Game Changer: The Legal Journey to Student-Athletes' Name, Image, and Likeness Rights

Amanda Siegrist & W. Andrew Czekanski, Game Changer: The Legal Journey to Student-Athletes' Name, Image, and Likeness Rights, 25 Wake Forest J. Bus. & Intell. Prop. L. 52 (2024).

The Supreme Court’s NCAA v. Alston decision marked a drastic change to the nature of intercollegiate sports. Now, college athletes are virtually free to pursue sponsorship opportunities and profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). However, this was not always the case, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has a long history of opposition to such opportunities.  

This article assesses the timeline and progression of various lawsuits filed against the NCAA specifically challenging their authority to regulate the amateur status of student-athletes and the commercialization of college sports. This article provides the historical and legal context that led to the allowance of student-athletes to generate revenue from their intellectual property, more specifically from their NIL while maintaining their amateur status to remain eligible for participation. 

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