Days of Selling Popular College Players’ Jerseys Seem Numbered (Published 2015) (2024)

Last year, any Ohio State fan could buy an officially licensed Buckeyes football jersey bearing No. 97. Though N.C.A.A. rules prohibit colleges from selling jerseys with players’ names on them, Ohio State fans understood what a scarlet jersey with a white 97 meant: a tribute to the star defensive end Joey Bosa, who wears the number when the Buckeyes play.

But as a federal court deliberates on whether it is fair for universities to make money off the commercial use of athletes’ names, images and likenesses, a growing number of colleges have quietly decided to stop selling team jerseys with popular players’ numbers.

Instead, they are using ostensibly anodyne digits. This season, for instance, official Ohio State jerseys available for sale will bear only No. 1 or No. 15 — a reference to 2015. (Jerseys with other numbers are currently available, but they are pre-existing inventory; Cardale Jones fans must scoop up his No. 12 before it sells out for good.)

In the future, university officials said, Ohio State’s retail jerseys will follow that new pattern of featuring either No. 1 or the last two digits of the year. Other numbers will be available, but only on personalized jerseys that feature a buyer-selected name, which cannot be that of a current or former player.

The change is partly a result of the Ed O’Bannon case, which explicitly challenged colleges’ right to make money off players’ images without compensation. On Friday, a federal appeals court temporarily stayed a ruling that declared that N.C.A.A. rules banning such compensation were a violation of antitrust laws.

While the college sports establishment has appealed that ruling, and could still prevail in court, the lawsuit and the discussion surrounding it appear to have prompted introspection about whether some forms of commercialization in college sports are too personal. Last year, before the O’Bannon decision, the N.C.A.A. told members that athletes need not be required to sign releases for the use of their names and likenesses for promotional purposes.