NIL ‘being done the right way’ at UGA according to Payne
By: Patrick Garbin - UGASports.comAs one of the University of Georgia’s most prominent graduates, Billy Payne claims the school is responsible for most of the blessings and joys in his life.
Before he spearheaded Atlanta’s effort to bring the 1996 Olympic Games to the city, served as the top administrator of the Games, and later the chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, Payne starred on the gridiron at Georgia from 1966 to 1968 as an offensive and defensive end. Recognized by his head coach, Vince Dooley, as “the best 60-minute player I ever coached,” Payne was also the recipient of many academic accolades before earning his law degree from Georgia.
Addressing a crowd last Saturday morning for the Wally’s Boys annual breakfast reunion at the Athens County Club, Payne said his greatest joy—“the best day of my life,” according to him—came while at Georgia, yet it had nothing to do with football or academics. Transpiring when he was just 17 years old, his greatest blessing was a chance encounter between a fellow UGA freshman, Martha Beard, and himself at a nearby Dairy Queen. He and his wife, Martha Payne, have now been married for 55 years.
Billy Payne (seated far right) poses with the Wally's Boys during the group's annual reunion breakfast last Saturday before G-Day.
For someone who has been blessed so much by the University of Georgia, it’s not surprising Payne is rather prideful of his alma mater.
“There are countless other institutions in the world … They would give their right arm to have what we have here in Athens,” Payne declared to the gathering of former Georgia players who had been coached by Wally Butts, along with their friends and families. He later added, “We all know that we are the state university here in Georgia,” to which the crowd applauded and cheered.
Payne is especially proud of his school’s football program and its achievements under the current Kirby Smart coaching regime. But, perhaps even more so than the results Smart’s program has accomplished, Payne is gratified by the way it has handled the concept of name, image, and likeness (NIL) while achieving championship results.
“Money, and the complications it introduces into our athletic programs, has created more difficulty and uncertainty than anything in the history of collegiate sports,” Payne stated. “But, notwithstanding these complications, I’m so proud to say at the University of Georgia, we are doing it right! Name, image, and likeness is being done the right way at the University of Georgia.”
Payne stressed that Georgia is not part of what could seem like an evolving pay-for-play landscape, but rather has done things the “right way” by means of NIL.
“We are not offering recruits money to come play football at the University of Georgia. Let me repeat that!” Payne asserted. And he did, in fact, repeat that.
Instead, according to Payne, the Georgia football program offers recruits the opportunity to get a degree and “the relative certainty” of athletic success. To some, it also offers “a modest stipend” assuming they comply with all rules and academic requirements. And, to others, the program offers opportunities to represent third parties in endorsements and product affiliations.
Although Georgia may be handling the concept of NIL with admirable integrity, other athletic programs have done quite the opposite, revealing “a complex problem” for college football, according to Payne.
“And I think the only real resolution to that complex problem is the occurrence of one of three things: the establishment of standardized rules that are adopted and maintained throughout the universe—the conferences—of intercollegiate football,” Payne began. “Secondly, federal legislation. Not state legislation. We already have that in 36 states. Federal legislation which establishes a common set of rules. And, finally, adjudication by the federal court system whereby the parameters will be established to which all universities must adhere.”
Until the occurrence of one of the three suggested steps, college football will be a “game somewhat in disarray” when it comes to NIL, according to Payne. However, he says the same won’t hold true specifically at Georgia, as long as Smart and athletic director Josh Brooks lead the efforts.
“Any solution to the [complex problem] would take time,” Payne said. “In the interim, we, at the University of Georgia, are especially blessed that Josh [Brooks] and Kirby [Smart] are committed to doing it the right way.”
