Athlete Data Compensation and Compliance Ecosystem

Student: Lukas Mitrius, 2024-2025

This capstone project is in collaboration with HONOR, a data rights management company that specializes in athlete data. They help athletes and sports organizations manage athlete data rights (including NIL and publicity rights) with the best practices and technology solutions that can stand alone or be incorporated into existing systems to manage athlete data rights. HONOR utilizes processes, governance, decentralized identity and blockchain technology to help athletes and sports organizations manage, protect and leverage athlete data and perform compliance in real-time.

Universities now face the dual challenge of adapting to the recent legal changes impacting the student-athlete model - namely NIL requirements and NCAA athlete-university settlement ruling, which mandates revenue sharing with college athletes - and modernizing its campus operations to meet the demands of a digital age. Professional and youth sports organizations also face the challenge of utilizing athlete publicity rights and athlete data for their product offerings while complying with legal requirements related to privacy, intellectual property, etc. HONOR plans to be a pioneer in understanding data-related issues athletes and their respective institutions now face, which will be accomplished through assessment reports with them. After gathering a multitude of insights, a pilot program for an ecosystem solution can be established in order to craft a strategic market entry plan for this next generation of athlete data compensation.