HBYou Name, Image & Likeness Program

HOUSTON – HBU Athletics unveiled its "HBYou Name, Image & Likeness Program" Friday with state of Texas and NCAA legislation going into effect July 1, allowing student-athletes to earn compensation for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
 
The department is committed to educating its more than 350 student-athletes of the benefits and responsibilities that accompany this opportunity.
 
"HBU is excited to be able to announce this program to benefit all of our student-athletes," Director of Athletics Steve Moniaci said. "While this is new and uncharted territory, we feel that it is only fair that our athletes are able to have the right and ability to generate income from the use of their personal name, image, and likeness when it does not relate to their athletic ability."
 
The definition of NIL, most simply, are three elements that make up the legal concept known as "right of publicity." Right of publicity involves those situations where permission is required of a person to use their NIL. For example, no permission is required for a newspaper to publish a photo of an athlete playing in a game. However, permission would be required for a company to mention that someone endorses their product or services.
 
This past June, the state of Texas passed a law, Senate Bill 1385, related to collegiate NIL. SB 1385 creates a framework to allow student-athletes to earn compensation for the use of the NIL. The bill prohibits a public or private institution of higher education from restricting a student-athlete's ability to earn compensation for their NIL when the student-athlete is not engaged in official team activities. It also allows them to obtain professional representation, including representation by an athlete agent or attorney for certain purposes. The bill would, however, prohibit an institution from providing or soliciting a prospective student-athlete with compensation in relation to the athlete's NIL.
 
As part of the bill, student-athletes are required to disclose to the institution any proposed contract the student-athlete may sign, and also puts limits on some types of products that the collegiate athletes may represent. It also strictly prohibits the use of any Name, Image, and Likeness contract as an inducement to attend a university.
 
While this press release is a brief summary of the HBYou NIL Program, the full details can be found by following the link below.
 
HBYou Name, Image & Likeness Program
 
In addition to the announcement of this program, HBU Athletics has entered into a partnership with NOCAP Sports to provide services to student-athletes to help them with representation in the process. The partnership will be announced in more detail later today.