Sedona Prince stopped by CBS Sports’ “We Need to Talk” on Wednesday to share her thoughts on name, image and likeness rights as well as gender equity in sports.
The Oregon basketball forward said the opportunities through NIL, made possible by the NCAA’s interim policy adopted in July, have allowed her to connect her identity off the court with her sport.
“I get to kind of promote brands that I believe in, things that I love, mostly things that I use and have loved for forever, which is pretty incredible,” she said. “And it gives athletes kind of this new platform to, I don’t know, make a difference, make a change, make money, which is incredible.”
Prince added that the money she makes now will go a long way toward creating financial freedom for the future.
“I see it as money that I can have for the rest of my life and try to invest and hopefully put my kids through college with, which is so incredible,” she said. “For all women’s athletes, men’s athletes, it’s been an incredible change. A lot of people are impacted from this, not just the top football players that you all see. Every single student athlete has impacted from NIL, which is kind of incredible.”
Prince also discussed last year’s NCAA Tournament, where she brought attention to the disparities between the men’s and women’s tournament accommodations. The NCAA drew heavy criticism for the inequities, and since then, a gender equity report found that the NCAA spends about $1,700 less per female student-athlete than it does for male student-athletes.
“We deal with inequity playing basketball growing up,” Prince said. “It’s something that I had a passion for, I wanted to make a change in.
“And yeah, we saw the weight room was just kind of ridiculous there, so we were like, ‘We have to do something about this.’ And yeah, I just made a video, and it kind of changed the world, which was awesome.”
Watch the full video here: