Gov. Roy Cooper On How NIL Will Work In North Carolina

With the NCAA unable to come up with a workable plan for NIL rights and Congress apparently not interested, states have been left to figure things out for themselves and North Carolina is no exception and now Governor Roy Cooper has spoken.

In an executive order issued Friday, Cooper outlined a new policy. Here are some of the bullet points:

• Schools can’t use NIL for recruiting inducements
• Deals cannot conflict with contracts universities already have, so presumably that means shoe and apparel deals, among others
• You won’t be able to use official school material like uniforms or logos, trademarks, etc, unless, presumably, the school agrees, in which case, we’re sure they’ll take a cut.
• You can’t make deals that are “antithetical” to the institution’s values. What the hell does that mean? Values are completely different at, say, Campbell and Duke. That’s going to be challenged. Still, it’s a good bet that no school will be thrilled if someone gets a deal from Priscilla McCall’s or the Dixie Knife and Gun Show (this could also probably be controlled by kicking someone off a team or revoking a scholarship).
• You can’t generate NIL income during team activities or university events.

There’s more but you get the idea. It’s at least a starting framework and gives everyone a basic outline on what you can and can’t do in North Carolina.

Here’s the executive order if you’d like to read it.

Well here’s a thought for some enterprising Duke and UNC athletes, let’s say Leaky Black and Wendell Moore, who were high school teammates: they could do ads or promos or social media before and after Duke-UNC games. It could be fun, profitable, and might add more to the rivalry. Just a thought. You can send the finders fee to DBR.