Wednesday Special Feature | The Value of Non-Sport Related NIL Deals to All Athletic Programs
A new segment by Optimum Sports Consulting- the Wednesday Special Feature. OSC provides valuable, actionable NIL resources for athletes, administrators, agencies and sport professionals.
Wednesday Special Feature | The Value of Non-Sport Related NIL Deals to All Athletic Programs
By: Emily Rollo (@emrollo)
When the NCAA announced its temporary Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy on July 1, the most high-profile student athletes, such as “Power 5” school quarterbacks, felt its immediate effects. Miami quarterback D’Eriq King signed lucrative contracts with six companies and launched his own clothing line all before the start of the college season. Quinn Ewers, Ohio State’s red-shirt quarterback, also inked a $1.4 million deal with GT Sports Marketing before ever taking one snap in Columbus.
These deals established a common misconception for college athletics: only the most elite-level athletes in revenue driving sports can monetize from their NIL.
Consequently, administrators at lower-level college programs then could easily assume that their athletes would not participate in the NIL space. Therefore, why would administrators care to explore the new era of college sports and implement NIL policies?
Now, over three months into the NIL era, the industry has matured and debunked that misconception. Athletic marketing platform apps, such as MOGL and Opendorse, helped prove this by reporting that a significant amount of all deals through the apps are made with non-revenue generating sports (MOGL even states a majority of deals are non-revenue sport SAs).
Smaller athletic departments, which make up the majority of college athletics, can add substantial value to their programs by guiding their athletes through the non-sport related aspect of NIL.
NIL is an opportunity for student athletes to not only profit from their physical capabilities, but also from their unique, non-sport related skills. It is an avenue for student athletes to develop their personal brand. University administrators have a responsibility to help student athletes achieve personal greatness, on and off the field. It is now time for athletic departments to recognize that NIL opportunities can be an influential part of the student athlete’s quest for personal greatness. While administrators cannot be brokers for athletes, they can provide necessary resources to discover, contract, and profit on NIL opportunities.
The next imminent question is how are student athletes who play at lower levels and on non-revenue generating teams inking NIL deals? It is through their marketability of a specific skill outside of the sport. There is no specific activity that will maximize a student athlete’s profit, but through NIL’s (short) evolution thus far, social media is certainly appears to be a good place to start.
There are many student athletes with a large following on social media- and their following is not generated from their athletic performances. South Alabama women’s basketball player Casey Ferguson is known for her personable food reviews on Tik Tok and Instagram. She has over 2.4 million followers on TikTok and 28,000 followers on Instagram. South Alabama reportedly has taken steps to help Ferguson understand how to appropriately and effectively monetize her NIL, again, even though it has nothing to do with her foul shots.
Tennessee State’s men’s basketball player, Hercy Miller, has fewer followers than Ferguson, but his significant social media presence highlighting his experience at an HBCU has opened the NIL endorsement opportunities. Similarly, to Ferguson, Miller is not headlining ESPN, but his non-sport related content viewed and shared by thousands each day, has helped him ink a four-year, $2 million deal with tech company Web Apps America.
If student athletes know there are opportunities to earn even $100 from a brand for their personality on social media, they shouldl capitalize on it. For Division III athletes who do not have athletic scholarships, this can be helpful for rent or meal fees.
Additionally, valuable academic and intellectual skills can be transformed into NIL opportunities. Only 1% of all college athletes become professional players. Since such a large majority of college athletes compete at a lower level, many of them have non-sport related passions that cultivate in the classroom or elsewhere on campus.
At the latest Congressional Hearing, Cami March - a women’s golfer and Digital Technology and Culture major at Washington State University - expressed her relief in finally being able to monetize from her creation of a social media app. Prior to the NIL era, she had several roadblocks in pursuing her entrepreneurial passions and was often stopped from fully launching a profitable business due to her status as a student athlete. March understands that her athletic career will end at the end of her senior year, so the introduction of an NIL policy allows her to jumpstart her personal brand and business in the digital technology world.
Further, student athletes at schools known for its academic standards and not as much for athletic achievements, such as Ivy League schools, can capitalize on deals with academia-focused brands. If administrators are aware of such opportunities within NIL and educate their student athletes how to obtain deals based on their academic or extracurriculars, the school itself will receive more publicity and the value of athletics at these institutions will likely increase.
There is also an opportunity for NIL deals to create new networks for student athletes who monetize off their non-sport related skills. By entering into agreements with brands associated in other business sectors, they will communicate and connect with potential employers. In effect, this will also grow a university’s network and promote employment upon graduation. This will also increase the value of institutions and athletic departments overall.
Additionally, there will be an inadvertent influence on recruitment for lower-level athletic departments that recognize the opportunity in NIL beyond physical performances and help their student athletes navigate the industry. Even though NIL deals are prohibited from being used as recruitment inducements, prospective student athletes will notice NIL deals for non-sport related skills and likely influence their decisions.
Student athlete deals for non-sport related capabilities will likely become the more predominant form of NIL contracts. By helping SAs recognize their marketability and value outside of their athletic abilities, athletic departments (and universities as a whole) can increase their own value and marketability. It is important that athletic departments do not delay or ignore a program-wide introduction in order to capitalize on the value adding opportunity that NIL deals will provide to athletic programs of all levels.
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