This Play is Under Review: How State Name, Image, and Likeness Statutes Fail to Protect Student-Athletes from Unscrupulous Agents

For over a century, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s concept of amateurism prohibited student-athletes from receiving compensation for their name, image, and likeness. Amateurism has been successfully challenged in the Supreme Court of the United States in recent years. In the wake of these challenges, states have passed legislation allowing student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. Additionally, the legislation allows student-athletes to utilize an agent without losing their athletic eligibility. Unfortunately, the legislation is largely void of proper attempts to regulate agent behavior and instead relies on a prior regulatory scheme. This raises a question as to whether student-athletes are protected from unscrupulous agents under this scheme as agents seek to profit in this new era. This article seeks to address the pitfalls of the prior regulatory scheme and proposes solutions that should be considered as part of a unified federal approach