Promoting Inclusiveness and Fairness through NFTs: The Case of Student-Athletes and NILs

Abstract

Recent regulatory changes have enabled NCAA student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), departing from previous policies requiring those athletes to maintain their amateur status. However, despite the changes, it is unlikely that all the approximately 500,000 NCAA student-athletes will profit from NIL contracts. Within this context, we study how to design a fair and inclusive solution that may help all student-athletes secure NIL financial resources. Following a design science approach, we define design requirements after interviewing student-athletes. Subsequently, we derive three design principles: inclusiveness, fairness, and transparency. Thereafter, we suggest a blockchain-based artifact that satisfies all design principles. Our idea lies in designing collectibles as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that pay different royalties whenever a transaction (purchase or exchange) happens in different markets (primary or secondary). Finally, we evaluate our solution by discussing its features with current student-athletes.