Student-Athlete Appearance Request

All requests for LSU student-athlete appearances must be made through the Tiger Life program and the Compliance Office.
Per NCAA regulations, appearances may only be granted to educational, charitable and non-profit organizations, and the following conditions apply:

(a) Student-athletes may not miss class time for appearances;
(b) All monies derived from the appearance must go directly to the charitable, educational or non-profit agency;
(c) Student-athletes may only accept actual and necessary expenses related to their participation in the activity (and these expenses must be documented); and
(d) The appearance may not involve co-sponsorship, advertisement or promotion by a commercial agency other than through the reproduction of the sponsoring organization's officially registered regular trademark or logo on printed materials such as pictures, posters or calendars.

Types of Appearances:

1. Public Speaking: Educational institutions and non-profit organizations can request a student-athlete to speak to an audience about topics such as the importance of academics, goal setting, resiliency, physical activity/nutrition, and overcoming peer pressure. These opportunities also help our student-athletes develop their public speaking abilities and it allows them the opportunity to share about their experience being a Division I student-athlete.

2. Community Service: Our student-athletes are always looking for opportunities to volunteer at local non-profit organizations.

3. Visits to Hospitals: Our student-athletes can spend time visiting with children and the elderly.

4. Appearing at Events: Student-athletes can also make appearances at events and participate in hands on activities with children. This type of event is limited due to NCAA regulations, but our staff is willing to review each request and determine whether a student-athlete can participate.

5. Virtual Visits: Student-athletes can participate in virtual visits with non-profit organizations, K-8th grade classrooms, pediatric patients and more. We ask that the organization provide the virtual set up and meeting link once the appearance has been confirmed.

Policy:

1. Department of Athletics reserves the right to refuse any appearance.

2. Due to time demands on the student-athletes, we cannot guarantee that each request will be fulfilled. If a scheduled appearance conflicts with a student-athletes’ athletic or scholastic commitments, the athletics department reserves the right to cancel an appearance to be rescheduled at a later date. We ask that you please understand the dynamic schedules of our student-athletes that include class, studying, travel, competition, practice and weight training.

3. Appearances cannot last more than two hours (including driving to and from the location). Transportation cannot be more than a 30-minute travel time from LSU.

4. Specific student-athletes cannot be requested or contacted directly. Requests must be submitted online. LSU Athletics distributes the opportunities to all student-athletes and student-athletes sign up based on their availability. This policy helps ensure LSU Athletics follows all NCAA regulations and will not jeopardize a student-athletes eligibility.

5. LSU Athletics must receive the request a minimum of three weeks prior to the appearance date otherwise the event request will not be processed. All requests will receive a response within one week from the day it was submitted. This does not mean an answer will be available within that time frame, but we will confirm receipt of the request. Scheduling is challenging and it may take longer than a week to confirm or deny a request. It is helpful to provide as much planning time as possible.

General Rule:

A NCAA member institution or recognized entity thereof (e.g., fraternity, sorority or student government organization), a member conference or a non-institutional charitable, educational or nonprofit agency may use a student-athlete’s name, picture or appearance to support its charitable or educational activities or to support activities considered incidental to the student-athlete’s participation in intercollegiate athletics, provided the following conditions are met:

a) The student-athlete’s participation is subject to the limitations on participants in such activities as set forth in Bylaw 17;

b) The specific activity or project in which the student-athlete participates does not involved co-sponsorship, advertisement or promotion by a commercial agency other than through the reproduction of the sponsoring company’s officially registered regular trademark or logo on printed materials such as pictures, posters or calendars. The company’s emblem, name, address and telephone number may be included with the trademark or logo. Personal names, messages and slogans (other than the officially registered trademark) are prohibited;

c) The name or picture of a student-athlete with remaining eligibility may not appear on an institution’s printed promotional item (e.g., poster, calendar) that includes a reproduction of a product with which a commercial entity is associated if the commercial entity’s officially registered regular trademark or logo also appears on the item;

d) The student-athlete does not miss class;

e) All moneys derived from the activity or project go directly to the member institution, member conference or the charitable, educational or nonprofit agency;

f) The student-athlete may accept actual and necessary expenses from the member institution, member conference or the charitable, educational or nonprofit agency related to participation in such activity;

g) The student-athlete’s name, picture or appearance is not used to promote the commercial ventures of any nonprofit agency;

h) Any commercial items with names, likenesses or pictures of multiple student-athletes (other than highlight films or media guides per Bylaw 12.5.1.8) may be sold only at the member institution at which the student-athlete is enrolled, institutionally controlled (owned and operated) outlets or outlets controlled by the charitable or educational organization (e.g., location of the charitable or educational organization, site of charitable event during the event). Items that include an individual student-athlete’s name, picture or likeness (e.g., name on jersey, name or likeness on a bobble-head doll), other than informational items (e.g., media guide, schedule cards, institutional publications), may not be sold; and

i) The student-athlete and an authorized representative of the charitable, educational or nonprofit agency affirm that the student-athlete’s name, image or appearance is used in a manner consistent with the requirements of this section.

Appearance Request Process:

The Compliance Office reviews all student-athlete appearance requests on a case-by-case basis and will grant or deny appearances based on the specific circumstances of each request. Additionally, due to academic and athletic obligations, LSU gives preference to community service events that occur in the Baton Rouge area.

LSU student-athletes perform numerous community service events and enjoy community involvement. When possible our student-athletes are excited to participate, but please understand that not all requests will be approved. LSU Athletics does not approve community service events during concentrated study periods and/or midterms/ finals week of any term. Also, please note that due to academic and athletic obligations, LSU gives preference to community service events that occur in the Baton Rouge area. In addition, all student-athlete appearance requests must be submitted at least three weeks prior to the event in order to be considered. Please see below to see the process in which the request is reviewed.

Step 1
Review the NCAA guidelines for appearances, and make sure your event meets these guidelines.

Step 2
Enter information regarding the request using the link below titled “STUDENT-ATHLETE APPEARANCE REQUEST FORM.” The more details included about the event, the better. Once the form is completed, click submit.

Step 3
The compliance office will receive the request and make sure that all NCAA regulations are met. Applications which are NCAA compliant will be forwarded for processing by the Tiger Life Office.

Step 4
The Tiger Life Office will review the request and work to secure student-athletes for the event. Do note that this does not guarantee student-athlete participation as there may be scheduling conflicts.

Step 5
At least five days prior to the event, the event contact listed on the form will be notified by a member of the Tiger Life Office if the appearance request will be granted. If you have any questions during this process, please contact the Tiger Life program at (225) 578-5934, or via e-mail at tigerlife@lsu.edu.

 

Please Complete the Student-Athlete Appearance Request Form Below:

Spirit Squad Appearance Request

To request Mike the Tiger, Cheerleaders or Tiger Girls please click the button below.