MILWAUKEE- The Athletic Directors at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee are taking the changing landscape of college athletics in stride.
During a wide-ranging interview during WTMJ 2022, UW-Madison Athletic Director Chris McIntosh & UW-Milwaukee AD Amanda Braun both said they viewed recent changes to the NCAA that allows student athletes to make money off their likeness and their status as an athlete.
“We view this NIL as a way we can support our student-athletes in a way similar to the way we support them academically, the way we support them in their career and leadership development, their personal development, and all these other areas outside of sport that we support them,” McIntosh said.
Braun echoed those statements, telling WTMJ’s Greg Matzek that it opens up opportunities for athletes attending a Power 5 school or a mid-major like UWM, “I think it’ll benefit at a positive way at the mid-major level being able to benefit from camps and clinics in their own town. It’s a really cool idea that they weren’t able to do before.”
UW-Madison has been at the forefront of the NIL discussion after Badgers quarterback Graham Mertz created his own logo & running back Braelon Allen appeared in an advertisement for Iron Joc during Sunday’s Super Bowl.
“To see Braelon during the Super Bowl, I think it’s awesome,” McIntosh said. “Braelon is a great kid, he’s a great representative of our program, of our university, he’s done everything the right way and he’s clearly developed a market for his likeness and he’s capitalizing on that.”
While both AD’s said they were optimistic about the future of NIL deals, and the impact they’ll have on student athletes, they both did voice some reservations when it comes to a University’s role in regulating and providing input to some things, particularly on the recruiting side of things.
“It’s a fine line on the issue of recruiting inducement,” Braun said. “It might become an issue but the challenge will be an unenforceable rule that will be recruiting inducement but it’s really a wait and see approach.”
You can listen to McIntosh and Braun’s full interview, as well as all of our coverage of WTMJ 2022, here.