Abstract
NCAA football and men’s basketball cumulatively receive almost one hundred percent of intercollegiate name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation. NIL exceptionalism, however, is not the only distinguishing factor for these two sports. They are also distinctively racially and economically diverse in comparison to the dozens of other NCAA sports. Thus, demographically, NIL produces outcomes that align with so-called ‘woke’ policies. Although almost all states support NIL, an increasing number actively oppose woke policies. In fact, anti-woke backlash served as the impetus for recent anti-woke legislation (AWL) that, for example, bars funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education. Various scholars have addressed the effects of AWL on academia. Yet this Article is the first to address AWL’s effects on intercollegiate athletics.
This Article uses the law of unintended consequences to explore the connection between AWL and NIL. In so doing, it advances two main arguments. First, it argues that AWL will produce unintended consequences for intercollegiate athletics. Given these consequences, this Article’s second argument foreshadows how states enacting AWL will be impeded by it, as they simultaneously attempt to achieve a competitive advantage in athletics through NIL. This Article concludes with recommendations for preventing AWL from frustrating the purpose of NIL legislation.
Recommended Citation
Tan T. Boston,
Is NIL Woke?,
58 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 421
().
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol58/iss2/2
