I was scanning through my daily tidal wave of email when I came across this link, sent to me by our man Tassos here on TMC. It’s a rather interesting “letter” sent to Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, congratulating him on his Heisman trophy, but also reminding him that his own rights to publicity are being shamelessly exploited by the NCAA and the University of Florida. An excerpt:

Congratulations on winning the Heisman Trophy Saturday night, and you most certainly deserve it. I have been waiting for the appropriate time to discuss something with you (and similarly-situated high-profile collegiate athletes). Did you happen to catch the Associated Press release last friday, “Florida threatens legal action against sites selling Tebow items“? Your school has sent cease-and-desist orders to various web sites that are selling pictures, autographs, T-shirts, license plates and others items with your name on them, asserting that the web sites do not have your permission nor your school’s permission to do so. It is understandable that your school would do that, because it does not make any money every time a non-licensed company sells something with your name or picture on it.

Third parties (including your school, the NCAA and EA Sports) are profiting immensely from the commercial use of your identity and celebrity status. But the NCAA and its member schools want you to think that you do not have a right of publicity in your identity. They accomplish this by telling you, and third parties using your name and/or likeness, that the NCAA bylaws prohibit you from profiting in this context.

Another key piece:

When my son put together his Christmas wishlist this year, he wrote down, “a Tim Tebow jersey.” He did not say, “a Florida Gator jersey with number 15 on it.” He also knows that the computer image of a UF player with #15 that has your build, hair color, facial features and skill level in the video game I paid $50.00 for, is in fact YOU. I can assure you that there is plenty of legal precedent establishing that the identification element is clearly met for a right of publicity claim.

Just some food for thought, as we move from one NCAA publicity bonanza (college football) into another (college basketball).