The Division I Amateurism Cabinet recently began initial discussion of the final report of the Task Force on Commercial Activity in Intercollegiate Athletics, with the intention of eventually crafting legislation that addresses the need for both commercial revenue to fund athletics programs and adherence to the principles of amateurism.

Earlier this year, the Division I Leadership Council requested that the cabinet review the report and work out the details of implementation. Part of the cabinet’s review included a history of the intersection of commercialism and intercollegiate athletics going back more than 150 years.

The cabinet members agreed with the task force’s assessment that current legislation does not adequately answer questions about the application of modern media to the promotion of intercollegiate athletics and that the Association’s rules are difficult to apply to advanced technology.

The cabinet examined three of the principles advanced in the commercialism task force report:

• Authorization of the use of a student-athlete’s name or likeness (for example, via game footage) that does not portray the student-athlete as endorsing a product or service is permissible if several conditions have been met (student-athlete and athletics director permission and a clear association between the commercial entity and the institution/conference/NCAA)
• If conditions and approvals of the preceding principle are met, a student-athlete’s name or likeness may be used if it is part of the actual coverage of the student-athlete’s competition (in any medium, including television, Web cast, mobile statistics and highlights) or is a representation of the actual competition (photos, game footage), provided the use does not take the form of a fabricated product (names on jerseys).
• A Commercial Activities Oversight Committee should be established to make binding determinations for questions about the use of student-athlete names and likenesses and to monitor trends.

The cabinet will examine various new media concepts that involve the use of student-athletes’ images or names to facilitate the discussion at its next meeting in September.

In the last few years, several groups have examined the issue of the use of student-athlete names and likenesses in significant detail. The cabinet is expected to draw on the work of those groups to eventually develop legislative proposals in those areas. The group will also work to more clearly define the makeup and role of the oversight committee proposed by the presidents on the task force.

The cabinet could provide potential legislative recommendations as early as September, but the discussion is expected to carry over into 2010.