This is akin to a book contract not defining "out of print". First we'll need contracts, then maybe we'll get laws.
I don't thing anybody wants their image used by someone else without their consent. There are already provisions for that in laws for photography in some countries.
I'm thinking specifically about the laws in France where you can't take a picture of someone without their consent. A picture is "of someone" when that someone is clearly a subject on the picture and not background.
If they want your likeness on action figures and other toys, demand extra.
I do know significant aspects about this, as I am the author of a global patent on Automated Actor Replacement in Filmed Media. Awarded in 2008. Went bankrupt in 2013 trying to deploy a Personalized Advertising company, and end up selling the patent to stay alive.
Almost certainly, I think there are companies whose entire business is to handle the image of dead celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, but should there be?
An actor or athlete's performance is a creative act, and could reasonably be considered intellectual property, but their appearance is an act of nature. Why should that have any special legal protection?
In this case, it was clearly not the NCAA as a whole. The NCAA was against the case because it would mean athletes being paid.