Kris Richardson, the N.C.A.A.’s director of academic and membership affairs, told university officials that this season, for the first time, athletes need not be asked to sign a statement regarding the use of their names and likenesses for promotional purposes. Richardson’s email, first reported by USA Today, was confirmed by The New York Times.

Donald Remy, the N.C.A.A.’s chief legal officer, attributed the change to a desire to make the eligibility process more efficient. He said the recommendation had been discussed for more than a year.

“It had no eligibility ramifications,” Remy said. “It was a bit confusing to folks over the years, and so it was something we clarified now.”

Richardson and Remy said that the section of the agreement dealing with likenesses had never been mandatory, but the form published for last season told prospective athletes, “If you are an incoming freshman, you must complete and sign Parts I, II, III, IV, V and VII to participate in intercollegiate competition.” The section in question was Part IV.

Although the N.C.A.A. no longer asks prospective athletes to sign such a statement, individual conferences may still require it. The Big Ten has had athletes sign a name-and-image waiver, and last month the Atlantic Coast Conference told member universities it would circulate a name-and-likeness release form on a conference level for the first time.

The N.C.A.A. and its member universities have faced a barrage of legal challenges over the past year that have provoked a national debate about the rights of student-athletes.

In addition to the O’Bannon trial, the prominent New York antitrust and sports labor lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, whose previous cases include the lawsuit that established free agency in the N.F.L., filed a proposed class action in March accusing the N.C.A.A. and the so-called Big 5 conferences, which have many of the most valuable athletics departments, of unlawfully preventing athletes from receiving fair compensation. Committees in the House and the Senate have held hearings on the collegiate model’s fairness and sustainability.