ANZSLA Regional Events: Name, Image and Likeness Rights (March 2023)

A presentation by distinguished guest speaker, Professor Marc Edelman (Professor of Law at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York). On June 30, 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dropped its restraints on college athletes endorsement deals—enabling college athletes, for the first time, to license rights to their names, images, and likenesses without running afoul to NCAA regulations. This talk will discuss the general right of publicity under U.S. law, as well as the process by which state legislators passed new laws to prevent NCAA member schools from interfering with the free-market endorsement opportunities of college athletes. In addition, this talk will discuss some of the benefits and concerns that have emanated from the emerging free-market for college athlete licensing. The speaker, Professor Marc Edelman, is presently a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at the University of Canberra and has written extensively on college athlete rights. In July 2019, he served as the expert witness testifying on behalf of California’s Fair Pay to Play Act—the first state bill in the United States to ensure college athletes the right to endorse products free from NCAA interference.