The Trust Deficit
The Promises That Are Breaking Aren't the Ones You're Watching
Athletes don't experience NIL as a single relationship. They navigate several — with schools, coaches, NIL staff, agents, attorneys, collectives, and brands. Every entity in that ecosystem makes promises. NIL's credibility depends on whether those promises hold. According to our latest research, most of them don't.
The number that changes the conversation
We asked athletes about seven areas where NIL promises get made: money, fairness, deal reporting, support, recruiting, the freedom to speak up, and life after sport.
58% told us at least three of those promises didn't hold up. Only 19% said everything they were told turned out to be true.
The single area performing best? Money. 74% of athletes said their school delivered on financial promises, fully or mostly. The breakdown isn't at the bank — it's everywhere else.
Between the lines
The most-broken promise isn't a dollar figure — it's career development. 57% of athletes say the non-financial support they were promised never showed up. 58% name career development as the thing they most wish their school provided more of.
The deficit also starts earlier than most assume. 47% of high school prospects already expect verbal recruiting promises won't be honored. They're walking onto campus with their guard up — and the data says they're right to.
And it gets quieter from there. 42% of athletes wouldn't raise a serious concern with their AD — because they fear consequences. The athletes you most need to hear from are the ones least likely to speak.
The bottom line
The NIL ecosystem has spent two+ years optimizing the payment infrastructure. The payments are working. What isn't working is everything that was promised alongside them. Trust isn't broken by what athletes were paid. It's broken by what they were told would come with it — and didn't.
The full 5-page NIL Research Poll Report — Issue #2 — is available exclusively to NIL Forum members, including findings on rev-share transparency, why 68% of female athletes question fairness at their school, and a segmented action framework for athletic administrators, agents, and financial advisors. Join the NIL Forum here.
About the NIL Forum and Bill Carter
The NIL Forum is the premier professional community in NIL, providing monthly live speakers, proprietary data, and networking. NIL Forum Founder Bill Carter has advised brands on Name, Image, Likeness for 25 years—first in pro sports, now at the college level. He was the Co-Founder of the Gen Z sports agency Fuse, which he sold in 2019. In 2020, he founded Student-Athlete Insights and consults on NIL strategy with Fortune 500 companies and 30+ DI universities.