Football dominates NIL activity and sponsorship dollars. Women's sports, especially basketball, are also seeing increased NIL opportunities. Athletes with large social media followings, particularly on TikTok and Instagram, are benefitting the most from NIL deals by posting content. However, most college athletes outside of the top conferences and sports are not earning much from NIL and average deals for Division III athletes are only $35. Collectives have also emerged to pool donor money and create NIL opportunities for athletes, but there is concern these could violate recruiting rules or negatively impact the student-athlete experience. The future of NIL regulation is uncertain as the NCAA reviews issues but conferences may pursue their own policies.

1. Amateurs No More
JRN 589 / 450
Where NIL Stands
Prof. Hanley

2. Where NIL Stands
So, what has happened since July
1, 2021? A lot. Football, as
expected, dominates NIL activity,
as it is the most widely sponsored
collegiate sport.
[That should not be surprising, as
football has long generated the
most attention and hence revenue
as this 1931 Harvard budget
shows]

3. Where NIL Stands
Women’s sports hold seven of the
next 11 spots in terms of
compensation, showing increasing
strength with women’s basketball
second to football in sponsorship
dollars.

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Clearly, athletes who understand
social media/TikTok are benefiting
the most, with content posting
leading the way in the activity and
compensation categories.
The Cavinder twins who play
women’s basketball at Fresno
State have amassed 3.5 million
followers on TikTok.

7. Where NIL Stands
Hannah and Haley Cavinder
signed major sponsorship deals
with Boost Mobile, Gopuff and Six
Star Nutrition.
Analysts calculate that their deals
could total $3 million based on
the typical calculation of $0.80 per
follower.

8. Where NIL Stands
“If (the Cavinders) immediate
windfall showed anything, it’s that
women athletes with large social
media followings will amass even
more cash than your favorite
quarterback or receiver. In fact,
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunn, also
with millions of followers on IG
and TikTok, was in New York City
as well, poised to soon strike what
may be the biggest of all college
athlete deals,” wrote Ross
Dellenger in Sports Illustrated.

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The headline-grabbing deals do
obscure the reality: collegiate
athletes aren’t making all that
much money from NIL deals on
average.
Division II and III athletes don’t
earn enough to pay for a tank of
gas, on average, with D-III athletes
earning an average of $35.

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Conferences matter, too, with the
Power Five dominating activity,
primarily because of football.

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Hovering over the NIL landscape.
and not yet accounted for in
terms of reliable statistical detail,
are for-profit and non-profit NIL
collectives.
These organizations pool money
from alumni and supporters to
create funds to license the NIL
rights of athletes, sometimes for a
fee.

18. Where NIL Stands
“ … their objective is to create
income-producing opportunities
for the athletes. There is no
formal relationship between the
collectives and the schools.
The collectives must remain a
third party with no affiliation to
the university because of state
laws and NCAA guidelines,”
wrote Michael Smith in Sports
Business Journal.

19. Where NIL Stands
Pitt alumni Chris Bickell, left,
serves as an example of a donors’
collective formed to support
specific athletes with NIL
opportunities and, by extension,
improve the fortunes of the
teams.

20. Where NIL Stands
Bickell founded Alliance 412, “as a
vessel through which Panthers can
navigate the new world of NIL and
sift through opportunities with
local, regional and national
organizations and companies,”
according to a story by Johnny
McGonigal of the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette.

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The mission of the collectives
varies, as some are designed to
work with charities.
At Ohio State, for example, the
Cohesion Foundation and The
Foundation will pay athletes to
support charities in the Columbus,
Ohio area. Still, recruiting is part
of the picture, although it is
against NCAA rules.

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“We need to be at the forefront of
this to help with recruiting,” Ohio
State booster Brian Schottenstein
told The Athletic’s Bill Landis for
an April 25, 2022, story.
Schottenstein launched The
Foundation with former OSU
quarterback Cardale Jones.

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Other collectives have signed eye-
popping deals to help recruit
athletes.
In March 2022, The Athletic
reported on an unidentified
athlete signing a $8 million deal
with a collective, just one of
several six-figure and seven-figure
deals.

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Alabama football coach Nick
Saban is not happy with the
situation.
“I don’t think what we’re doing
right now is a sustainable model,”
Saban told The Associated Press in
April 2022.
Lincoln Riley, coach of USC
football, agreed:

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“I think that anybody that cares
about college football is not real
pleased with that because that
wasn’t the intention. And I’m sure,
at some point, there is going to be
a market correction if you will,
with recruiting,” Riley told The
Associated Press in April 2022.
The NCAA likewise is baffled.

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"We are concerned that some
activity in the name, image and
likeness space may not only be
violating NCAA recruiting rules,
particularly those prohibiting
booster involvement, but also may
be impacting the student-athlete
experience negatively in some
ways," said NCAA Division I board
chair Jere Morehead, president at
the University of Georgia, in
March 2022.

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The NCAA is reviewing NIL
conduct at member institutions
but whether the organization will
adopt restrictive policies is
unlikely.
What is likely is that Power Five
conference schools will go their
own way, without the NCAA.