The Future of Collegiate Esports and NIL: Part 1
When thinking about traditional collegiate sports, esports are not usually considered, mostly because the NCAA does not regulate esports like they do college basketball or football. Esports, however, are like traditional sports. They require a team, communication, training, and commitment, so why does the NCAA not govern collegiate esports? As name, image, and likeness (NIL) becomes more present among college athletes, the NCAA is starting to look to collegiate esports to help with the emerging concepts.
A Quick History on Collegiate Esports and NCAA
The NCAA serves as the national regulators of all collegiate sports and was initially created to protect student athletes. The NCAA creates rules that all colleges and universities must follow to create an equal playing field among the schools in terms of recruiting, scholarships, Title IX and other issues. As collegiate sports become more prevalent and a revenue driver for colleges, student athletes are looking to find ways to create sponsorship opportunities and deals with brands, something that was completely banned by the NCAA up until very recently. The NCAA is now navigating allowing sponsorship deals with student athletes and revenue for students outside of strictly scholarships.
In the late 2010s, colleges and universities started to create competitive esports and with it came scholarship and sponsorship opportunities. As collegiate esports programs began gaining traction as legitimate scholarship and competitive play routes into certain schools, the NCAA took notice, but decided against governing collegiate esports in 2019. Since then, other organizations, such as the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), have formed to serve in a similar capacity as the NCAA for collegiate esports. There are a few major differences however in what is regulated because esports must get licensing and sponsorship rights for the games from the video game companies. Because of this, collegiate esports has been spearheading what NIL looks like for student athletes and the NCAA has begun to pay attention.
What is NIL In General and Specifically In Esports?
Traditionally, NIL stands for name, image, and likeness and gives an individual the rights to promote a good or service, usually through a brand deal or company sponsorship. NIL is prevalent among professional athletes through sponsorships and has become prevalent most recently among college athletes. After a Supreme Court decision in 2021, student athletes are now allowed to secure sponsorship opportunities with brands that are not education related.
NIL is inherent to esports due to the overlap with video game developers and endemic brands. Collegiate esports athletes and schools are nontraditional in terms of sponsorship opportunities because they can get brand deals as individuals or at the school level. The flexibility available to esports programs makes it easier for esports athletes to develop their own brand through broadcasting rights and licenses. Additionally, it helps the school as the students can build their own brand while also building the brand and reputation of the school’s esports program.
The NCAA will likely look to esports programs to better understand how brands, student athletes, and schools work together to establish beneficial deals for all entities and if the NCAA included esports in their scope of collegiate athletics, a lot could be learned from both sides.
Adding collegiate esports to the NCAA’s roster would benefit esports in a multitude of ways. First, NCAA’s established regulations could create fairer competition and recruiting opportunities among schools with esports programs. Second, adding esports to the NCAA would give the school esports programs legitimacy. As of now, many schools esports programs are more ad hoc and do not provide the level of scholarship opportunities like a football or basketball program does, but there is no reason why they should not. Finally, there would be more diversity, equity, and inclusion in collegiate esports, and Title IX concerns would likely be addressed.
Interested in learning more about NIL and esports? Need help understanding NIL opportunities for you or your school? Stay tuned for a part two where we will get into what you as a player should do if you are presented with an NIL opportunity or contact us, we would love to help you!