UNC announced Wednesday that it has established an initiative called LAUNCH, which is a comprehensive name, image and likeness program designed to help student-athletes elevate their platform and provide tools to enhance their personal brands.

Through expanded partnerships with Altius Sports Partners, COMPASS and INFLCR, LAUNCH will provide expert education and resources to Tar Heel athletes related to — but not limited to — digital branding, financial planning and networking.

“Carolina Athletics has long been committed to outstanding experiences for our more than 800 student-athletes across 28 teams, and that includes providing outstanding educational resources and programming related to Name, Image and Likeness,” UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said. “Our LAUNCH program will position our Tar Heel student-athletes for success in NIL as we all navigate this new era in college sports.”

Name, Image and Likeness bills will allow for athletes to profit in ways previously banned by the NCAA, which has long held a belief that college athletes should be treated as amateurs and banned or suspended any athlete receiving unapproved compensation.

This new legislation has been approved by governors in 19 different states at this point, and will allow athletes to profit through avenues such as social media posts, appearances, sponsorships, autograph sales, endorsement deals and private training classes or camps.

California was the first state to pass a bill related to this issue, signing the Fair Pay to Play Act in September of 2019 — which will permit college athletes there to profit off their name, image and likeness beginning in 2023.

A total of six states including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and New Mexico have legislation set to go into effect as early as July 1 of this year.

North Carolina has yet to pass a bill on the issue, but introduced one last month which would go into effect on July 1, 2023 if it successfully makes it through the General Assembly.

The NCAA announced in April that it is moving forward with a plan to allow college athletes to profit off their fame, with legislation set to be drawn up by Oct. 30 and voted on by schools in January of 2022.

NCAA president Mark Emmert said last month that he recommends board members to approve of the new rules related to name, image and likeness before, or as close to, July 1, 2021 as possible — which is when the first six states will have their laws go into effect.

Those proposed changes by the NCAA would still be a bit more restrictive than some of the state laws scheduled to go into effect, bringing potential legal conflicts where schools would have to ignore the NCAA in order to comply with their states’ laws.

This has brought forth a push for a federal Name, Image and Likeness bill that would cover every state.

 

Photo via UNC Athletics

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