Gov. Kevin Stitt has issued an executive order that will allow Oklahoma’s colleges and universities to facilitate direct payments to student-athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), saying he needed to do so to allow the state’s athletic programs to remain competitive as federal and legal decisions surrounding NIL payments remain pending.
In the order issued late Thursday afternoon, Stitt noted the NCAA and some athletic conferences have reached an agreement in a federal lawsuit being heard in California that — if approved — would allow universities to provide direct payment to student-athletes for the use of their NIL. Until then, Stitt said an “inconsistent national landscape” has been created surrounding NIL and that could put Oklahoma’s universities at a competitive disadvantage.
Complicating the issue, Stitt said in the order, is the state’s four NCAA Division I athletic programs compete in four different conferences — Oklahoma State University in the Big 12 Conference, the University of Oklahoma in the Southeastern Conference, Oral Roberts University in the Summit League and the University of Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference. That, he said, creates a risk of different conference rules applying to each postsecondary institution, thereby disproportionately disadvantaging certain postsecondary institutions…