The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News
The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News
The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News
Column | The NIL Job-Market: College athletics mutated

Column | The NIL Job-Market: College athletics mutated

By Conor Hutchison, Senior Staff Writer • September 26, 2024

The year is 2010. USC running back Reggie Bush has just forfeited his five-year-old Heisman Trophy after his school received sanctions for allowing their student-athletes to receive “gifts.” In Bush’s...

Nike branded merchandise in the Pitt Shop.

NIL propels Panthers through a new era of college athletics

By Camille de Jesus, Staff Writer • September 26, 2024

In the newly configured world of college athletics and NIL, Pitt athletes can now take advantage of the budding opportunities. Until 2021, collegiate athletes could not profit off their brand in the same...

Column | NIL has its flaws, but it is still an inherently good system

Column | NIL has its flaws, but it is still an inherently good system

By Brian Sherry, Staff Writer • June 8, 2022
After less than one year since the NCAA instituted new NIL rules allowing players to capitalize on their name, image and likeness, college athletics finds itself in murky waters. 
Campus Mogul, an agency that provides athletes with a platform to build their personal brands, has already attracted dozens of NCAA athletes including five Pitt football players.

Agencies aim to help athletes capitalize on NIL laws

By Kyle Saxon and Dalton Coppola • October 5, 2021
The NCAA’s new policy allowing college athletes to profit off of their NIL has already dramatically altered the landscape of collegiate athletics. For Pitt athletes and college athletes in general, the rules opened a vast window of opportunity.
Universities, conferences and the NCAA have reaped major financial benefits from the efforts of college athletes. Their “amateur” status prevented them from being paid for more than 100 years — but times are changing.

Uncertainty defines first month of new NIL rules

By Dalton Coppola, Sports Editor • August 17, 2021
Since its inception, the NCAA has held that college athletes cannot and will not be paid for their name, image or likeness. Athletes were ineligible to accept endorsements or receive payment for their performance — all to maintain the amateurism surrounding college athletics. But new rules and regulations regarding name, image and likeness benefits for college athletes will change this long-standing rule.
Fifth-year Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett is rolling into the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side with a new set of wheels this season.

Pickett gets new ride in NIL deal with Bowser Automotive

By Dalton Coppola, Sports Editor • August 11, 2021
Pickett added Bowser Automotive — a car dealership in Pleasant Hills, about 30 minutes south of Oakland — to his list of endorsements late last week.
Pitt super-senior quarterback Kenny Pickett became the first Panther to announce an endorsement deal on Thursday afternoon

Pickett, Oaklander announce first NIL partnership for a Pitt athlete

By Stephen Thompson, Senior Staff Writer • July 16, 2021
Pitt super-senior quarterback Kenny Pickett became the first Panther to announce an endorsement deal on Thursday afternoon. Pickett tweeted that he is partnering with The Oaklander Hotel on Bigelow Boulevard for his first NIL deal and will treat the offensive line to what he calls weekly “Hog Dinners” at Spirits and Tales, a restaurant on the hotel’s top floor.
The NCAA and its member schools have fought fair compensation for the players for years. In the wake of evolved NIL rules, senior staff writer Stephen Thompson doesn’t want to forget who held the athletes back. Pictured is NCAA President Mark Emmert.

Column | Don’t forget who kept NIL off the table for college athletes

By Stephen Thompson, Senior Staff Writer • July 13, 2021
The same institutions and people that actively campaigned against the mildest of player compensation solutions — releasing name, image and likeness rights to the athletes — are now attempting to pull an ambitious 180 and jump on the bandwagon long after it has left.
Heather Lyke, Pitt's athletic director, speaks at a January 2020 press conference.

New NIL rules met with uncertainty, excitement for Pitt Athletics

By Dalton Coppola, Sports Editor • July 1, 2021
But with different states enacting different rules — the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a bill last week that allows athletes to capitalize on NIL — it appears as though uncertainty and confusion is common among Pitt Athletics staff and the nation as a whole about the future of collegiate athletics.
Legislation passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly allows for college athletes to profit off of endorsements.

Pa. General Assembly passes NIL changes in state budget package

By Stephen Thompson, Senior Staff Writer • June 29, 2021
The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed legislation last week which would allow college athletes to profit off of their own name, image and likeness. Included as part of the annual state budget package, the changes would go into effect as soon as it is signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, which could happen as soon as this week.
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