Razorbacks working ahead on Name, Image, Likeness pending NCAA move

The NCAA may have delayed a decision on players' "right to publicity," also commonly referred to as Name, Image and Likeness, but the University of Arkansas is already taking major steps to ensure they aren't behind the curve when legislation does eventually pass.

Arkansas Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek announced in a press conference with local media on Thursday that the athletics department is close to putting a senior athletic director in place to handle branding for Razorback student-athletes.

It's yet another move for the Hogs to keep up with the times after they partnered with "INFLCR" in 2019. INFLCR is a cloud-based service that holds content for student athletes and brand ambassadors to use in order to build up what the kids would call "clout."

Once the NCAA approves NIL legislation, student athletes will be able to sign contracts to profit off of their brand by advertising for local businesses and more. Most deals will naturally go to the stars of the teams but with enough internet clout, even a well-branded backup could find avenues for endorsements.

"The name image and likeness train is coming down the track quickly even though that was tabled at last week's NCAA meetings.," AD Yurachek said. "There's still state legislation in many states across our country. We believe there will be federal legislation. That's coming.

"Many schools have invested in a third party company to manage that for them. I thought that would be a better resource for our student-athletes to have someone internal that could help them manage the watch of the name image and likeness and their brand building. So that's why we're making that investment right now."

The new senior AD would work with athletes from the moment they step on campus to when they graduate and it could be a big selling point for recruits who will eventually start factoring in how much money they can make at their program of choice.

Some Arkansas athletes are already building up there brand with frequent posts on social media. Junior wide receiver Mike Woods has a Youtube channel that already has over 3,800 followers–which he should be able to monetize once NIL legislation passes.

Yurachek hopes to have the new AD hired by March.

"It’s about the student athletes personal brand and how to build their brand through social media. The dos and don’ts of social media. We want to give them the appropriate legal advice as they try and ... make sure they are compliant with what is going on.

"So I really, this is kind of a blank canvas for us, but my vision for this position is that they really help the student athletes from their freshman year to their senior year build a solid brand that is a benefit to the student athletes throughout their life and if it’s a financial benefit for them while they’re here at the University of Arkansas so be it."