Associate Professor Tamara Clegg discusses the challenges associated with college athletes profiting off their names, images, and likenesses (NIL).
WTOP article “UMD professor says college athletes will need to learn to manage brands before profiting of their likeness” by John Domen discusses how college athletes will need to learn to manage brands before profiting off their likeness.
Previously prohibited by the NCAA, several states now allow college athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness (NIL). However, this policy change does not ensure that athletes will necessarily be able to do so.
Associate Professor at the University of Maryland College of Information Studies (UMD iSchool) Tamara Clegg shares that, “currently, professional and college teams have a whole staff working behind the scenes, studying ‘lots of really complex analytics.’ Then they have these deep understandings of how to tell stories and how to do the things that will actually maximize the impact of social media marketing and helping athletes to establish their brand.”
Not all student athletes will have access to the resources necessary for branding themselves on social media.
“They already have full time jobs — they already have really two full time jobs,” said Clegg. “Their academics and their sports by itself, so it’s a lot. I think they’re going to be well poised to take advantage of it, but we’re going to really have to understand how to help them do that.”