College athletes can now profit off their name, image, and likeness

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Starting today, college athletes are now able to profit off their name, image, and likeness.

With House Bill 7051 now in effect, student athletes can make money in a way they weren’t able to before.

That’s because the NCAA has enforced rules for years not allowing students to profit off their identity. But as of today, those rules are part of the past.

The NCAA is adopting an interim policy allowing students to profit off their name, image, and likeness, nationwide.

This means student athletes can now have brand deals, and get paid by companies who want to promote them.

Some advocates of the bill took to social media, saying it’s been a long time in the making.

Leah Clapper is a gymnast at the University of Florida, who also has a food blog.

She said brands wanted to promote her with paid Instagram posts, but she wasn’t allowed to accept the offer.

“It is a really exciting time to be able to do what everybody else in the world can do. Because anybody else out there can go and pitch to brands and they can have advertisers on their website, but being a college athlete so many doors are just shut down because you have to be an amateur. Now all of that is changing and I’m just along for the ride,” she said.

Clapper said now that student athletes can profit off their brands, it’ll provide them with even more opportunities.

“The second that I saw an article that said ‘athletes might be able to capitalize on their personal brand’ it just made my ears perk up,” she said. “I started seeking out more information and learning things about influencer marketing, all that good stuff, just to get a sense of what this might look like and now it’s finally here. It’s so crazy”

The NCAA said the policy will be temporary until federal legislation is adopted.

States like Florida, who passed their own bills to allow this practice, essentially forced the NCAA into creating this interim policy.

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