Chambana Sun

University of Illinois basketball player Eva Rubin is one of the many athletes who are already making plans on how to benefit from the Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act that was recently signed into law.

For Rubin, she sees this athlete-empowering law as an opportunity to support a cause close to her heart.

"Some of you may know I'm actually a type 1 diabetic," Rubin said. "I’ve had many opportunities to work with Diabetes Research Foundations, the American Diabetes Association, organizations and causes that are important to me, so now with the NIL (name, image, likeness bill) being passed, I can only imagine the opportunities that I'll be able to create for myself and do for myself and ways that will help me give back to my community."

The Redshirt senior also said during a press conference at the University of Illinois that student-athletes have other passions.

“I want to really stress to everyone that us, as student-athletes, we spend so many hours on our sport and so many hours in the classroom but there is a lot more to us than the sport you get to watch us play on television, or the classes that we’re in all day,” Rubin said.

“We all have a different niche,” Rubin continued. “We all have a community that is important to us, a hobby that is important to us, a passion that we would love to be able to spend more time on and capitalize off.”

The Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act (SB 2338) enjoyed bipartisan support in the Illinois General Assembly before being signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Now, Public Act 102-0042, Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act allows college athletes to be paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness.

The law became effective on July 1, 2021.