Chicago City Wire

Add DePaul University athletics director DeWayne Peevy to the list of leading Illinois collegiate athletic figures who have lauded the passing of the Name, Image, and Likeness bill or the Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act.

During a news conference, Peevy thanked Gov. Pritzker for approving the bill and the Illinois General Assembly for its bipartisan work on SB 2338, which Peevy said would lead to a positive breakthrough for college athletes.

"This landmark piece of state legislation leads the way for the modernization of the collegiate athletics model while guaranteeing our student-athletes are at the center of these efforts," Peevy said. "Further, it ensures that Illinois colleges and universities remain at the forefront of an increasingly competitive collegiate athletics landscape."

Peevy also said that a program of DePaul that would further guide student-athletes to fully benefit from the NIL law.

"At DePaul, not only are we allowing student-athletes to take full advantage of their name, image, and likeness, we're also providing critical training and support through the launch of our new comprehensive entrepreneurial and brand development program called Legacy," Peevy said. “It’s important to teach our young people how to be able to handle this entrepreneurship and branding opportunity. Our partnership with the Driehaus College of Business and the College of Communication, those are the things that we have to equip them with to be the type of leaders for tomorrow.”

The Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act signed by Pritzker will allow – for the first time – a student-athlete in Illinois to be compensated for the use of his or her name, voice, image, or likeness.

“At DePaul University, we are dreaming big and a part of that dream to become reality was the change in the NIL bill to allow the student-athletes to be able to capitalize off their name, image, and likeness in the third-largest media market in Chicago,” said Peevy.

The bill was supported by both the Republican and Democrat lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly.

The NIL law sets “provisions concerning the conditions in which a student-athlete may and may not earn compensation for the use of the student-athletes name, image, likeness, or voice while enrolled at a postsecondary education institution.”

The Student-Athletes Endorsement Rights Act also “Provides, among other prohibitions, that no institution, athletic association, conference, or other group or organization with authority over intercollegiate athletic programs shall uphold any contract, rule, or regulation that prevents a student-athlete from earning compensation as result of the use the student-athlete's name, image, likeness, or voice. Provides that a student-athlete's financial aid, awards, and other benefits may not be revoked, reduced, or the terms and conditions altered as a result of the student-athlete receiving compensation.”