NIL Newsletter #142 | House Committee Meeting, Earning Differences, Under Armour Deals, + ICYMI
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for student athletes, administrators, agents and other sport professionals.
Recapping NIL This Week:
U.S. House Committee Schedules NIL Rights Hearing
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on March 29, aptly named “Taking the Buzzer Beater to the Bank: Protecting College Athletes’ NIL Dealmaking Rights.”
Charlie Baker is scheduled to be present at the hearing and will make his first visit to Capitol Hill since taking over as NCAA President.
The hearing will be led by two Republicans, Washington’s Cathy McMorris—the current committee chair—and Florida’s Gus Bilirakis.
“Athletes and students should have every opportunity to succeed in life and in the sport they’re passionate about,” Rodgers and Bilirakis said in a joint statement. “Given that March Madness is upon us, we look forward to holding this timely hearing and reigniting discussions on how we can protect the rights of young athletes across the country.”
In spite of the upcoming hearing, there appears to be little progress on federal legislation regarding name, image, and likeness. Five senators announced a plan to reintroduce the “Athlete Bill of Rights” in Congress, but that bill is primarily focused on health, wellness, and safety standards for student athletes.
The hearing is open to the public and will be live streamed.
More information, as well as the link to the livestream, is available HERE.
Difference Between Men’s and Women’s NIL Earnings Lies with Collectives
Data released by Opendorse showed that Men’s college basketball players make twice as much as Women’s college basketball players.
However, of all players competing in the both the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments, 8 of the 10 most-followed on Instagram are women—indicative of a much larger audience and the potential for greater expansion of brand recognition through endorsements.
Given the current state of men’s versus women’s earnings potential at the professional level (NBA vs. WNBA), female basketball players likely have their highest earning potential as student-athletes.
Although traditional endorsements and NIL collectives both contribute to student-athlete earnings, “[c]ollectives exacerbate the pay gap between male and female basketball players. … [E]xcluding the money from collectives — male and female basketball players made roughly the same amount of money from NIL deals.”
Possible enforcement of Title IX violations seems unlikely, as collectives remain outside of university control, but the pay gap exacerbation by collectives will remain a key factor in upcoming legislation discussions.
More information is available HERE.
Under Armour Releases March Madness NIL Merchandise
Ahead of March Madness, Under Armour announced that they had signed endorsement deals with athletes from Maryland, Notre Dame, South Carolina, and Utah—all of which have contracts with Under Armour for athletic apparel.
Each athlete has a jersey for sale on Under Armour’s website, but their portion of the proceeds remains undisclosed as of now.
Each jersey will not only contain the Under Armour logo, but also the proper institutional marks from each university. Maryland, South Carolina, and Utah work with Learfield’s licensing agency for apparel, while Notre Dame works with Fanatics’ licensing arm.
The creation and sale of these jerseys is an important step in NIL endorsements, as it signifies the proper manner in which to combine student-athletes, brands, and universities in one product.
More on the story is available HERE.
ICYMI Ticker
Altius Sports has partnered with Powerade to educate the brand on NIL state laws. Powerade is a primary partner of March Madness. LINK
AAC Commissioner Michael Aresco shared a different translation of NIL: “Now It’s Legal.” LINK
Wichita State collective Armchair Strategies noted an uptick in NIL contributions after the school announced the firing of Head Coach Isaac Brown. LINK
Valparaiso launched the Valpo Exchange in partnership with INFLCR. LINK
Michigan OL Zak Zinter commented on the impact of large NIL deals for young athletes: “You’ve got these seniors, third, fourth-year guys who have been playing for two or three years. Then you’ve got this freshman coming in who's making a million bucks more than them.” LINK
Bose will ramp up their NIL activity with a focus on TikTok marketing. LINK