Higher Ed Advisor: Ohio State University and student athletes navigate the name, image and likeness (NIL) landscape

Welcome to Higher Ed Advisor, the Baker Tilly podcast series where we speak with higher education industry leaders about practical and proactive guidance to help colleges and universities protect and enhance their value.

Colleges and universities faced a new athletic landscape when the NCAA suspended the name, image and likeness (NIL) rules in the summer of 2021. However, Ohio State University had mobilized its teams in advance of this news and were ready to support student athletes in navigating the NIL era when that moment arrived. On this Higher Ed Advisor athletics podcast, Rick Van Brimmer, Assistant Vice President for Business Advancement and Director of Trademark and Affinity Management at Ohio State University, describes how his institution’s cross-representational group prioritizes education and puts the necessary safeguards and guardrails in place to help student-athletes thoughtfully maximize their NIL opportunities.

Listen as Rick and Baker Tilly’s collegiate athletics specialists, Dave Capitano and Adrienne Larmett, share leading practices that pave a path for success in the NIL era that include:

• Involving a variety of stakeholders to lend to the conversation about NIL
• Creating a dedicated team from different areas in the institution that focuses on the important aspects of NIL, such as compliance, legal, administration, and others
• Understanding what the institution can and cannot do to assist student athletes
• Using programs, like Opendorse, to provide resources and data to help student athletes understand, build, and protect their personal brands
• Educating student athletes and their families, along with members of the university regularly about NIL and the institution’s policies

Interested in more podcasts on collegiate athletics topics? Subscribe to Higher Ed Advisor now!