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NIL-ionaires: How College Athletes Are Utilizing Social Media and the New NIL Rules to Get Paid
- umamacommunication
- Mar 4, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 7, 2022
March is upon us and in just two weeks millions of fans will be glued to their TVs and phones watching some of the most elite athletes in the country competing in March Madness. The college basketball tournament is a massive national event and is expected to have 100 million viewers and accrue $1.2 Billion in revenue. From TV advertisements to ticket sales college sports is a huge business, but it has been built on the back of unpaid athletes. This has caused tension for decades, and it wasn’t until last July that college athletes were allowed to make money off of their name and likeness. Although they are still not being paid by universities, many athletes are taking advantage of the new NIL rules and utilizing social media and influencer marketing to become “NIL-ionaires”.
On July 1, 2024 the NCAA officially changed their rules allowing athletes to make money off their name, image, and likeness, and it could not have come at a better time. In the last five years many companies have begun relying on social media influencers to market their products and it has become a large revenue source for celebrities big and small. The reason it works so well is because when an influencer posts advertising a brand, their followers don’t see it as an advertisement, but rather as a recommendation from someone they look up to and admire. Because many college athletes already have large social media followings, when the NIL rules went into effect they were well positioned to become influencers and help companies market their product. For example, Miami QB D’Eriq King boasts an Instagram following of 42.3K and has done endorsements with businesses ranging from The Wharf to the Florida Panthers.
Football and men's basketball are the two most popular college sports based on viewership numbers and annual revenue, but that has not stopped athletes from other sports from profiting off of the new NIL rules. With social media prowess, any college athlete can realistically become an influencer and begin making money. In fact, the athlete that seems most positioned to become the first real “NIL-ionaire” is not a football or basketball player, but is actually LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne. Dunne is now the most followed college athlete across social media after using quarantine to focus on creating content and building an audience. Because she had taken social media seriously before the rule change, she already had a large enough audience to warrant deals with Vuori, American Eagle, and GrubHub almost immediately after they went into effect. In an interview with the New York Post Dunne commented on her being at the forefront of the new rule change saying, “I want to be a role model to young girls and I think it’s really awesome that I am a female in this. I feel like most people expected football and basketball players to get the biggest endorsement deals.”
The new NIL rules have already helped many college athletes earn money off themselves, but it will be interesting to see how future athletes continue to build upon what athletes like D’Eriq King and Olivia Dunne have done. With focus and dedication to building a following and creating quality content, the sky's the limit for college athletes across sports to become influencers and get paid.
By: Jordan Chesebrough 24'
Sources:
Opmerkingen