College athletes in Michigan could get lucrative endorsement deals under new legislation

LANSING — Athletes at Michigan colleges and universities would get “fair compensation” for their name and image under legislation proposed in the Michigan House of Representatives on Wednesday.

One bill would allow a student athlete to receive compensation from a business in exchange for using any form of their name, likeness or image.

"These reforms are long overdue," said state Rep. Brandt Iden, R-Kalamazoo, who played tennis in college. "If a student athlete has the talent and ability to make a little money from a sponsorship or advertising contract, they should have the opportunity to do so."

State Rep. Joe Tate, a Detroit Democrat, sponsored a bill that would allow agents to enter into contracts with student athletes. Tate was a former offensive lineman at Michigan State University and in the NFL, where he played for two seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Louis Rams, and Atlanta Falcons.

He said many student athletes struggle to get by financially in college and should be able to earn some “walking around money.”

"I really had the opportunity of a lifetime to play and represent the university in intercollegiate athletics," Tate said. "But we need to level the playing field and ensure that the reason why revenue generation takes place ... is done because of the players."

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Michigan would be following California’s lead. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last month that would allow student athletes to sign lucrative endorsement deals with businesses beginning in 2023.

The NCAA also said last week that it intends to allow college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness beginning in 2021.

But Iden said the NCAA action isn't coming quickly enough. The Michigan bills, if passed, would go into effect in July 2020, just in time for the fall collegiate football season. 

Opening up the pocketbooks of vendors and businesses could have large and small impacts on thousands of athletes in Michigan, Iden said. It's not just the superstar athletes who could get contracts from the likes of Nike or Coca-Cola.

Iden said when he was a collegiate athlete, he wanted to give tennis lessons, but was prohibited from using his status as a player at Kalamazoo College to advertise for those lessons.

And smaller contracts from businesses ranging from local restaurants, swim and golf clubs, and sports equipment stores could attract student athletes in any number of collegiate sports.

"I think all athletes can benefit from this," he said. "This gives all student athletes who have the ability and skills to benefit even from a weekend job."

The National College Players Association and Drexel University released a study in 2013 that showed the fair market value of a University of Michigan football player was $456,145 and a Michigan State University basketball player $739,543 if they were playing on professional teams.

And that doesn't take into account endorsement deals that could range from a $1 million deal for the nation's top student athletes to $25,000 from a local business interested in having some of the local talent boost their brand, according to an analysis of the California proposal by USA TODAY.

There’s no question the biggest stars in football and men’s basketball stand to earn the most. Trevor Lawrence, the quarterback who led Clemson to a national championship as a freshman last season, is viewed as a once-in-a-generation talent. Tye Gonser, a lawyer who once worked with an agency that handled endorsement deals for athletes such as Reggie Bush, has no doubt that Lawrence, if he were allowed to now, would have four national ad campaigns worth $250,000 apiece.

Zion Williamson, a basketball phenom who had 69.4 million views of his YouTube highlights before playing at Duke last year, could have made $2.5 million in his lone collegiate season, Gonser estimated.

But those are the outliers. 

Most college athletes won't turn a significant profit. And those who do will be prominent players at prominent programs.

“I think we’re talking about largely five-figure deals, $10,000 to $25,000," said David Carter, principal owner of The Sports Business Group and associate professor of sports business at Southern California. 

There has been a fear that states that jumped on the endorsement bandwagon early would reap the benefits of recruiting the best athletic talent to universities in that state. The NCAA's move to consider the pay-to-play proposal is meant to head that off.

"We weren’t moving quickly enough," Iden said. "Michigan needs to be competitive with other states."

Tate said it is also disheartening for student athletes to see how much coaches and athletic staff were benefiting from big salaries and endorsement deals, but the students couldn't share in that bounty.

"There's always been this sentiment of 'Let’s keep collegiate athletics pure,' " he said. "But it's to the detriment of student athletes."

The University of Michigan athletic department declined to offer thoughts on the proposal, saying it doesn't comment on pending legislation.

Officials at Michigan State University haven’t had the chance to review the bills yet, said university spokeswoman Emily Guerrant. “But we look forward to engaging with lawmakers on this topic.”

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal. USA Today contributed to this report.