Charitable NIL Deals, NCAA Asking for Help, and a First of Its Kind HS NIL Deal
Name, Image, Likeness Insider uses proprietary data and expert insights to explain the week’s NIL developments.
MICHIGAN STATE GYMNASTICS TIES NIL TO CHARITABLE GIVING
Michigan State University Gymnastics took a bold step this week in their approach to NIL. They have received one of the first team-wide deals of any gymnastics program. All 19 student-athletes opted in to an NIL deal through a collective registered as a 501(c)3 charitable organization called This is Sparta! The collective is organized by Charitable Gift America. Each student-athlete will receive compensation and will also select a vetted nonprofit organization to support.
The MSU Gymnastics deal comes in the same week as news about Oklahoma QB General Booty giving 20 percent of his NIL revenue to Oklahoma Children's Hospital and Pitt football player Deslin Alexandre using NIL to benefit youth in his native Haiti.
Why It Matters: We know from numerous Student-Athlete Insights studies about the “experience” of NIL, that student-athletes have placed a greater priority on philanthropy than the NIL “industry” has acknowledged. Over 60% of student-athletes would prefer if their NIL deals had a formal charitable tie. Nearly one-fifth of student-athletes say they intend to make charitable donations with their NIL income.
NCAA ASKS MEMBER SCHOOLS FOR HELP WITH NIL VIOLATIONS
Last week the NCAA asked its member schools for help in identifying possible NIL violations. In an email, the NCAA again indicated that they are, “actively investigating potential abuses of NIL transactions…” Later stating, “We also constantly review new reports of tampering, recruiting inducements, impermissible benefits, impermissible recruiters and other related behaviors.” The NCAA has repeatedly stated that its intent with regard to investigations is not to target student-athletes, but rather “the actors who pose a threat to the integrity of college sports."
Why It Matters: Back in May the NCAA provided additional NIL “guidance”. Since that time, there have been rumors of more investigations, but it's done little too slow the creation of more collectives, nor their growing impact on NIL. The NCAA outreach to members in May could have been perceived as putting member schools on notice that they might be held accountable for infractions by collectives. In contrast, this latest communication appears to be tinged with frustration and a desire to be in partnership with members. Without the help of institutions, the NCAA is likely to find their investigative efforts difficult. In particular, it often needs student-athletes to provide first-hand accounts and those student-athletes are usually quite reluctant to participate. In a 2021 study by Student-Athlete Insights (unrelated specifically to NIL), only 19% of student-athletes said they “trusted the NCAA to act in their best interests.” To provide some context, their own athletic departments only scored slight better at 29%. Meanwhile about 79% of student-athletes trust their coaches to act in their best interests.
HIGH SCHOOL NIL’S MOMENTUM CONTINUES
If you follow high school sports, you probably know the legendary football program at St. John Bosco High School in Los Angeles County. The Bosco Braves are the gold standard in one of the toughest high school football leagues in the country, have won three state championships, and were named the 2019 National Champion by everyone from USA Today to HS Football America.
And now the program has landed the nation’s first team-wide NIL deal. The sponsor is KONG IQ, a training technology company which provides workout feedback by measuring biometrics and skeletal cameras. In exchange for cash compensation, the Bosco players that opt in to the agreement will be expected to post content on their social channels and be featured on KONGiQ App.
Why It Matters: In addition to being the first deal of its kind, it may be a bellwether of things to come. At the college level, team-wide licensing took many experts by surprise in how quickly those deals were struck and how lucrative they were. In recent Student-Athlete Insights surveys of 1,000+ NCAA current student-athletes, licensing deals represented just 2% of the total NIL activity, but 16% of the total compensation. And not only are these deals more lucrative for student-athletes, many brands prefer team deals - believing them to be safer (ex. LSU QB Myles Brennan who has several NIL deals, recently announced he is retiring from football.) As more high school athletic and principals associations across the country permit NIL, we will likely see team-wide deals become more common.
I consult with brands, agencies, and sports organizations on Name, Image, and Likeness - and provide on-demand courses for parents, athletes, coaches & administrators. I teach NIL in College Sports at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business. I’m a SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 Award winner and former co-founder of the marketing agency Fuse, which I operated for 20 years before selling in 2019.