A seismic shift will rock college sports next month, when a handful of new state laws go into effect allowing student athletes to make money off their personal images.
It’s been against the rules governing collegiate sports for student athletes to make a profit off their name or image — a practice that’s commonplace in professional sports.
But a flurry of states has forged ahead with laws granting college athletes the rights to their own “name, image and likeness,” arguing that it’s a matter of fairness for student athletes. Statutes in five states, including Georgia and Florida, will go into effect July 1.
Congress could step in, but lawmakers have been unable to come to agreement on a federal law that would resolve the coming patchwork of differing state laws. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is scheduled to grapple with the issue again during a hearing Wednesday morning.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Laura Olson over at Maryland Matters
