In the summer of 2021, the NCAA sent shockwaves through the college athletics landscape when its landmark ruling granted all student-athletes with the ability to benefit and earn compensation from their name, image and likeness.

Bemidji State, like many other regional public institutions, has been navigating the new frontier created by the NIL ruling. While exciting new opportunities have emerged for BSU student-athletes, NIL also has created logistical and administrative challenges for the athletic department.

Even so, Britt Lauritsen, BSU’s director of athletics, has been a vocal proponent for NIL programs.

“Name, Image and Likeness really refers to a student-athlete’s personal brand,” Lauritsen said. “NIL has taken on a life of its own, in large part due to the creation of the Transfer Portal and deregulation of NCAA rules all happening at the same time. Those three things — NIL, Transfer Portal and deregulation — aren’t all evil, but since they burst onto the scene at the same time, the combined chaos resulted in a sour taste for a lot of folks — including athletic departments. But, all three are here to stay.”

Lauritsen says the athletic department can help identify ways that student-athletes can create opportunities for themselves while building awareness of Beaver Athletics and BSU in the process.

“Athletics is an institution’s best marketing tool, and is the catalyst for creating connection for people of all ages,” she said. “That’s the beauty of sport. If we can harness that by creating love and affinity for our student-athletes, that’s the best use of NIL.”

While the NCAA’s rules prevent schools like BSU from being directly involved in coordinating or arranging NIL opportunities for student- athletes, the university supports these efforts with help from long- time partner CLC, a national manager of licensing and trade-mark programs for more than 700 colleges and universities.

With support from CLC, BSU has created NIL-specific licensing agreements allowing vendors to create officially branded merchandise bearing a student- athlete’s name, which athletes can market and sell. While sales have been modest since that special license type was introduced in 2023, it has created an opportunity for student-athletes to generate revenues that did not exist prior to the NCAA’s rule changes.

“At the Division II level, we are seeing more trade agreements than cash agreements,” she said. “For example, student-athletes might receive meals at local restaurants in exchange for that restaurant being able to utilize the student-athlete’s name, image or likeness for advertising.”