The NIL market is the sports scene’s latest money maker. From July 1, 2021, college athletes were allowed to benefit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Having become more valuable, the NIL is now in high demand in the sports industry.
NIL market?
The NIL market is one of the most lucrative areas in which the sports industry thrives. The name, image, and likeness of many of our favorite sports stars will often be used to push endorsements and products to the public, and in turn, the athletes whose name, image, and likeness is being used will be compensated for their use.
With the NCAA removing all of the prohibitions limiting the ability of college athletes to allow the use of their name, image, and likeness by brands and corporations, college athletes can start to secure themselves earlier in their careers. The basketball scene is a great example of where college sports actually have a healthy fanbase. The dedicated fans of the college sports scene are making it possible for the name, image, and likeness of these junior talents to be monetized.
The NBA has some of the highest paying names, images, and likenesses the sports scene has ever seen. There have been numerous debates on how the new rules will impact the amateur college sports scene.
NBA 2K
The amount of money that goes into an NBA player’s name, image, and likeness is astounding. It has been confirmed that every player’s name, image, and likeness is valued at $400,000. This means that over the course of the development over all the NBA, it will have cost just over a billion dollars to use the player’s names, images, and likenesses. These are simply the figures a player in the NBA is making for being in a game.
College kit
Many college athletes, like professionals, will get approached to wear and endorse apparel. The college scene is nowhere near as profitable as the professional scene but still respectable, with just over eight million dollars worth of apparel deals being signed as opposed to the $125 million in the professional NBA scene. The math works out to students being able to earn anywhere from one to ten thousand dollars per endorsement. Professionals in the NBA whose name, image, and likeness have been used to represent, in this case, Nike, will be making anywhere from $50,000 up to $400,000 for an endorsement. With figures like these, it becomes increasingly easy to see how the NBA is the highest-paying sport in the world.
Basketball pays
Basketball players, both male and female, hold the majority of the positions in both the top five, and in the top 25, highest-paid college athletes leaderboards. With the power of social media, these younger athletes are taking advantage of being part of the generation that really spends most of its time online. The athletes use the social media world to grow themselves and their fame through documenting and posting their talent online. It is scary how much money some of these college athletes are expected to make on endorsements.
Take someone like Cole Anthony, who used to be at North Carolina Tar Heels just a year ago and now is expected to make over $400,000 in endorsements alone in 2021. It is safe to say the name, image, and likeness world in the NBA is the most lucrative market in the entire sporting industry.
Limits for student NIL
As a student that has their name, image, and likeness used, there are some limits to what they can be attached to. The rule prohibits athletes from endorsing alcohol, tobacco products, including vapes, anabolic steroids/performance enhancers, sports betting, or sexually-oriented businesses. However, it is possible that they can endorse, say, a firearm that they can legally purchase. Where the lines are drawn will be determined by school compliance officers. The biggest issue they face is that due to states differing in their laws, it is not really a simple task to understand where all these hypothetical lines will be drawn, especially when it comes to different age law restrictions in certain states.
Before the floodgates
Understand that it is not going to be an easy process to introduce and regulate the NIL. Finally, college students are unbarred from monetizing their name, image, and likeness, but this does not mean all college students are eligible. In the same way, only a small percentage is drafted into the pro leagues from college sports teams, and an even smaller percentage will be getting the biggest NIL deals. Nonetheless, this is still an opportunity students cannot pass up. If they are offered contracts that want to use their name, image, and likeness, they can often confirm their spot in being famous and successful. These NIL market moves will be the stepping stones for their future ventures. Being recognized early makes your transition into the big leagues a lot smoother as you will not feel overwhelmed with all the new benefits and promises your life now offers.
What’s next?
The NIL laws need a lot of refinement. Without all the laws being equal across state lines, there is still a lot of confusion on how this all works. Not to mention, schools now play a part in the deal process, which also needs to be figured out. Although schools do not pay or get paid for the contracts of the students’ names, images, and likenesses, they can stop contracts from being offered if they clash with school sponsors or endorsements. With that, there are many more minor contradictions when you look deeper into what age you need to be in certain states to perform certain actions such as purchasing weapons.
All in all, once all the kinks are ironed out of this new shift in the laws and policies, it will be a smoothly run chain of opportunities for the athletes of tomorrow to enjoy.
