George Named To NCAA Working Group On Legislation & Student NIL

                BOULDER – University of Colorado athletic director Rick George has been named to the NCAA's "Working Group on State and Federal Legislation," with the group's charge to assess recent bills introduced both federally and locally about a student-athlete's ability to license and benefit from name, image and likeness (NIL) during the period of NCAA eligibility.

                George will serve on the 18-member committee, which is comprised of athletic and university officials from all three NCAA divisions. He is one of four Division I athletic directors named to serve, along with Jill Bodensteiner (St. Joseph's), Gene Smith (Ohio State) and Carla Williams (Virginia).

                "I am honored to serve on this committee," George said. "This is an important conversation to be had and I look forward to getting to work on this with other members of the working group."

                In announcing the committee on Tuesday, the NCAA release said, "Federal legislation threatens the non-profit status of the Association and its members and state legislation threatens to create local differences that would make it impossible to host fair national championships and to alter materially the principles of intercollegiate athletics. These initiatives necessitate conversations and agreements about how the membership should respond to the legislative proposals.

                "To facilitate the dialogue, the NCAA Board of Governors and the President of the NCAA established the Board of Governors Federal and State Legislation Working Group to study whether the Association should maintain its position in opposition to the legislation and/or work to develop a process whereby a student-athlete's NIL could be monetized in a fashion that still would be consistent with the NCAA's core values, mission and principles."

                Specifically, the working group is directed as follows:

Consider whether modifications to NCAA rules, policies and practices should be made to allow for NIL payments;
Be mindful that NIL payments must not be compensation for athletics participation. Paying students as employees for play is anathema to the NCAA mission focused on students competing against students and is not part of this discussion.
Assure that any proposed solutions keep in mind that student-athlete benefits must be tethered to educational expenses or incidental to participation;
Examine whether any modifications to allow for NIL payments, beyond what the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals required in O'Bannon and other court rulings, would be achievable and enforceable without undermining the distinction between professional sports and collegiate sports;
Preserve the ability to host fair interstate competitions and national championships.

For its final report, the BOG requests the working group produce a set of Association-wide principles to provide each division guidance to a consistent approach on legislation related to NIL payments. It is noted that the principles also may include a rationale as to whether this would be plausible in keeping with the Association's mission. The working group should provide an update to the Board of Governors and the NCAA
president Aug. 6 and deliver a report Oct. 29.

Any media inquiries at this time should be directed to Stacey Osburn in the NCAA Public Relations office (sosburn@ncaa.org).

George Named To NCAA Working Group On Legislation & Student NIL

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