{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"SportsEpreneur","title":"An NIL Attorney on Contracts and Athlete Ownership | Philip Sheng of Venable LLP","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3629,"description":"What an attorney who reviews NIL deals sees in the contracts, and what college athletes may be signing away.\nPhilip Sheng is an attorney at Venable LLP, a national firm of roughly 900 lawyers, where he works in the intellectual property group and the sports law practice. His focus is college NIL, the right of publicity, and college eligibility: who owns a person’s name, image, and likeness, and what they give up when they sign.\nThis is the on-the-ground legal view of NIL. For the full breakdown of how the system works, start with The NIL Hub, NIL Rules in 2026, and NIL Pros and Cons. This episode is narrower. It is what a practicing attorney sees inside the deals themselves.\n\nEric Kasimov talks with Sheng about NIL as both a legal and an athlete-centered issue. They get into whether NIL is really athlete compensation, intellectual property, or both, and why the issue was known as the right of publicity long before college sports made it a household term. Sheng has lived the landscape from several sides. He played tennis at Stanford, competed as an ATP-ranked professional, and now has children navigating college athletics, including Division I basketball and tennis.\nTopics\nNIL as intellectual property and the right of publicity\nThe College Sports Commission and how it reviews NIL deals\nThe Nebraska and PlayFly case, and why the contracts were the problem\nWhy even a small NIL deal needs its rights language reviewed\nHow brands can work with role players, not only star athletes\nRoster cuts in non-revenue sports like tennis and swimming\nHigh school NIL, state-by-state rules, and protecting minors\nSports betting, college students, and the value of staying in school\n\nChapters in This Episode\n\n00:00 Philip Sheng’s background in law, tennis, and college sports\n00:36 Venable LLP, intellectual property, NIL, and sports law\n02:11 NIL as right of publicity\n03:15 Stanford, conference realignment, and athlete travel\n04:13 The burden on student-athletes\n06:29 What college sports...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xnVD5lo-InuYCbkJy3t8DMot3yiB7IaPdbxc-_U877w/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mYjQ3/ZWU3NzBiYjAwZWQ3/NGI3MTAyNjY3NDQz/YTc3My5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}