New York introduced a bill last week that continues the recent trend of state legislatures trying to make it easier for schools to engage in the NIL landscape. A section of the bill would appear to protect state schools from NCAA punishment for NIL violations.
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Per the bill: An athletic association, conference, or other group or organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics, including, but not limited to, the NCAA, shall not prevent a college from identifying, facilitating, enabling, or supporting opportunities for a student-athlete to earn compensation for the student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness activities.
The wording of the bill is similar to a previously vetoed Oklahoma bill, according to Dan Greene, an associate attorney with Newman & Lickstein.
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“The language in this bill is almost identical to the proposed Oklahoma bill that was shockingly vetoed last month,” Greene told The NIL Deal.
If passed, New York would join the likes of Missouri, Arkansas, and Colorado in terms of states that are attempting to circumvent NCAA regulations. Texas is also looking to join that group.
“Particularly, this bill makes it easier for schools to facilitate and support NIL opportunities and also protects them from the NCAA investigating them for engaging in NIL activities or penalizing them for violations of its NIL policy,” Greene added.
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For a while, the pattern was that states with popular football programs have been the ones initiating state-level changes. New York, which isn’t particularly a major college football state, is drawing attention to the fact that NIL modifications are necessary even without that influence.
“New York becomes the first northeastern state to make this push, which shows the sort of momentum being made throughout the country on the state legislature level,” said Greene. “The NCAA will sure have issues slowing down this momentum if more states continue with this trend.”
