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, those fans understood that a scarlet jersey with a white 97 was a tribute to the star defensive lineman Joey Bosa, who wears the number when the Buckeyes play.
But as a federal court deliberates 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.