Nebraska likeness compensation bill heading to Gov. Ricketts’ desk
Nebraska athletes are one step closer to getting paid for their likeness.
Tuesday, a bill that would allow Nebraska student athletes to be able to be paid for endorsing their likeness came one step closer to being a reality.
Legislative Bill 962 was given approval in the Unicameral on Tuesday. This bill was passed by a 35-6 vote. This now goes to the desk of Gov. Ricketts.
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This piece of legislation would go into effect in June 2023. Players cannot be penalized by any collegiate athletic association because they earn compensation for their name, image, likeness rights, or reputation.
In addition, no collegiate athletic association will be able to penalize a competing university because an athlete is compensated for the use of their name, image, or likeness.
There is a catch to this. The athlete must let the academic institution no if they are entering into a contract to benefit from their likeness.
To me, this is huge. I have always thought that athletes should be able to get paid for the use of their likeness. I wrote several college papers on it, and I’ve always been consistent in my stance. If Gov,. Ricketts approves this, I would be very happy for all the athletes involved. It’s about time that the athletes are able to profit off of their likeness at the very least.
Just to give you an idea of the numbers Adrian Martinez could make as much at $138,000. Looking at this graphic from fivethirtyeight.com, the volleyball team would also get a decent cut of money. Lexi Sun would bring in $39,438, it appears that the numbers go based off of sport popularity at the school.
In any event, this is certainly a step in the right direction for collegiate athletes. Assuming it passes the desk of Gov. Ricketts, this would certainly be huge for Nebraska. Bills like this are going to change the landscape of college football. Whether they change it in a negative or positive way remains to be seen.
With the way that college institutions make so much money off of athletics, I truly think that the players should at least have some way to make money of their own.
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Collegiate sports are too big a business for the players to not even have an opportunity to make money from their likeness. Consider that the football program made $59.4 million last year alone. If a bill like this can help put some money in the players pockets, I’m all for it.