Name, image and likeness. To universities and coaches, it is a bit of a curse word. To the NCAA as a whole? A lot more swear words. But how will college sports really be changed by this? Probably won’t know until a few years and college classes have gone through but I have a guess and it involves a power switch.
That switch was from coach to player. It is on full display here in Los Angeles with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as much in charge of head coach as the front office. It is seen in the transfer portal where athletes head out of town if they don’t play or get to play in the style they want.
This will expand, in my opinion, to those college athletes who will find that they have levers of power to pull and will start to pull them. Who will stand in the way of a 19 year old combo guard who is making local commercials really well and whose draft stock is rising?
Not the college who has a marquee name to use as a draw. Not a coach who is on the hot seat. Not a NCAA administrator who needs to keep both happy. Of course keeping the worker down is endemic in the US so all will keep trying to push the athlete down but they might soon find that they cannot.
Pivoting to beer, the closest analog to a NIL is IP and how breweries skirt lawsuits with beer names and labels. Who will gain the upper hand there? So go find a beer with a movie reference or a product reference on it. How does name and likeness translate in the realm of beer labels?