Ackerman compared this month's upcoming report to a "midterm" before full recommendations are announcedGETTY IMAGES
Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman is co-chairing the NCAA's working committee on the name, image and likeness issue, and she said that she expects the committee's work to extend into '20 "before any iron-clad recommendations are made," according to Jerry Carino of the ASBURY PARK PRESS. Ackerman during the conference's men's basketball media day on Thursday noted the committee's initial report will be presented on Oct. 29 to the NCAA BOG, though she called that a "midterm." She said, "In a few weeks we'll have a better description of the landscape, of the case law, because there has been case law in this area." California last month passed a bill allowing student athletes to profit from their NIL rights, and when asked if her phone had been ringing on the topic, Ackerman said, "No to be honest, it hasn't been." Villanova coach Jay Wright said of NIL bills, "We were going to do this anyway. God knows how long it would have taken. We just have to get faster at being ahead of issues like this rather than turning it into a negative that we deal with afterward." Carino notes Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing "seemed less than eager to dive into" the NIL topics. Ewing said, "I know at some point the athletes need to be compensated. I just don't know which way we're going to do it" (ASBURY PARK PRESS, 10/11).
CLOCK IS TICKING: In Louisville, Tim Sullivan writes there is "still time to get ahead of California's Fair Pay To Play Act and the like-minded legislation gaining traction in other states; still time to create a progressive national policy on the compensation of college athletes; still time to act before Congress asserts jurisdiction." A recent Seton Hall poll showed a majority of Americans "favor college athletes being able to profit off their name, image and likeness by a 60-32 margin (with 8% undecided)." This shows that the "pace of change appears to be accelerating." Ohio Univ. professor David Ridpath said the NCAA "can be proactive or they can end up being reactive and it will be done for them." Ridpath: "I agree with the NCAA that it should be able to make its own rules, but the rules have to be constitutional. They have to be fair. And I think, honestly, from the federal perspective, they have to be forced. And this is eventually going to force them to do something" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 10/11).
