Promotional Activities
Any use of a student-athlete's name, picture or appearance to support a charitable, educational or non-profit activity must receive prior approval from the Compliance Office. Bylaw 12.5.1.1 states that the following conditions must be met for participation:
- The specific activity or project in which the student-athlete participates does not involve cosponsorship, advertisement or promotion by a commercial agency
- The student-athlete does not miss class
- All moneys derived from the activity or project go directly to the charitable, educational or non-profit agency
- The student-athlete may receive actual and necessary expenses from the charitable or non-profit agency related to participation in the activity (only if the appearance occurs in Montana or within 100 miles of MSU)
- The student-athlete's name, picture or appearance is not utilized to promote the commercial ventures of any non-profit agency
- The student-athlete and an authorized representative of the charitable, educational or non-profit agency sign a release statement ensuring compliance with this section.
If ever approached about participating in any kind of promotional activity (if your appearance is requested for any purpose outside of the athletic department), please forward the request to Bobcat Compliance.
Specifically Restricted Activities
Specifically Restricted Activities
- Athletics equipment advertisements – student-athletes may not be used to publicize the fact that an institution utilizes its equipment.
- Promotional contests – student-athletes may not receive prizes for contests (eg making a half court basketball shot) unless the contest is open to all members of the student body or the general public.
Miscellaneous
- Player/trading cards – may be produced by the institution or recognized entity for distribution, but may not be sold.
- Schedule cards – commercial language (other than product name, logo or trademark) may not appear on the same page as a photo of a student-athletes.
- Summer camps – photographs of current student-athletes may only appear in the camp counselor section of a camp brochure.
- Institutional Memorabilia Requests
- SAs are highly encouraged to personalize any items that they autograph to the recipient. This ensures that items are less likely to appear for sale on internet auction sites for the financial gain of a third party vendor.
- We receive lots of memorabilia requests each year. Coaches and student-athletes should forward any requests to Bobcat Compliance or the Bobcat Club and attempt to remove themselves from the process entirely.
