, the traditional concept of amateurism in college athletics has been significantly altered. Despite the contracts in no way being able to be based or compensated on an athlete’s on-court performance, these regulations put a strain on the amateurism principles that have marked college athletics in the last century. These new laws also put to doubt the future of college athletics as we know it, with the landscape of college sports having the possibility of drastically changing the next couple of years. This study aims to analyze the shift universities have already made to accommodate NIL necessities, and the revolution these new laws will bring to college athletics, specially to smaller Olympic sports that do not generate revenue.