In a stunning letter to its member schools on June 25, the National Collegiate Athletic Association said that colleges and universities must comply with NCAA policies on name, image and likeness even if those policies conflict with state laws. Purportedly in response to recent amendments to state NIL statutes that the NCAA deems to be too permissive, the association warned directly, “If a state law permits certain institutional action and NCAA legislation prohibits the same action, institutions must follow NCAA legislation.”[1] One must question the timing of this edict. Only recently, the NCAA announced that its Division I Board has directed its council to explore ways to assist student-athletes and their universities in navigating the muddy waters of NIL, acknowledging the complexity and outright inconsistency of the state legislative landscape. More specifically, on Aug. 2, the association informed its member schools that a working group of its Division I council would present specific proposals in October for rules governing: A registration process for agents and financial advisers who negotiate NIL deals on behalf of student-athletes; …

John Langel ‘74 was not always a likely candidate to be the champion of women’s sports that he has become. Now retired from Ballard Spahr where he served for decades as a partner, Langel spent much of his career representing clients in the sports industry. But for his first twenty years of practice, Langel’s experience was representing male athletes like Philadelphia legends Ron Jaworski, Reggie White, and Doug Collins. Langel’s two sons played Division I basketball, one of whom, Matt, is now the head men’s basketball coach at Colgate. His firm, Ballard, had a long-standing relationship with the Philadelphia Phillies. As Langel said in an interview for Marietta College in 2017: “I had only known a man’s world. In the man’s world, you are treated very well. I learned pretty quickly that it wasn’t the same way for the women.”[1] Langel’s education came when the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) enlisted his help in the late 1990s. The women of the National Team were embroiled in a fight with U.S. Soccer over unfair treatment. …