It’s a new day in the NCAA as student-athletes are now allowed to earn income as it pertains to their name, image and likeness. The new policy covers a wide range of potential moneymaking options for student-athletes such as appearances, commercials, YouTube revenue, musical performances and other artistic ventures that could be parlayed into revenue streams.
As for Penn State, while no major player deals have been announced as of Thursday morning, a handful of noteworthy Nittany Lion football players s are setting up account on an application called Yoke, which allows for fans to pay a small fee to play a player of their choosing in certain video games.
Current Nittany Lions on the site include Jahan Dotson, Noah Cain, TaQuan Roberson, Sean Clifford, Curtis Jacobs and Jesse Luketa. (Penn State’s affiliated roster includes a handful of former players such as Micah Parsons, Trace McSorley and KJ Hamler.) It appears that the vast majority of current players set up accounts in recent weeks as the NCAA appeared poised for Wednesday’s adoption of a Name, Image and Likeness policy.
While prices across the site vary, the cost to play most Penn State players ranges from a few dollars to just over $10.
In addition, a Sean Clifford T-shirt has appeared on the Etsy shop for Quarterback Takeover, although the nature of the deal – if it is in fact directly related to Clifford – has not been announced. Penn State wrestler Roman Bravo-Young also announced a shoe raffle on his Twitter account on Thursday morning.
The NCAA’s ruling covers a comprehensive regulatory plan and can be read about in more depth here. However the main points of the Name Image and Likeness policy are as follows. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill on Wednesday that legalizes NIL compensation for college athletes.
- Individuals can engage in NIL activities that are consistent with the law of the state where the school is located. Colleges and universities may be a resource for state law questions.
- Individuals can use a professional services provider for NIL activities.
- College athletes who attend a school in a state without an NIL law can engage in this type of activity without violating NCAA rules related to name, image and likeness.
- Student-athletes should report NIL activities consistent with state law or school and conference requirements to their school
