An Athlete’s Identity: The Power of NIL and Rise of Intellectual Property in College Sports

The rise of NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals in recent years has expanded college athletes’ access to funds beyond scholarships. Now, these young athletes are transformed into marketable brands, which raises pressing legal questions and issues about licensing agreements and trademarks.

For years, college athletics operated on the reliance that athletes would compete for scholarships towards their education, not for compensation. Sara Coello, What Is NIL in College Sports? How Do Athlete Deals Work?, ESPN (Mar. 16, 2026, 2:40 PM), https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/41040485/what-nil-college-sports-how-do-athlete-deals-work. However, the recognition and expansion of name, image, likeness (NIL) rights has completely transformed this system. Id. With the acceptance of NIL rights, college football players can sign endorsement deals with local businesses, basketball players can start clothing brands, and soccer players can lock in social media brand deals. Name, Image, and Likeness, U.S. PAT. & TRADEMARK OFF., https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/name-image-and-likeness (last visited Apr. 2, 2026). Profiting off the use of their personal branding, these young adults can buy their families houses, an unimaginable feat for college athletes even a decade ago. Sara Coello, supra. Despite the heightened pressure to create policy that would put limits on NIL, the bigger issue is not policy-related, but instead lies in understanding the convergence of sports law and intellectual property law. Id. 

NIL is the ability to control the commercial use of one’s personal identity. Right of Publicity, INT’L TRADEMARK ASS’N, https://www.inta.org/topics/right-of-publicity/ (last visited Apr. 2, 2026). Such personal identity includes physical appearance, signature, voice, and, of course, name. Sara Coello, supra. In legal terms, the right to control these personal aspects stems from the right of publicity. The right of publicity is an intellectual property doctrine that protects, “. . . against the misappropriation of a person’s name, likeness, or other indicia of personal identity—such as nickname, pseudonym, voice, signature, likeness, or photograph—for commercial benefit.” Right of Publicity, supra. The right of publicity is different from patent or copyright protection, which deal with inventions or creative works, whereas the right of publicity safeguards one’s personal identity from unauthorized commercial usage. Id. 

Prior to the acceptance of NIL, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) had strictly prevented college athletes from receiving compensation for commercial use of their personal brand. Sara Coello, supra. The debate on compensating these student athletes centered on the notion that college athletes are not professional athletes, meaning they are not employed by the schools they play for. Opponents of NIL argued that allowing for such compensation would blur the line between professional and collegiate-level sports and interfere with education because students would focus on securing lucrative deals with local businesses. Id. Lesley Kennedy, College Athletics Faces Uncertainty Amid NIL Policy Changes, NAT’L CONF. ST. LEGISLATURES (Sept. 8, 2025), https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/college-athletics-faces-uncertainty-amid-nil-policy-changes. 

Proponents have long challenged the legality of restricting compensation for student athletes, with advocacy culminating into the Supreme Court’s hearing of NCAA v. Alston. NCAA v. Alston, 594 U.S. 69, 141 S. Ct. 2141 (2021). The Court’s decision in Alston signaled a change in favor of loosening restrictions for collegiate athletes. Id. Almost immediately after Alston, accelerated policy changes finally allowed NIL deals, with athletes engaging in endorsement agreements with local businesses and brand deals on social media. NCAA v. Alston, 135 HARV. L. REV. 471 (2021), https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-135/ncaa-v-alston/. 

Typically, an NIL deal functions through licensing agreements like those found in intellectual property law. Sara Coello, supra. For instance, a student-athlete will allow a company to use their “likeness” for a commercial or to promote a product via social media in exchange for payment. Id. Agreements often include information such as duration, compensation, and scope of exclusivity. Id. Though not directly paying for an athlete’s identity, these agreements are temporarily licensing the intellectual property rights to use the identity to another party. Id. 

While NIL opportunities continue expanding, college athletes are seeking trademark attorneys to protect their commercialized personal brands. Lesley Kennedy, supra. The shift in acceptance represents a wider transformation: college athletes no longer wish to simply participate in sports, but instead want to become entrepreneurs as they manage personal branding. Sara Coello, supra. By registering nicknames, logos, and phrases as trademarks, these young adults ensure they retain exclusive rights to use these identifiers in commerce. Id. Most importantly, obtaining these trademarks allows athletes to enter the clothing market, which is generally dominated by universities and professional leagues. Id. 

Issues have arisen regarding overlaps in branding. For example, a student athlete wearing a university logo on their hoodie or jacket in an advertisement. Lesley Kennedy, supra. Consequently, NIL agreements force the overlap of layers of intellectual property ownership. Id. These tensions highlight broader policy questions regarding the future of collegiate sports. Id. Presently, the legal framework is fragmented, with a patchwork of state laws and institutional rules – which differ in how they regulate athlete compensation, license institutional marks, and the extent to which schools may control or participate in NIL activities - providing guidance for the use of NIL in collegiate sports. Sara Coello, supra. 

Ultimately, the rise of NIL rights marks more than a shift in college athletics; it represents a fundamental evolution in how the law recognizes and protects identity as a form of intellectual property. As student-athletes continue to operate at the intersection of amateur competition and commercial enterprise, the legal system will be forced to confront increasingly complex questions surrounding ownership, control, and fair use of personal and institutional brands.