Leveling the Playing Field: How Clearer Guidance May Provide Equity in Student-Athlete Name, Image, and Likeness Deals

By Julia Heckelman, Sidne Norman, Johanna Torres, Michael Schmidtberger, Lia Higgins and Michelle Gomez-Reichman, of Sidley Two years have elapsed since the Supreme Court held that the NCAA could not restrict education-related benefits for student athletes in NCAA v. Alston. This decision has been used to affirm the rights of student athletes to secure education-related compensation from their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”). Still in its infancy, the NIL regulatory landscape varies acr