57 - The Pro’s Weigh in on NCAA’s NIL Guidelines with TJ Lang and Charlie Batch

In this episode, I sit down with former pro and college football players, Charlie Batch, TJ Lang, and Brett Petersmark to discuss the big debate around NIL (name, image, and likeness) in NCAA sports.

The NIL is an agreement set by the NCAA for student-athletes to have the right to monetize and profit from their brand, which consists of their name, image, and likeness. College athletes can sign sponsorship deals with corporate brands that charge money for autographs and even create their brand or an E-commerce site. 

Inside of the discussion of the NIL, there are several smaller issues that exist, such as “Girls vs. Boys.” When it comes down to it, it is better for the girls because the funding for females is not equal to the males and thus NIL allows for opportunities to open up for females.

Some of the issues are, for example, that if you get a sponsorship from a specific corporation, you can't show up wearing their brand. It’s very difficult for athletes because they're not allowed to use one image or logo that everybody associates with you and their popularity and fame. 

Additionally, TJ mentions that Universities have beer advertisers but restrict athletes from ever consuming it. The NCAA has no choice but to try to get involved and regulate it at some level. They always try to have this moral ground right where it's no gambling, no casinos, no liquor, no beverages, but pretty much every university has some sponsorship. 

In regard to recruitment, there is a portal for recruiters where players can put their names in, and the recruiters can decide to recruit you. The system allows players to get one transfer without sitting out the rest of the season. 

For Charlie, the NIL would have made his life much easier after high school and college. The paradigm shift wasn’t about money because he could have decided based on how he was compensated. He says he would have been able to help his family financially.

Charlie also identifies that there is a lot of a gray area in the recruitment aspects for bigger schools. Some athletes play for bigger schools and then transfer to minor schools because they want to pursue a specific academic program that the bigger school doesn’t have. That is just one of the loopholes that is happening with universities right now. 

TJ says the NIL will keep growing until something boils over.  Student-athletes could end up earning millions of dollars!

Links:

Charlie Batch:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliebatch/

https://www.instagram.com/charliebatch16/

TJ Lang:

https://twitter.com/TJLang70

Brett Petersmark:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-petersmark-89a257a/

 

Things you’ll learn:

• How the NIL Agreement affect today’s student-athletes

• What opportunities the NIL Agreement brings to student-athletes

• How the Recruitment Process for Student-Athletes has Evolved

• How student-athletes can take advantage of the NIL Agreement