The Governance of Wearables: Understanding the Policies and Ownership of Athlete Performance Data
The proliferation of wearable technology—from advanced GPS trackers to biometric monitoring apparel—has made athlete performance data a valuable asset. For the student athlete, this creates a complex governance issue: who owns the data collected, how is it used, and what policies control its disclosure? Understanding the terms of service and institutional policies surrounding wearable data is critical for protecting both personal health information and competitive advantage.
Institutional policies regarding wearable data typically fall into two categories: aggregated use and individual use. Aggregated use involves collecting anonymous data from the entire team to identify broad trends in training load, recovery needs, or injury patterns. This data is generally used to optimize team scheduling and mitigate overall risk. Individual use involves coaches or trainers using specific heart rate variability, sleep quality scores, or load monitoring metrics to dictate a single athlete’s practice intensity or rest day recommendations. While this is intended to promote personalized health, it creates transparency challenges.
The fundamental governance challenge lies in data ownership. If a student athlete uses their own personal watch or device, they generally retain ownership of the data. However, if the institution provides the wearable technology, or if the athlete consents to upload data to a university controlled platform, the institution may claim ownership or, at minimum, have the right to access and use the data indefinitely. Student athletes should explicitly ask: where is the data stored, who has access (coaches, third party consultants, recruits), and what is the policy for deleting the data upon graduation or transfer?
Furthermore, the integration of performance data with official academic or medical records presents a privacy risk. Performance data, particularly information related to physical load and fatigue, could potentially be categorized as protected health information. Athletes must be aware of state laws or university regulations that govern how and if this data can be shared with coaches or recruiters, especially in the context of professional scouting where a detailed history of injuries and load management is highly sought after information.
The governance structure is also complicated by Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals. If an athlete signs an endorsement deal with a wearable tech company, the contract may include a clause granting the company the right to access anonymized or even specific performance data for marketing or product development. The student athlete needs legal counsel to ensure that any data sharing clause in an NIL agreement does not violate their current institutional agreements or medical privacy rights. Establishing clear protocols for data ownership and use is not just a policy concern; it is an increasingly important element of the ethical and competitive landscape in modern college sports.