Virginia colleges sent letter to Governor urging action on NIL

One of the more hotly-debated topics in college sports right now centers on student-athletes and their ability to capitalize on their name, image and likeness.

Virginia Tech was among several colleges in the state of Virginia, including the University of Virginia, to send a letter to Governor Ralph Northam encouraging him to issue an executive order for college athletes to use their name, image and likeness effective July 1 per Mike Niziolek of The Roanoke Times.

As of June 14, seven states have passed NIL laws that go into effect in 2021: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas.

Twelve states have already passed legislation for NIL laws to go into effect sometime in the next four years.

Virginia has done neither.

The Hokies have been very proactive with the NIL. And, it is something that is obviously a big deal with incoming recruits. If you notice, states like Alabama, Florida and Georgia, where football is king, are already on the ball with NIL. Virginia must quickly follow suit.

There has finally been some positive momentum in the football program with the “Reach for Excellence” campaign, expecting to dump a lot of money into the program over the next several years. There are also the upgraded facilities which have been a hit with recruits.

Now, every program in the state needs Northam to act fast, or some of the schools in the state risk falling even further behind some of their peers.

This tweet from Niziolek says it all:

Now, it’s up to the Governor.