NIL Deals. Good or Bad?

With the Super Bowl coming to an end last weekend, we have to realize how big of a market sports is in the United States. With all of the major professional sports bringing in billions of dollars every year, the athletes get paid. In college it is different. College football and basketball bring in the most money, according to the CNBC article “What the top 75 college sports programs are worth” by Micheal Ozanian colleges like “Ohio State University is worth an estimated $1.32 billion. The Buckeyes had $230 million in revenue in 2023.” Although these schools make millions of dollars, unlike the professional leagues, the students do not get paid for bringing this money to the schools. To work around this the NCAA allows what are called NIL deals which allows players to earn money based on their name and likeness. If a standout player at a school is performing well they can gain sponsorships from brands that help promote themselves in advertising and commercials. Some noticeable names that have NIL deals in college sports are a quarterback at Texas Arch Manning who is estimated to make $6.6 million, Dukes guard Cooper Flagg who is estimated at $4.3 Million, and Livvy Dunne who is in gymnastics at LSU who is estimated at $4.2 million. These athletes can make millions of dollars because they are considered famous, or star players, but even other not-so-known athletes can get NIL deals as well. NIL deals can help these student-athletes provide a much more comfortable life for themselves. I talked to a long-time friend and current college football player at the University of Missouri, Daylan Carnell and he said “I do have an NIL deal right now, I get paid monthly and that money helps me with my rent and help pay for my car.” Carnell also expressed that he tries to save as much money as he can from his deal because “you never know when football might end and having a little bit saved up will help me in the long run.” Although Daylan is among the top percent of athletes playing at a Division 1 school, many athletes attend smaller schools that an NIL deal would help them out. For sports at UW Whitewater, it is hard to get NIL deals, although D3 athletes are allowed to sign NIL deals it is difficult because Whitewater does not have the national exposure that bigger schools have. Riley Burbach the director of operations at Spring Creek Golf Course near Whitewater says “College is starting to be more like a business, I think kids should be able to promote their name, image, and likeness but colleges flat out paying them, their needs to be a set number or salary cap.” Burbach who also sees students from Whitewater come to the course says “I see a lot of the students come here some on the golf team and some aren’t. I think if they are good enough some company should help them out with money even if it’s just a little.” Although Whitewater’s market is small NIL deals can help students to live more comfortably when most students do not get scholarships for sports.