MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The NCAA announced Tuesday that it will enhance opportunities for student-athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness moving forward, but there looks to be more hurdles to deal with in the future.
The NCAA wants prospective players and fans to know they’re working toward taking care of the student-athlete, so these 18-22-year-old students can eventually profit off their hard work.
“It is indeed within their policies, and they want the schools to come out and have rules that will allow athletes to be able to take advantage of names, image and likeness,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said.
From reading a little further into the NCAA’s statement, the organization still wants all student athletes to be “in a manner consistent with the collegiate model” and also said it wants to “prohibit inducements to select, remain at or transfer to a specific institution.”
It sounds like a tall task for the NCAA to allow for student-athlete pay but still have such a heavy control over the process. Revenue avenues like social media have forced the NCAA’s hand.
“With the impact of social media and the internet, there are different ways that one might think of name, image and likeness monetization that weren’t really even possible even 5 to 10 years ago,” NCAA Board of Governors member Michael Drake said.
The decision could have a huge impact on Mid-South programs, such as Memphis basketball, which has become a recruiting powerhouse under Penny Hardaway. By January 2021, those elite level recruits could be getting paid up to $100,000 while attending schools like the University of Memphis.
The NCAA does appear to be taking the right steps toward compensating student-athletes, but time will tell how the process looks when the cash actually starts changing hands.
WREG reached out to U of M President M. David Rudd and Athletic Director Laird Veatch for their reaction to the NCAA’s vote, but we have not heard back.