RIGHTS GOVERNANCE

Most storytelling efforts fail because content is published before underlying rights are settled. This policy states the standard we hold ourselves to on every engagement, and what institutions, families, and partners can expect from us.

Before an account is published, we establish who holds the rights to it. That work includes:

• Locating and authenticating primary source records: archives, correspondence, contemporaneous press, and institutional files.
• Identifying the athlete, estate, or descendants holding relevant rights.
• Documenting the line of succession from the original subject to the present rights holder.
• Recording gaps, contradictions, and unresolved questions rather than papering over them.

The family is the source. We seek informed, written consent from the family or estate before commercial use of a name, image, likeness, or personal account. Families retain moral rights in how a relative is portrayed, receive the agreed commercial participation, and are consulted on material changes to a project’s direction. Consent may be conditioned or narrowed, and we honor those limits.

The institution is the platform. University trademarks, logos, and institutional marks remain entirely the property of the institution. We use them only as permitted by the engagement agreement and any applicable licensing office, and we do not assert ownership of institutional marks through our work.

Where an engagement involves an institution, a family, and Playmakxrs, we document the relationship among all three so that ownership, usage rights, approval authority, revenue participation, and duration are settled in advance. The aim is that no party is later surprised by how a story is used.

Archival materials are used under the terms on which they are licensed or contributed, with the holding institution or collection credited. Where a rights holder cannot be identified after diligent search, we document the search, and we do not treat an unresolved search as permission.

We deal in verified historical reality, and we correct the record when we get something wrong. If you believe published material is inaccurate, infringes your rights, or uses a likeness without proper consent, contact us with the specifics and supporting documentation. We will acknowledge the request, investigate, and where the concern is substantiated, correct, credit, or remove the material.

Our governance is defined as much by what we decline to do:

• We do not manufacture media spin or publish accounts we cannot substantiate.
• We do not negotiate active player contracts or broker transfer portal deals.
• We do not publish a family’s story over that family’s objection.
• We do not assert rights in institutional marks or in materials we do not hold.

This policy sits alongside our Terms of Engagement and Privacy Policy. Where a signed engagement agreement addresses a rights question in more detail, that agreement controls.

Rights inquiries, correction requests, and takedown notices can be sent to contact@playmakxrs.com.