The Conflict Between Notre Dame & NCAA Player Policy Explained
Over the years, Notre Dame has firmly established itself as one of the most successful programs in college football history. The sheer amount of star players to come out of the university is a remarkable achievement in itself. In turn, the prestigious program has always tried to ensure that its players receive the very best in sponsorship deals and media promotions possible.
However, when it comes to big-name players being able to profit from the use of their name, image, and likeness in media, certain restrictions are steadily becoming an issue.
A Rise Of Popularity In Sports Games
In parallel with a steadily growing interest and investment in the sport of college football, is the growing popularity of digital sports games in the US and Canada, and around the world. This has led to a particularly lucrative opportunity for many sports stars to benefit from the use of their name, image, and likeness within successful games.
The NCAA’s Restrictive Policies
The NCAA, a regulatory board for student athletics in North America, has a number of strict rules prohibiting players from using their name, image, and likeness to directly profit in any manner. Furthermore, punishment is harsh and may include losing their scholarship and becoming illegible for further recruitment.
Though proposals to amend these policies are being put through the legislative process, there is yet no major move to implement new rules. This leaves certain successful college programs and players at a particular loss when it comes to financially benefitting from sports games and other media.
Notre Dame Opts Out Of EA
A notable result is Notre Dame, having its own policies and sense of loyalty in regard to player branding and media promotion, deciding to opt out of EA Sports games until further notice. With the game franchise being highly popular, this came as no easy decision. However, the hope is that with the notable surge in new alternative platforms for college sports and players to benefit from, changes to the rules will be forthcoming.
Until then, or at least until Notre Dame’s governing committee has a change of heart, EA Sports, and their popular reboot of EA College Football, will unfortunately not be featuring Notre Dame. How this will affect their overall success though, remains to be seen.
The Impact On College Sports
College football is rapidly growing and providing many other avenues for promotion and revenue through constant media attention, as well as endorsement from big name sports brands. Due to the NCAA’s policies around name and image branding though, the sport, and its players, are also undeniably missing out.
Many of these policies were created in a different era though, when college sports had far less viewership. With today’s world of sports, entertainment, and technology like real money casino Android apps rapidly changing all the time, new rules and alterations to college sports are inevitable. For now, though, college players will have to do what they have always done in order to fully capitalise on their fame, and move on to “bigger” leagues.
