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Now that the argument about whether college athletes should be compensated for their name, image and likeness has been decided – the Supreme Court’s recent unanimous decision in favor of the athletes ended that discussion in the affirmative, lacking only the multiple exclamation points it deserved – consider how the landscape changed July 1.
Minutes into the new era of college sports, some athletes already were posting photos of themselves and their new endorsement partners. All you had to do was check Twitter or Instagram. Some of the popular accounts already have added advertising.
Tens of thousands of dollars are now headed to players (that was a good enough term for coaching legend Dean Smith, who didn’t like calling them student-athletes so it’s good enough for me) and while the bulk of the money likely will go to high-profile football and basketball players, the ripple effect is significant.
Golf is already feeling it.
“It’s a good thing. Why not? The rest of the world can do it,” said Alan Bratton, coach of Oklahoma State’s powerhouse men’s golf program, who said some of his players have been approached about opportunities.
In the USGA’s proposed changes to amateur status scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, the concept of NIL (the acronym for name, image and likeness) has been addressed already. It means the USGA was ahead of the NCAA in this regard – but then who wasn’t. Until various state governments and finally the Supreme Court forced the issue, the NCAA was slow-playing the process while further hastening its own demise.
This won’t kill college sports, as hand-wringing NCAA officials have claimed. It helps it.
So what does it mean for golf?
Like anything as landscape-altering as this, sorting through how it will change college and amateur golf as we know it will take time. For most college players, it won’t change much of anything. But for the best of the best, it now lets them make money off their talent – before they turn pro.
It’s not likely to be on the level of what college football and basketball stars can make – some estimates suggest top players will make up to $1 million annually through endorsement deals – but imagine what Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson could have been worth in college when they already were stars.
As a point of reference, Pat Forde in Sports Illustrated reported LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, who has nearly 4 million TikTok followers and more than 1 million Instagram followers, could be the first athlete to make herself a millionaire this way.
Maybe the first. Not the last.
Golfers won’t be left out.
“The Oklahoma State brand is strong,” Bratton said. “The men’s golf brand at Oklahoma State is strong. I’m excited that players can capitalize on that while they’re in school.”
It’s another sign of how the world has changed. In its proposal to ease the restriction on amateurs – which goes along with the NCAA’s new mandate – the USGA is acknowledging that things are different than they were in 2012 when it loosened a tight definition of amateur golf.
With the USGA’s new amateur rules there will be no restrictions on how an amateur may benefit from their name, image or likeness including receiving compensation for expenses through promotional or advertising activities.
That’s important because it allows college golfers to monetize their skill without the risk of losing their amateur status. Otherwise, it conceivably could have made it OK for a college player to be paid by Callaway or Titleist but consequently cost them their amateur status. The USGA has wisely seen the future, which is already here.
The intent is to allow everyone playing amateur golf to supplement their expenses, if they can, without appealing to state golf organizations for support. Especially at the elite level, amateur golf is expensive and the allowances created in 2012 didn’t wreck the game. Now, if a top player has the potential to supplement his or her income through a sponsorship agreement, they can do that.
This has been a murky mess for a while, and just because the rules changed last Thursday it doesn’t mean there is clarity to what happens now. Eight states had enacted their own NIL laws and others have had discussions about the parameters.
It’s too soon to say the same rules apply to everyone because the rules, in a sense, are still being made. One agent said he had been on the phone with a major university’s compliance officer and that person had as many questions as answers.
“We’re hoping the federal government gives guidance to everyone,” said the agent, who works closely with college players turning pro.
A statement released Thursday by the USGA said they – along with the R&A – are assessing the NCAA’s interim policy regarding name, likeness and image.
“While the NCAA’s announcement is not directly related our own work to modernize the Rules of Amateur Status, we applaud the NCAA for making a positive step forward for collegiate athletics and note that their interim policy is closely aligned with where the Rules of Amateur Status will be come Jan. 1, 2022,” the statement said.
“We are now in contact with NCAA staff to seek clarity on a number of items related to their interim policy and will provide an update to the entire golf community as to how NIL-related activities will affect a student-athlete’s amateur status no later than Tuesday, July 6.”
In other words, the USGA seems ready to go along with whatever is allowed in the new world while maintaining a line between playing for prize money versus playing for the competition.
Under new NIL guidelines, whatever compensation players derive cannot be performance-based. If FootJoy wants to brand a college player (who will be bound to honor college sponsorship agreements while playing for the school), it can do that. But the amount of money can’t be determined by how well that person plays.
That player can wear a full FootJoy kit in amateur events outside the college schedule. That makes it possible, likely even, that a guy playing, say, TaylorMade in a major amateur event is being paid to carry the company’s clubs and bag while someone he’s playing against has similar equipment he bought at Dick’s Sporting Goods with his own money.
Like anything that alters the status quo as dramatically as this, it will take time to place guardrails where they belong. It’s a bit like eyeballing a shot from the fairway without the help of a rangefinder or a yardage book – you figure it out.
It’s one of the things golfers do best.
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