Abstract
This teaching case examines how Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) reforms are reshaping governance, athlete branding, and competitive identity within NCAA Division II athletics. Set at the fictional Platte Valley State University, the narrative places students inside an evolving administrative dilemma involving booster-led collectives, transfer-portal pressures, and a sponsorship controversy that tests institutional values. Designed for sport management classrooms, the case emphasizes experiential decision-making and asks students to evaluate the interaction among stakeholder interests, organizational legitimacy, and crisis response rather than to perform exclusively doctrinal legal analysis. By situating contemporary NIL developments within a regional Division II context, the case invites students to analyze how resource-constrained athletic departments can balance athlete autonomy, institutional mission, competitive retention, and reputational risk in a rapidly shifting intercollegiate sport environment. The case is particularly well suited for courses in sport governance, sport law, intercollegiate athletics administration, and graduate sport management foundations because it encourages students to apply stakeholder and crisis-communication frameworks to a realistic administrative problem.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kight, J. (2026). The Cornshocker Contract: Navigating NIL in a New Athletic Economy. The COSMA Journal. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cosma/vol3/iss1/8Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Sports Management Commons, Sports Studies Commons