The NCAA recently reversed a long-standing rule that prohibited Division I, II and III student-athletes from profiting selling their names, images and likenesses (NIL). Student athletes have been pressing the NCAA to permit them to profit from NIL rights for years, and the association's new, interim policy clears the way. The reversal also sets the stage for an unregulated, multi-billion-dollar industry that will have a huge impact on college athletes and their parents, as well as on divorce and custody agreements.

The NCAA has been creeping toward the interim policy for some time. The move was likely prompted in part by the fact that NIL legislation has already passed in numerous states, as well as by the NCAA's recent defeat in the Supreme Court. The association issued its interim NIL policy following a June 21 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that ruled against the NCAA in a landmark antitrust case.