House allows college athletes to sign endorsements

For more than a century, college athletes have been mythologized as amateurs while laboring for colleges and universities that make hundreds of millions of dollars marketing them to sell tickets and merchandise.

Buckner’s measure spotlights elite athletes who are already national names during their college careers. They’ll be able to sign deals to model and promote brand-name sportswear or other products aside from tobacco, marijuana, alcohol or sports gambling. But Buckner said the real beneficiaries would be those who don’t have a chance to play professionally, such as a star softball player.

“She’s a bit of a fan favorite and a big deal to her college town and the local car dealer wants to put her on posters,” Buckner said. “This may be her one shot to make money off of the fact that she’s a great softball player and a great personality.”

Proponents of name, image and likeness laws bemoan the lack of a national standard, although the NCAA has indicated it is considering one. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, whose members are mostly smaller schools, adopted a policy last year.

Buckner, listed as a 6-foot-2, 265-lb. (188-centimer, 120-kilogram) defensive lineman for the Fighting Illini from 2003 to 2006, said the measure now moves to the Senate, where Sen. Napolean Harris III, a Democrat from Harvey, is sponsor. A Northwestern University graduate, Harris had a seven-year NFL career as a linebacker.