The N.C.A.A. agreed on Wednesday to allow college athletes across the country to capitalize off their fame for the first time. The decision will allow students from coast to coast to strike endorsement deals, profit off their social media accounts, sell autographs and otherwise make money from their names, images and likenesses, potentially directing millions of dollars to college athletes every year.
The decision on Wednesday afternoon by the Division I Board of Directors, which oversees the most prominent tier of college athletics in the United States, amounted to a surrender to years of swelling legal and political pressure.