CHARLOTTE, N.C. — (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has issued an executive order allowing college athletes to earn money off the use of their names, images and likenesses.
Cooper’s order, signed Friday, comes one day after an NCAA rule change went into effect allowing athletes to profit from their fame without endangering their eligibility or putting their school in jeopardy of violating amateurism rules.
The NCAA’s move suspended restrictions on payments to athletes for opportunities such as sponsorship deals, online endorsements and personal appearances. It came after multiple states — such as Florida, Alabama and Mississippi — already pushed ahead with NIL laws permitting those actions as of Thursday.
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Elsewhere, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order last week permitting players to cash in on NIL activities, while Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine did so this week.
Cooper’s three-page order outlines guidelines that include permitting schools to restrict players from entering into agreements if those conflict with an institution’s contracts or “negatively impact” the school’s image. According to a news release, the executive order sets “a standard for individual institutions to use as they formalize their own policies and procedures” while Cooper works with state lawmakers to pursue formal legislation to supplement the order.
Some schools, such as Duke in Durham, already have released their own NIL guidelines.
UNCC starts program after NCAA clears way for athlete compensation
It’s a big change many college athletes have been waiting years for. They can now get paid for the use of their name, image and likeness.
The NCAA established its uniform interim policy, allowing all of its student-athletes across all sports to new endorsement deals, just not pay for play.
This is something the NCAA has never done before, and each state will do things a bit differently.
For Charlotte 49er Athletics, the new program Greenlight goes much deeper than the phrase. It’s actually more of a playbook on how to move forward with name, image and likeness now that the policy is finally in play.
“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been looking at it really for the past year ... waiting for updates on what was going to happen nationally and then, of course, it goes by state,” said Brenna Murray, 49ers student-athlete advisory council president.
>> In the video at the top of the page, Channel 9′s DaShawn Brown explains how it will work.
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