Oh , new nil laws are making waves throughout the country and there's a lot of confusion on the legislation leading to rampant speculation and instead of the blind leading the blind , like we often see on social media , I need to talk to somebody who actually knows the law . Darren Heitner is a practicing lawyer specializing in sports law and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Florida , teaching for its law to the next generation .
The NC A has absolutely no control over the brands over agents over anyone other than those classes of individuals , the athletes and the universities , which is why over time , we've always seen the punitive action being that an athlete perhaps loses eligibility has to sit out for a certain amount of time or the school loses scholarships , has to pay in money , et cetera . Then you had the , the states that have passed NIO laws this far and made them effective . Again , Texas being one of them , by the state of Florida being another to the extent that there is some sort of body enforcing those laws , they could take action against any violators of those laws .
They couldn't do previously ? Nil stands for name , image and likeness . And these are the three primary focus areas for an individual's right of publicity , an individual's right of publicity really derives out of an individual's right to privacy .
But those laws are also very focused on the NC A itself . It says if the , if the NC A , the conferences , the schools do anything to prohibit or restrict the athletes from participating in nil , then they're violating those state laws . And finally , you look at the individual schools which many of them have published their own nil policies and to the extent that there may be a violation by an athlete , that athlete could be subject to some sort of punishment under the code of conduct or otherwise .
And NIL is a new space in which everyone is learning how to operate and you've been following this topic closely for a while . So what does nil allow college athletes to do that ? They couldn't do previously ?
