Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
The current employment and compensation rules applicable to Division I student-athletes will undergo seismic shifts in the coming years due to the anticipated change to name-image-likeness (NIL) laws that will allow student-athletes to profit from their NIL without hindering their athletics eligibility or voiding their athletics scholarship.
To date, here is a synopsis of the current Division I’s rules on student-athlete employment. The core employment rule states that compensation may be paid to a student-athlete:
Only for work actually performed; and
At a rate commensurate with the going rate in that locality for similar services.
Such compensation may not include any remuneration for the value or utility that the student-athlete may have for the employer because of the publicity, reputation, fame or personal following that he or she has obtained because of athletic ability.
A student-athlete may receive compensation for teaching or coaching sport skills or techniques in his or her sport on a fee-for-lesson basis, provided:
Institutional facilities are not used;
Playing lessons (opposed to skill instruction or tehcnique development) shall not be permitted;
The compensation is paid by the lesson recipient (or the recipient's family member) and not another individual or entity;
Instruction to each individual is comparable to the instruction that would be provided during a private lesson when the instruction involves more than one individual at a time; and
The student-athlete does not use his or her name, picture or appearance to promote or advertise the availability of fee-for-lesson sessions.
In addition to the core compensation bylaws and the fee-for-lesson rules, there are sevral other nuanced employment-related policies currently applicable to Division I student-athletes.
A student-athlete may establish his or her own business, provided the student-athlete's name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation are not used to promote the business.
A student-athlete may be employed by his or her institution, by another institution, or by a private organization to work in a camp or clinic as a counselor, unless otherwise restricted by NCAA legislation (this includes conditions on coaches employing their student-athletes in camps and clinics).
A student-athlete may not be employed to sell equipment related to the student-athlete's sport if his or her name, picture or athletics reputation is used to advertise or promote the product, the job or the employer. If the student-athlete's name, picture or athletics reputation is not used for advertising or promotion, the student-athlete may be employed in a legitimate sales position, provided he or she is reimbursed at an hourly rate or set salary in the same manner as any non-athlete salesperson.
The above provisions will be susceptible to overhaul or elimination altogether as future NIL deregulation usurps the student-athlete employment, earnings, and publicity landscape.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
