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Maryland athletic directors told an oversight committee Monday that they are offering opportunities for college athletes to profit off their names, images and likenesses.
The policies come after the General Assembly passed the Jordan McNair Safe and Fair Play Act this past legislative session, which expands athletes鈥� rights over the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), among other college athletics reforms. The聽聽are not set to take聽effect until July 2023, allowing time for any policy changes that may come from the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the federal government.
The law聽also created new health and safety requirements in Maryland athletic programs聽to prevent and treat serious injuries, a provision influenced by the death of University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair, who died of complications related to heat stroke after a 2018 practice.
鈥淭he very foundation from which the NCAA stands by 鈥� this word that we hear, 鈥榓mateurism,鈥� all the time 鈥� is beginning to crack, which may result in a seismic shift in the model of intercollegiate athletics as I see it,鈥� said Damon Evans, the director of athletics at the University of Maryland College Park, at a meeting of the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics and Student-Athlete Health and Welfare. The panel met for the first time on Monday and will monitor athletic program finances, student-athlete academics and student-athlete health and welfare.
鈥淭his is a potential sea change that could have enormous impact on the long-term financial stability of intercollegiate athletics,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭hose institutions who have the ability to adjust and adapt to what we see as an inevitable change 鈥� they鈥檒l be able to better position themselves for the future.鈥�
The NCAA has long claimed that college sports are an amateur endeavor, an argument used for not paying student-athletes.
In February, UMD College Park, along with the athletic marketing platform Opendorse,聽launched a program called Momentum to help student-athletes develop content on their social media accounts and build their brand, Evans said.
The average deal at the University of Maryland for NIL is $745, Evans said. Over half of those deals are in cash and the others are gifts. However, two field hockey student athletes have gotten deals over $10,000, Evans said.
鈥淪tudent-athletes need to develop content in order to be able to drive money for the use of their name, image and likeness and this company is able to do that,鈥� Evans said.
And opportunities exist not only for 鈥渂ig-name, star student-athletes,鈥� Evans said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of money there for student-athletes who just know how to engage on social media,鈥� he said.
Troy Dell, director of athletics at Frostburg State University, said that the topic of NIL has been 鈥減retty quiet鈥� at his campus, with only a half-dozen student-athletes having questions. Frostburg鈥檚 main focus is to educate student-athletes on what they can do with their name, image and likeness, but the university hasn鈥檛 reached a point where they need to help students with branding, he said.
Frostburg State has met with several vendors but does not see a need to partner with a private company yet, Dell continued.
Derek Carter, the director of athletics in Coppin State University, also said that no student athletes are currently benefiting from NIL, but the university has partnered with a company called 鈥淚nfluencer鈥� to educate student athletes about their options. By spring, Carter said he expects more students to start making deals.
Evans floated the idea of having one platform that serves all of the university system鈥檚 12 institutions, adding that he would like to share data that UMD College Park is getting from its program with other campuses.
鈥淭here may be something we could do as a package one day that could be useful to all institutions鈥ow do we bring our resources together to have one entity working for all institutions?鈥� he said.
