Guest blog by Kristen Klepac
Green Flag Digital
In the past, the NCAA did not allow athletes to accept brand sponsorships of any kind. This ruling was recently overturned, now allowing collegiate athletes to profit off their name or image. While this new allowance won’t affect every athlete, it can change the game for a number of players. Arizona is one of the states that is accepting these NIL laws moving forward. There are many more that are on board.
There are details that must be followed in order to comply with these new rules. For example, an athlete is not able to receive any kind of compensation unless services have been provided on their behalf. The promotions must be appropriate, as athletes avoid promotion of any kind of alcohol, gambling or drugs. Agents are now allowed as part of these benefits, but the schools have to sit out from having a part in developing opportunities for athletes.
Social following and earning potential for student-athletes
Student-athletes now have access to the billions of dollars that are generated by the college sports sector each year. A new report from BetArizona attempts to understand how social followings may help us predict how much these collegiate athletes may stand to earn should they monetize their NIL. If you look at the most popular Arizona Division 1 sports teams at universities like the University of Arizona, Arizona State University (which has the most athlete social media followers), Northern Arizona University, and Grand Canyon University, men’s college basketball athletes are likely to benefit the most from platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Women’s basketball/softball players are also highly popular.
The Arizona athlete that has the most earning potential based on his social media following is Marcus Bagley, from Arizona State’s basketball team. He has more than 360,000 followers between Instagram and Twitter. Unfortunately, there’s only a handful of Arizona athletes that are likely to make a big profit off these new rules, but many players can still reap the benefits.
The original rule preventing college athletes from making money off their brand was designed to protect the amateur aspect of college sports. Essentially, being a student should be a priority before making money off of their sports performance. However, there is a lot of money to be made off the college sports demographic. Not only can players increase their earning potential, but they can bring in a lot more money now thanks to increased tickets sales, merchandise, and much more.
