CHANGING THE GAME FOR WOMEN IN SPORTS - A LOOK AT NCAA’s NEW NIL REGULATIONS
A New Era
For athletes advancing their careers in sports at the collegiate level, the word “no” became a default response. From turning down the prizes at the end of a local road race to declining the ambassador opportunity from a sportswear company, athletes grew accustomed to saying “no.” By becoming a part of the NCAA, or National Collegiate Athletic Association, athletes had to give up their rights to profit from their personal brand in exchange for the ability to receive an education and compete in their sport. These rules and regulations even transcended the realm of sports at the collegiate level by negatively impacting prospective athletes in middle and high school. To avoid becoming ineligible, athletes had to turn down almost any and every chance towards career development that involved some kind of compensation. “Think about all the opportunities that are taken from you as an athlete before they even emerge. All I saw was potential that I couldn’t tap into” noted Hayley Hodson, a female volleyball star with plans of playing at the Division 1 level in college.
However, for the first time in decades, collegiate athletes and potential prospects will no longer have to prevent themselves from capitalizing on their personal brand. Last July, the NCAA announced news that would prompt a major shift in the realm of collegiate athletics. For the first time, student athletes are now able to capitalize on their NILs, or Names, Images and Likenesses. Now, athletes can utilize their personal brands in unique ways, from sponsorships to promotional deals to licensed appearances. The magnitude of the news reverberated throughout every sport, league, division, and school. Even less popular sports from smaller universities and less competitive regions are able to capitalize on these NIL rules, launching the world of athletics into a new era of commercial opportunities and endorsement deals that go beyond sports scholarships.
With these new NIL laws come new opportunities, but not without vast scrutiny. Some believe the benefits of the regulations will be lopsided, with the most lucrative opportunities going toward the highest-performing athletes in the most popular sports. Furthermore, there are concerns that the rules will benefit male athletes notably more than female athletes, especially since men’s sports like basketball and football are televised more often and rank significantly higher in terms of popularity among the general public.
Even though the policies are very new, these concerns certainly appear to be true in many cases. Some of the biggest NIL deals to date include lucrative sponsorships among the top ranked male basketball and football players throughout the nation. Point guard Hercy Miller signed a $2 million deal with Web Apps America, while quarterback Bryce Young began nearing $1 million in sponsorships after just under a month of the regulations going into effect.
Blake Lawrence, the current CEO of Opendorse, manages a company that specializes in helping athletes navigate endorsement opportunities and adopt professional status. Based on his experiences in the industry, he believes many traditional NIL opportunities, which include commercials and gear endorsements, are going to continue favoring men’s basketball and football teams at the Division I level. Past trends suggest this to be very plausible, in which male athletes stand to gain much more from these regulations than female athletes.
However, once social media is taken into consideration, the realm of opportunities shifts once again. Social media is being used now more than ever, and has experienced monumental growth over the past decade. As a society, people rely on social media for more than just connecting with others. Lawrence attributes all the opportunities around influencer marketing to social media, calling the medium “the ultimate equalizer.” As times change, the social media influencer industry is expected to exceed $15 billion in industry value. As a result, college athletes will be able to capitalize on NIL opportunities in this market. It also opens up opportunities to athletes who aren’t the top players on their respective teams or in the league.
With social media, how often a player’s games are aired on live television or how many “All-American'' awards they receive become less important in comparison to how engaging they are to their online followers. This new situation is opening many doors for women in particular, who currently receive less than 4% of sports coverage through more traditional media channels (Baker). The opportunities are more fairly distributed between men and women when it comes to social media, allowing female athletes to capitalize on their interpersonal skills as communicated through their social media presences.
Female athletes have already started racking up NIL deals through these new mediums, including LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne. With her 1.1 million followers on Instagram, Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger believes she will earn more compensation than any other NCAA athlete because of her strong online presence. She is one of the many female athletes who are inspiring other collegiate athletes to take advantage of their unique persona and find ways to capitalize on that as an asset.
Tips for Collegiate Athletes and Their NILs
Don’t Rush: While it may seem like every athlete now has a NIL sponsorship deal, don’t commit to the first opportunity presented to you. Make sure you evaluate every chance and take time to really understand the contract details and commitment involved in the deal.
Think Outside the Box: You don’t have to be on every social media platform or have a million followers on TikTok to take advantage of your unique, personal brand. Try thinking about other ways of creating value for your supporters and prospective partners:
Do product testing for your favorite brand
Offer coaching at high school camps or clinics
Become a campus ambassador to generate awareness on a local level
Be Proactive: Don’t wait for opportunities to come and instead, manifest the opportunities you’d like to see become a reality. Approach different companies that you feel inspired by or connected to, and start the conversation around how you can engage in a mutualistic relationship that strategically utilizes your NILs.
Be Authentic: Identify your personal values and brand, and engage in opportunities that align with those values.
Check out NOCAP to Get Started: Not sure where to start? Consider making a profile on NOCAP Sports to get your name and personal brand exposed to companies looking for athletes like you! It’s free and very easy to get started.
Consider Working with Companies Beyond the Sports Industry: chances are, many companies have athletes as part of their target market even if their products or services aren’t explicitly sports-related
Wrapping Up
The newly released NIL regulations definitely bring up the multi-faceted nature of gender equality in sports. Despite being an athlete in the NCAA, I previously held many misconceptions around the new rules and how they were expected to have disproportionate impacts on men and women. However, I learned a lot from my investigation about the new policies and how they will begin to change the future of sports. There are certainly concerns around whether the rules will benefit specific athletes and sports unequally, but there are also many new opportunities for athletes to become advocates for themselves and take advantage of their NILs in less-conventional ways. We may be four months into these new changes, but this is only the start of a new era and I am eager to see how both men and women advance their careers during these unprecedented times.
Let me know below how you’re taking advantage of your NIL, or feel free to share an interesting idea that you’ve seen from someone else! I’d love to hear your thoughts and hope you learned something new. As always, stay tuned for updates and check back soon for more.
Gianna
