Pac-12 Defections, NIL's Most Important Data, Education
Name, Image, Likeness Insider is a blog for brands, agencies, and sports properties. It covers the latest NIL developments and explains what matters.
THE ROLE OF NAME, IMAGE, LIKENESS ON USC’S AND UCLA’S MOVE TO THE BIG TEN
From ESPN 700
Name, Image, and Likeness is not the primary reason that USC and UCLA announced that they’re leaving the Pac-12 in 2024 to join the Big Ten. The reason is money - or more specifically, the share of TV revenue that USC and UCLA will receive. The Washington Post has reported that each school will likely receive about $80 million annually once the Big Ten is done renegotiating its next TV rights deal.
So why is there NIL chatter linked to this particular conference realignment? (UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond stated, "…this move will enhance Name, Image and Likeness opportunities through greater exposure for our student-athletes and offer new partnerships with entities across the country.") This sounds logical. Creating a larger conference footprint will expose student-athletes to more brands. And in turn, if those student-athletes were to partner with a brand, they’d have a coast-coast platform from which to promote that brand.
What it means for brands, agencies, and sports properties: But while logical, the theory that USC and UCLA athletes will do better with NIL by joining the Big Ten doesn’t seem to fit the data from the first year of NIL. First, the handful of student-athletes landing deals with the large, national brands have often come from highly respected, but less notable conferences - Paige Bueckers of UConn/Big East (Gatorade, Crocs, Chegg) for example. Second, the big impact of NIL looks “local.“ By local, I don’t mean small, but rather that NIL deals are effective athlete marketing because they tap into the rabid fan bases of specific athletes, teams, and colleges & universities in a narrow geographic area. There are few student-athletes that have a broad, national appeal and that’s ok; brands can successfully activate multiple student-athletes in their local markets.
THE MOST IMPORTANT DATA IN NAME, IMAGE, LIKENESS IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED
With any new and developing industry, it’s critical to track and analyze data. That’s particularly important with Name, Image, and Likeness because the adults in the room (institutions, agencies, marketplaces, state legislators, and others) have a responsibility to advocate for and support student-athletes. Unfortunately, that’s proven somewhat difficult in the first year of NIL. Lev Akabas of Sportico did a great job in this recent article discussing the fragmented and inconsistent NIL data.
There's a lot of data being thrown around to mark the first anniversary of Name, Image, and Likeness: from total market size (Opendorse predicts that NIL will generate $1 billion in its second year) to average compensation (INFLCR revealed that the average compensation for an NIL activity on its platform has reached $2,000.) But there is one number that’s easy to overlook, but that I frequently track and look to as an indicator of the health and growth of Name, Image, and Likeness: median compensation per activity.
As a refresher to all you English majors out there (me!), the "average" is when you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers. The "median" is the middle value in your list of numbers. The median is what I think matters when analyzing how NIL is impacting nearly 500,000 student-athletes, across all sports, and Divisions. The VERY big NIL deals - and the deals from Collectives - are skewing the average compensation figures. Thus, average compensation is not insightful, unless of course you really only care about what the very top student-athletes are making. And so what is the median compensation for NIL activity? About $60.
What it means for brands, agencies, and sports properties: If you're developing a strategy and shopping for student-athletes to activate, NIL is still very much a buyer's’ market. Of course, the cost of partnering with a student-athlete depends on a number of factors, most notably the activation plan you intend to pursue (i.e. social media, appearances, other) and the value that the athlete is bringing to the table (for instance, their social media fans and followers.) While I don’t advocate that brands bring “low ball” offers to the table - particularly because they’re trying to create genuine brand advocates - it’s important to recognize that NIL is a landscape that is affordable for brands that want to put their toe in the water and test its effectiveness.
NAME, IMAGE, AND LIKENESS EDUCATION
There was news last week that Cincinnati Bengals running back Trayveon Williams will co-teach a new course in the Spring of 2023 at Texas A&M law school on Name, Image, and Likeness. Williams was a Texas A&M standout from 2016-2018. Classes like the one at A&M, or mine that I teach in the Grossman School of Business at the University of Vermont, are an important part of moving NIL forward. These courses will educate future state policy makers, athletic administrators, entrepreneurs, brand managers, agents, and others.
My colleagues across the country are in almost universal agreement that we need to ramp up education in year 2 of NIL, beginning with broader, better, and more accessible NIL education for student-athletes. We can start with these three steps:
Hire more NIL staff at DI schools: According to my friend Michelle Meyer of SDSU and NIL Network, only 21 universities (out of about 350 DI schools) have a dedicated NIL staffer - that’s about 6%.
Focus less on social media: While social media is important, we need to educate student-athletes on all the elements (broadcast, events, retail, etc.) for a successful athlete activation and teach NIL as entrepreneurship.
Make it more accessible: In addition to the content itself, I think the most important consideration is accessibility. We need to educate 500,000 student-athletes, leaving no one behind who wants to learn about NIL. You can check out my small contribution to that effort, which is a 90-minute, video based course called The NIL Playbook for Student-Athletes & Families.
What it means for brands, agencies, and sports properties: While there are certainly brands that are still trying to understand the ins and outs of Name, Image, and Likeness, most student-athletes are even more in the dark. My advice to brands is they need to take on even more responsibility than they are accustomed to throughout the athlete activation phase. Student-Athletes do not have the experience of pro athletes and most are not represented by agents. So each step takes a bit more time and more explanation.
I consult with brands, agencies, and sports properties on Name, Image, and Likeness and teach NIL in College Sports at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business. My NIL services include consulting, training workshops, custom newsletter-style monthly updates, content development, on-demand courses, and more.
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.