NIL Corner: The challenge of defining NIL
This content first appeared in NIL Corner, my monthly column in Sports Business Journal.
The Challenge of Defining NIL
Whether I’m kicking off a new semester teaching NIL to University of Vermont business school students or doing an NIL workshop for a brand, I always begin with the same question, “What’s the definition of NIL?”
Two plus years and a few hundred sessions later, I’m still waiting for a correct answer on the first try.
In case you’re ever in one of my workshops, the answer is rooted in an individual’s right of publicity - the right of an individual to control the commercial use of their name, image, and likeness. The wrong or incomplete answer that I usually get is, “endorsements.”
I’m sharing this story, because it’s the inability to define NIL - or the absence of a shared definition of NIL - that perpetuates its chaotic state.
What I’ve come to learn is that what people think NIL is largely depends on their environment and the role they play. Those factors don’t just “shade” what they think, but rather almost entirely inform how they define NIL.
Let me share a few data points to show you what I mean.
How Power Five football skews our views
84% of Power Five football players I surveyed in the Spring defined NIL exclusively as “endorsements.”
In fact, if you’re a Power Five football player, coach, or fan, you view NIL like the athlete marketing in pro sports. The deals are brand partnerships and the athletes are being paid mid-five figures and up. The brands are activating those student-athlete deals online, in TV spots, at events, and at retail, as if they were pros.
Is defining NIL as “endorsements” wrong? Yes! It impacts the general public’s misunderstanding of NIL and leads non-Power Five student-athletes (and even Power Five non-football athletes) to conclude that NIL is not for them too.
Collectives provide an altogether different definition
Again, last Spring, I surveyed student-athletes whose campuses are supported by one of the 200+ booster-led Collectives. About 60% of those student-athletes said that the majority of their NIL earnings came from the Collective. (That percent would be well over 80% if the survey was football only.)
For those who play, coach or cheer for a school supported by a Collective, NIL means “financial support for athletes.” And while the NIL deals that provide that support may be wrapped in something that looks like a brand deal secured by an athlete’s right of promotion, Collectives are not the free market at work.
Again, what problems does this definition of NIL pose? Aside from the question of ethics and whether this is pay for play and a recruiting inducement, there are other issues, including TitleIX concerns. 80% or more of Collective deals go to male athletes.
Vicious cycle of student-athlete education
My survey data shows a correlation between the institutions that provide formal NIL education (personal branding, influencer marketing, professional development, etc.) and the percent of student-athletes on those campuses that have at least one NIL deal.
The more education provided by the institution, the greater the percent of student-athletes who pursue NIL opportunities.
It’s a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Institutions that don’t educate student-athletes about NIL, have fewer athletes interested in NIL’s financial and career benefits. And when institutions witness this lack of engagement from their student-athletes, they invest less in their NIL education and support efforts. And the cycle continues.
NIL at these schools tends to be defined as “irrelevant.” I often hear on these campuses that, “we don’t have those athletes here.” I guess that’s true if you define NIL by Power Five terms.
For those of us that are believers in NIL, we have to admit it’s quite a mess. The best hope for getting things on track begins with an agreement on what NIL is.
Bill Carter is an NIL Consultant, Educator, and Speaker. He is a NIL Columnist for Sports Business Journal and teaches NIL in College Sports at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business. Click here to read about Bill’s NIL Consulting and NIL Education for sports organizations, universities, and brands.