By: Marty Brochstein – Senior VP Industry Relations and Information, Licensing International 

Yesterday’s announcement  that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) had taken a first step toward allowing collegiate athletes the right to profit off their names, images and likenesses is only the latest development in what has seemed to be an inexorable march that will have profound effects on the collegiate licensing business, not to mention such areas as endorsements and media rights. We’re far from changes actually taking effect, but the direction seems clear.

It’s a journey that began, in a legal sense, with a suit filed by former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon after a friend told him that he’d recently used O’Bannon within an NCAA-licensed videogame. It turned out that while O’Bannon’s name wasn’t used in the game, his likeness and performance characteristics had closely matched the videogame version.

The hand of the NCAA (a membership organization that sets and enforces a weighty and often arcane set of eligibility rules for athletes and schools) was forced, among other things, by the recent passage of a California law recognizing collegiate athletes’ ability to commercialize without interference.

There are still many steps to be taken, but potentially this could lead to such things as star players’ names appearing on officially licensed jerseys; at this point, for example, a fan can buy a jersey with the number of Alabama’s star quarterback, but not his name. And he doesn’t share in the proceeds.

It also could lead to the revival of NCAA-based football and basketball videogames – once popular franchises for EA Sports that were dropped four years ago in large part because of the legal battle surrounding the O’Bannon suit. “We’re still digesting it,” said Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson yesterday on a conference call with analysts. “We would anticipate that there is still a number of things that would have to happen over the coming years before we will be able to get back into that business, but certainly we’re watching closely.” (A week ago, at a conference, he reportedly was less circumspect, saying that “We’d jump for the opportunity” to re-enter the collegiate sports category.)

It remains to be seen how quickly things will move; there’s sure to be lots of legal and political maneuvering before business norms and mechanisms are established. The day before the NCAA’s announcement, a press release was issued saying that REP Worldwide (a licensing agency established by the NFL Players Association) and the National College Players Association (NCPA) announced “a collaborative effort to explore how college athletes from all sports can finally receive fair compensation for use of their name, image and likeness.” The NCPA describes itself as “a nonprofit advocacy group comprised of over 20,000 current and former college athletes nationwide.  It seeks key player protections such as health and safety standards, sports-related medical expenses, improved graduation rates, and economic justice.”

Let the games begin.