- [Narrator] For the first time ever,
college athletes are able to use their status
to strike endorsement deals, sponsorships,
and even charge for appearance fees and commercials,
like this one.
- College athletes can be in commercials now?
- Dr. Pepper,
still one DJ deserves.
- [Narrator] Last July,
a new NCAA policy allowed college athletes
to start earning money on endorsements.
After pressure from state lawmakers
and a related Supreme Court ruling that warned the NCAA
that broadly limiting athlete compensation
would violate antitrust laws.
- There's this batch of 500,000 student athletes every year
that can now monetize their name, image and likeness.
And so, I think overall,
you do have a market that will grow
into a multi-billion dollar market.
- [Narrator] Opendorse says brands are on track
to pay over $579 million to student athletes
in the first 12 months since the Supreme Court ruling.
- I've been able to do some really cool things
in the past few months since the rule change.
I've gotten to work with some amazing brands.
Yasso Greek Yogurt bars are one of my favorite
mindful indulgences.
- [Narrator] So how exactly are these new rules playing out
in this new era for college sports,
and what are student athletes doing to cash in?
College athletes have long been classified
as amateurs by the NCAA,
even as they helped generate billions
for their colleges and universities.
The rule change allowing college athletes to profit
off of their name, image and likeness,
or NIL,
came after years of mounting legal and political pressure.
- There was a handful of states led by California
that pushed forward legislation at the state level
that would allow college athletes to sign endorsement deals.
And in order to get ahead of college athletes,
in one state,
being able to profit off their name, image and likeness
and not others,
the NCAA changed its rules.
- [Narrator] So far, 28 states have adopted legislation
that gives student athletes more control over their NIL.
- It basically says that if your state has a law
that lets you profit from their name image, and likeness,
go ahead.
If your state doesn't,
you can still go ahead and do it,
but under the limitations that NCAA has quiet set.
- [Narrator] The new policy
impacts more than 480,000 athletes
across the NCAA's three divisions.
Opendorse, a sports technology company
that helps navigate athletes through this new landscape
says that some of the highest profile athletes
have made over $100,000 in the first six months
since the new rules took effect.
For instance, Paige Bueckers,
a basketball star at the University Of Connecticut,
became the first college player
to sign an endorsement deal with Gatorade.
- [Paige] I won national Gatorade Player of The Year
in high school
and that's when our relationship kind of started.
- [Narrator] The financial details of the deal
weren't disclosed,
but Gatorade said it is a multi-year partnership.
Jim Cavale is the CEO of INFLCR,
a mobile app that is helping over 100,000 athletes
build their brand on social media
and navigate the new NIL landscape.
- Part of gaming it is you gotta do social
in your brand like an influencer does.
Most athletes think
it's just about playing well on the court,
but it's both.
When you do both,
that's when you can explode this thing.
- [Narrator] INFLCR says the average deal size
for student athletes on its platform is around $1,100.
- You see a handful of athletes
actually make six and seven figures pretty fast,
but then you see thousands of athletes
do $20 t-shirt deals with Barstool.
And so it's a really wide spectrum.
- [Narrator] According to Opendorse,
national brands account for 57.75%
of student athlete NIL compensation,
while local brands make up the rest.
- So you have, you know,
maybe a national food chain like Zaxby's or Chick-fil-A,
but then it's the local franchises
that are partnering with players of a certain team,
or lots of car dealerships.
- Hello, Myles Brennan.
I'm LSU's quarterback.
(car engine revving)
- [Narrator] Not all brand deals result in monetary payouts.
Athletes can partner with a sports brand
in exchange for free gear
or get sponsored by a restaurant for free meals.
- And there are other athletes
that have been able to have smaller deals as well,
where it's maybe, you know,
the Arkansas offensive lineman,
they get a gift card to a restaurant and they post about it,
and they raved about the meal online.
- [Narrator] A major asset
many student athletes bring to the table
is their social media following,
particularly on Instagram.
Factors like posting frequently
and having a high engagement rate
can drive up an athlete's value.
- All those things determine a valuation
that could be anywhere from 50 cents per follower
to more than a dollar per follower.
- [Narrator] Trinity Thomas,
a gymnast at the University Of Florida
has over 54,000 followers on Instagram.
By posting more than once or twice per month,
she could potentially see a $40,000 windfall.
- I think the most exciting part is like,
kinda not feeling like gated in.
Like, you can kinda just do what you love
and try new things and kinda put yourself out there.
- [Narrator] Another way college athletes
profit from their skills is by giving lessons.
While they weren't banned from doing this before,
they couldn't mention their status as a collegiate athlete
in promoting their services.
- And so with the new NIL opportunities,
I hope to be able to like,
kinda organize a clinic and also do some camps,
maybe even one of my own.
- [Narrator] many student athletes
have sizable social media followings,
but aren't headed for professional careers.
This is the case for Leah Clapper,
another gymnast at the University Of Florida,
who is trying to maximize her time as a student athlete
before graduating in 2023.
- A big, huge venture that I started
was a gymnastics board game company,
and that would not have been possible before NIL.
So I teamed up with one of my former coaches
and we created a gymnastics board game
and we got to use my status as a Florida Gator
to help market it,
and use my connections and my social media platform as well,
which was a huge help.
- [Narrator] The rapidly evolving landscape of NIL rules
carries significant implications
for the future of collegiate athletic recruitment.
- There's broad fear
that this is going to lead to a pay for play model
where the richest schools get the best athletes,
and that there's going to be
lots of bad recruiting inducements.
And this is something that the NCAA
has been battling in college sports
for pretty much as long as it's existed.
- [Narrator] Loose guidelines set by the NCAA
have left a lot up to interpretation
as colleges navigate various compliance challenges.
- The one broad thing that all these rules say
is that the schools can't actively pay a player,
but there's nothing saying that,
oh, a coach can't have a conversation with boosters
when he's at a lunch with donors and say,
yeah, it'd be really great
if we got some great NIL deals lined up for my athletes,
and it's unclear if that's against the rules right now.
- [Narrator] It's uncertain when
or if the federal government will step in
to regulate NIL rules.
But for now, student athletes are taking advantage
of a new profitable era in college sports.
- Athletes can get a headstart on financial independence.
I honestly think that it's changed the course of my career.
(gentle music)