Graphic by Sophia Lopez ‘24.
By Genevieve Zahner ’26
Sports Editor
The fight for collegiate athletes to be compensated for the use of their name, image and likeness has been a major debate across the country for years, especially in the Division I sphere.
Now, thanks to companies like NOCAP Sports, that fight to be compensated for the right of publicity is over. Student-athletes across divisions will be able to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness, rights defined as NIL by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
NOCAP is an athlete marketing technology and services company founded in 2020 that focuses on name, image and likeness. They work with athletes across NCAA divisions on marketing and help them profit from their position as student-athletes. According to Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Secretary Kamlyn Yosick ’25, this is the first year that Mount Holyoke College Athletics has partnered with NOCAP.
Name, image and likeness make up the legal concept of the “right of publicity,” or an athlete’s ability to promote a certain company’s products or services. According to the Next College Student Athlete, the right to publicity for college athletes is typically used to protect these athletes from having commercial promotions misuse their NIL and profit off of them.
However, some critics say this is what the NCAA has already been doing all along without the athletes’ consent. A poll conducted by Sportico and The Harris Poll revealed that about 74% of Americans today support the right to publicity for collegiate athletes.
The NCAA’s bylaws state that an athlete’s participation in a collegiate sport should be motivated by education. However, over the years, the college athletics industry has received criticism for being a multibillion-dollar industry that exploits the NIL of their players for personal profit, Sportico reported.
Allowing athletes to receive compensation on their NIL has made some concerned that the NCAA will lose value, but this practice has not been shown to affect the organization. Several billion-dollar agreements have been made with conferences such as the Big Ten Conference, as well as streaming sites bidding on the right to broadcast college football.
Division I athletics have been under scrutiny for years while the debate of whether or not athletes should be allowed to be paid on the basis of NIL has continued. Many argued that the NCAA was exploiting their athletes by operating under the guise that allowing athletes to profit from public appearances or sponsorships would compromise the integrity of the sport, as per The Guardian.
NOCAP is part of the NIL Verified Network, which was established by the NIL Network. It is a membership-based organization comprising different businesses and organizations chosen from groups consistent in “athlete-based practices,” as per the NOCAP website.
To become a part of NOCAP, businesses must go through a vetting process that includes getting NIL-verified and having their business practices looked into to ensure that they are in compliance with NIL laws and NCAA interim and institutional policies. The process also ensures that the business terms include fair language and clauses for college athletes, as per the NOCAP website.
While NOCAP is focused on collegiate athlete marketing, professional sports teams such as the Women’s Premier Soccer League have started partnerships with the company as well. This allows the WPSL and team sponsors to work with NOCAP to package player activations hand in hand with existing sponsorships. Companies will have access to individual athletes and can work with them on social media campaigns, public appearances, branded merchandise and other promotional aspects, as reported by a NOCAP blog post on their website.
Since its inception in 2020, NOCAP has been working to help athletes after the NCAA announced that they would be allowing athletes to benefit from promotional opportunities in September 2021. Athletes from across divisions of the NCAA will benefit from the ability to promote themselves through name, image and likeness, and Mount Holyoke’s partnership will help players develop their careers both in and outside of college athletics.