College athletes could begin profiting from their name, image and likeness in the 2021-22 school year if proposed NCAA rules changes announced Wednesday are approved by the NCAA membership in January.
The new rules, supported by the NCAA Board of Governors, allow athletes to be paid for third party endorsements with guidelines still being developed and perhaps Congressional legislation to supercede separate name, image and likeness bills now proposed by many state including Arizona.
A committee chaired by Big East commissioner Val Ackerman and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith worked for a year on the changes, which include allowing athletes to be paid for such opportunities as social media, businesses they have started and personal appearances related to and separate from athletics.