College Cheerleaders Benefit From Control of Their NILs While Athletes Can’t
By Ken Reed
I have written many times in the past about the clear economic injustice that is the NCAA not allowing college athletes to control their names, images and likenesses (NILs). (See here and here) Every other college student can benefit from the use of their NILs, including students on music and cheerleading scholarships.
The NCAA doesn’t regulate cheerleading like it does football, basketball and other sports. Cheerleaders aren’t held to the archaic amateurism standards that athletes are. Some college cheerleaders rake in thousands of dollars from corporate sponsorship deals. They can sell autographs, appear in commercials and promote products as social influencers while wearing their uniforms. If athletes try to do similar things, they lose their eligibility.
Former Oklahoma cheerleader Jamie Andries received thousands of sponsorship dollars while cheering for the Sooners football and basketball teams. She even hired an agent while in college to help manager her endorsement deals. She said her coaches had no problem with her benefitting from her name, image and likeness. The cheerleading coaches only requirement was that cheerleaders couldn’t miss practices or games for outside sponsor appearances.
Why couldn’t the same be true for college athletes?
“I was like, ‘Wow I get to cheer and I get to have this sort of side job that I get to focus on and I get to make some money that I can save up for myself to use after college,” says Andries.
That’s great for Andries and other cheerleaders. But college athletes deserve the same rights.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #21 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Chatting About a Broken Game With Baseball Writer Pedro Moura – Moura is a national baseball writer for Fox Sports. He previously covered the Los Angeles Dodgers for The Athletic. His new book is titled “How to Beat a Broken Game: The Rise of the Dodgers in a League on the Brink.” We discuss how and why the game of baseball is broken, what factors caused it, and offer a few thoughts on how to “fix” a great game.
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Episode #20 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Coaching Youth and High School Sports Based On What’s Best for the Athlete’s Holistic Development – We chat with long-time youth, high school and college basketball coach Jim Huber.
Episode #19 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Capturing the Spirit of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with Anika Orrock – We discuss the hoops AAGPFL women had to jump through to play the game they loved as well as the long-term impact and legacy they have in advancing sports opportunities for girls and women.
Episode #18 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking about the 50th Anniversary of Title IX and the Lia Thomas Controversy with Nancy Hogshead-Makar – Hogshead-Makar is a triple gold medalist in swimming, a civil rights attorney and CEO of Champion Women.
Episode #17 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking Sports With Legendary New York Times Sports Columnist Robert Lipsyte – We chat about Lipsyte’s amazing career and some of the athletes he covered.
Episode #16 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Andrew Maraniss: Outstanding Author of Books That Focus On the Intersection of Sports, History and Social Justice.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
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