Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons^™

Modifying Amateurism: A Performance-Based Solution To Compensating Student–Athletes For Licensing Their Names, Images, And Likenesses, Chaz Gross

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Amateurism is evolving and the NCAA is paying for it. With the NCAA’s focus set on preserving amateurism, it prohibited student–athlete compensation for any activity related to sports. However, college athletics are a lucrative business that generates its primary revenue from licensing Division I men’s basketball and FBS football players’ names, images, and likenesses. After years of criticism for its rules and regulations, the NCAA faced antitrust scrutiny from both former and current student–athletes. In 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the NCAA’s restrictions on student–athlete compensation violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. While the …