The NCAA’s New NIL Rules, Interview with Vinny Bucilla

Delaney Crace
September 29, 2021

The NCAA adopted a highly-debated policy in June of 2021, and with college sports starting back up it’s important for fans to know what this might mean for their favorite college sport. The NCAA voted to allow college athletes to benefit from their name, image, and likeness–also referred to as NIL–on June 30th of this year which resulted in a tornado of opinions and facts being thrown towards college sports fans. The general rule of this new policy is as follows from the NCAA website, 

  1. “Individuals can engage in NIL activities that are consistent with the law of the state where the school is located.
  2. College athletes who attend a school without a NIL law can engage in [NIL] activities without violating NCAA rules related to name, image, and likeness.
  3. Individuals can use a professional service provider for NIL activities
  4. Student-athletes should report NIL activities consistent with state law or school and conference requirements to their school.”

With these rules that have been called “broad”, it can become blurry what lines student-athletes may cross without losing eligibility. The NCAA hopes to work with Congress to pass federal laws for these rules so that they are the same across all campuses in the nation. But, for now, are student-athletes educated on what they can do starting this season to receive compensation from NIL?

Photo by: Delaney Crace

Former Royal and college basketball player Vinny Bucilla says, “Our athletic department has had many meetings with our basketball team about the NIL rules and what we can and cannot do”. Bucilla plays at Wabash College while studying rhetoric with a minor in Business. “I have a good idea of what I can do as a college athlete with the new NIL rules, it’s a blessing that the NCAA made this happen so plenty of college athletes can get paid for their hard work”. 

Bucilla plans on taking advantage of his name, image, and likeness by making his own merchandise or getting sponsored by a company, such as Barstool Sports. “I would love to take advantage of [these new NIL rules] during my career!”