NCAA Board of Governors Agrees to Allow Athletes to 'Benefit' From Their Likenesses

The NCAA has requested all its members update their bylaws in the coming months to allow NCAA athletes to benefit from their likeness “in a manner consistent with the collegiate model.” If this move does not signal that NCAA video games will be back at some point in the coming years, I don’t know what does.

“The Board of Governors’ action directs each of the NCAA’s three divisions to immediately consider updates to relevant bylaws and policies for the 21st century,” said Michael V. Drake, chair of the board and president of The Ohio State University.

In their statement, the NCAA goes on to explain the style with which they would like to “modernize” these laws, but the crucial part is that the governing body is requesting all divisions get their rules finalized and submitted by January 2021 at the latest. This means things could be finalized even before then, but that’s the set end date now to have rules in place for collegiate athletes.

We will have a more in-depth analysis at a later time, but for now, this seems like a good time to start plotting and dreaming about NCAA games for real. (And here we were thinking yesterday was as big as the news could get.)