NIL

College sports enter new era with NIL deals

The NCAA has allowed student-athletes since 2021 to profit from their name, image and likeness Listen to this article Kris Trinidad embraces NIL to build his brand Virginia legislation allows schools to pay student-athletes Coaches and programs adapt to shifting power dynamics in recruiting Risks include financial literacy gaps and potential exploitation Kris Trinidad plays […]

Published

3 weeks ago

April 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

College sports enter new era with NIL deals

The NCAA has allowed student-athletes since 2021 to profit from their name, image and likeness

Listen to this article

Kris Trinidad embraces NIL to build his brand

Virginia legislation allows schools to pay student-athletes

Coaches and programs adapt to shifting power dynamics in recruiting

Risks include financial literacy gaps and potential exploitation

Kris Trinidad plays defensive end for Old Dominion University’s Division I football team, where he tallied 45 tackles and 5.5 sacks last season. He’s also building his brand thanks to new laws that allow student-athletes to ink endorsement deals and get paid by the university.

“I feel like it’s teaching young guys how to be more marketable and prepare themselves for their future,” Trinidad said. “It gives them opportunities to express their true selves amongst the community.”

Trinidad is part of the growing class of student-athletes learning to navigate a new world of college athletics, one where player statistics, social media presence and sponsorship potential increasingly all matter.

The Rise Of The Student Athlete

The NCAA has allowed student-athletes since 2021 to profit from their name, image and likeness, or NIL.

The financial shift and its impact on college athletics have been dramatic. College athletes went from landing full scholarships and cost-of-living expenses to earning an estimated $917 million in the first year NIL was enacted, according to Icon Source.

New legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2024 opened the door for direct payments from schools. This shift is backed by a legal settlement known as House v. NCAA, which will permit schools to allocate up to $20 million annually to pay student-athletes. The case argued current and even former student-athletes deserve a share of revenue generated by television deals, licensing agreements and even ticket sales. It recently received conditional approval from NCAA governance.

Virginia Commonwealth University student-athletes will be paid starting in the 2025-2026 year, with a projected $5 million allocation, according to CBS6 News.

The biggest NIL sums still go to marquee names. First-year Duke University power forward Cooper Flagg has a NIL valuation upwards of $4 million, according to 1075thefan sports website.

However, players of all levels can find opportunities to build their brands. Former Virginia State University running back Rayquan Smith was dubbed “King of NIL” for receiving over 100 NIL deals, according to The Virginia Statesman.

Not Amateurism Anymore

Brendan Dwyer, a professor at VCU‘s Center for Sports Leadership, said the current NIL model is not sustainable for athletic departments.

“If all of a sudden they have to go out and find money through NIL to pay their athletes, it comes at the expense of so many other things for the athletic department,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer thinks schools are heading toward a professional model, and schools and athletes should be prepared. Although it might create other issues, employing athletes could be a solution.

“If you take a step back and you watch what happens on a Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, or you watch what happened last weekend in San Antonio, those aren’t amateur sports,” Dwyer said. “That’s professionalism.”

Community, Coaches And The Changing Game

Coaches are also evolving in the new era. VCU recently hired Phil Martelli Jr. as its new head coach and he is stepping into the role at a transformative time. Martelli led Bryant University to an America East title and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in March.

“The revenue sharing and NIL stuff is not going anywhere,” Martelli said. “It’s become a major part of this, the transfer portals become a major part of this for everybody, at every level.”

Coaches need resources to get recruits to campus. In most cases, athletes are straightforward in what they’re looking for when choosing which universities to attend, according to Martelli.

“Then it’s up to us to decide what that looks like,” Martelli said. “Is that worth it, is it not worth it?”

Martelli would like to see multi-year contracts for athletes. There would then be the potential for contract buyouts within college athletics, similar to professional sports. Both parties can negotiate the terms and lengths of the contracts and try to find common ground.

“But right now if you go year-to-year, to have guys jumping in the transfer portal and shopping around, it isn’t the best for everybody,” Martelli said.

Former University of Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett unexpectedly retired in 2024, saying he no longer felt he was the best coach to lead the program in the current environment. Bennett, who guided UVA to the 2019 national championship, said NIL deals, along with the transfer portal, added aspects to his role that weren’t his strong suit.

“The game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot,” Bennett said. “There needs to be change.”

Community is also impacted when student-athletes solely chase money, said Ben Rekosh, a VCU broadcast student and sports commentator. College sports used to be built on the idea of student-athletes being integral to their community, by contributing to what makes their school and fan base great for three to four years.

“I think that it affects the community a lot,” Rekosh said. “There’s not really players anymore that people are able to to tie their hearts with and have a true connection with, if people are just jumping back and forth.”

Still, he understands why it could be in the best interest of athletes at their peak to move around and maximize their earnings.

One perk of NIL deals is that more college athletes are staying in school instead of going professional immediately, according to ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas. They can continue their education while earning money, versus being pushed toward the pay-to-play professional route.

Top college players may earn more money and playing time than they would as rookies in the pros and would have more experience going into a draft.

New Kind Of Athlete

Athletes are not just a part of the university’s brand; they also have a personal business.

Thai Wilson, sports editor for VCU student-run paper The Commonwealth Times, said fans increasingly follow players, not just programs.

“You remember 2008 Florida winning the March Madness, or VCU making it to the Final Four in 2011,” Wilson said. “People don’t remember the players that played on those teams who made it all the way unless they were either a big name who made it to the NBA, or if it’s just a very memorable run.”

Wilson pointed to top recruit AJ Dybansta’s decision to go to Brigham Young University, a school not known for getting high-profile signees, as an example of how NIL has shifted power dynamics. That can benefit students and give them a better chance to negotiate for what they want.

“NIL’s landscape is starting to kind of open up doors for other programs to get higher recruits if they’re willing to pay for it,” Wilson said.

Risks And Reality

Student-athletes now have new opportunities, but with that comes risk. Especially for younger athletes still learning financial basics. For Trinidad, the key is using NIL to build the athlete experience.

Although NIL deals may give students more power, Trinidad worries some could be exploited by marketing agents or contract deals that they don’t understand.

“Because these guys—they’ll come in, make you a contract and take 10% of your money,” Trinidad said. “It’s something young guys need to be wary of.”

He thinks high school athletics should start talking about brand building, contract literacy and financial management.

NIL deals are relatively new, with many rules in place around compensation and endorsement. Virginia law restricts athletes from NIL compensation from alcohol, cannabis and sports gambling, to name a few.

If the laws change and there is less regulation, there is a chance athletes could be taken advantage of.

“It gives you power, but power in the wrong hands can be bad,” Trinidad said.

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Robertson School of Media and Culture.

Up Next

Hammer and Rails Reader Reacts Survey

Don't Miss

Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek voices support of NIL contract enforcement

Click to comment

NIL

Luke Fickell addresses potential roster limits, impact on players

Last week, the attorneys representing the NCAA and power conferences agreed to a revised plan to phase in roster limits as part of a revised House v. NCAA settlement before Judge Claudia Wilken in the U.S. Northern Districk Court of California. The proposal, which would effectively grandfather all current student-athletes and any that were preemptively […]

Published

47 seconds ago

May 11, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Last week, the attorneys representing the NCAA and power conferences agreed to a revised plan to phase in roster limits as part of a revised House v. NCAA settlement before Judge Claudia Wilken in the U.S. Northern Districk Court of California. The proposal, which would effectively grandfather all current student-athletes and any that were preemptively cut before the settlement was finalized, would appear to satisfy Wilken’s request last month.

And while Wilken is currently considering the revised proposal, if approved, the House v. NCAA settlement would pave the way for revenue-sharing between NCAA schools and student-athletes, with some programs able to share between $20-22 million annually, or 22-percent of the average Power Five school’s annual revenue, along with approximately $2.75 billion in back damages to former college athletes over a 10-year span. It would also mean strict roster limits in football (105), men’s and women’s basketball (15), baseball (34), softball (25), men’s and women’s soccer (28) and volleyball (18).

But, at least for any coaches concerned about having to cut players three months before the start of the 2025-26 academic school year, the amended settlement would seem to be a welcomed relief. Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell, for one, explained the complicated balancing act football coaches have faced in recent months amid the ongoing uncertainty about the true impact of the settlement.

“I think the hardest thing about that is (that there are) some of the guys within your program that even in the winter we had some conversations with to say, ‘Hey, I don’t know what this thing is going to go to. If it goes to 105, we’re going to have to make some tough decisions.’ So there are some guys I think that could be looming in their head,” Fickell said last month during Spring practice. “If they do make this decision and it does come down and it is across the board, meaning everybody is going to have to conform to it, and there’s going to be obviously somebody paying attention and making sure everybody is on the same page. Then we’ll address that.

“(But) no, we can’t go about doing the things and building the things expecting to have to cut down, but I know that could be difficult on some guys that are curious what’s going to happen, and what their opportunities are going to be.”

Fickell admitted many of those conversations have already taken place at Wisconsin, though no definitive decisions will be made until the settlement has been approved and guidance is provided to programs.

“We have. And just trying to be forthright, … we care about all these kids, especially the guys that have been here for a while. If and when they do go to that, there’s going to have to be some tough decisions made. And it’s not going to be easy,” Fickell continued. “We don’t know the parameters to it all, we don’t know what that entails. Can guys be in waiting, can they still be apart of some things? We have no idea. So for us to jump too far ahead other than just being really honest and open with guys, and making sure they know what we feel and where we are with things, but not making any decisions.”

The devil is in the details, and until Wilken officially approves all parts of the revised House v. NCAA settlement, college football coaches like Fickell remain in wait-and-see mode.

— On3’s Pete Nakos and Nick Schultz contributed to this report.

Link

NIL

Tommy Tuberville: “NIL is in dire need of restructuring”

A college sports commission is coming. And it’s coming for the money the players are now making. If that wasn’t obvious, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) made it so in comments to CNN that were broadcast on Sunday. “He’s got a commission that he’s putting together,” Tuberville said regarding President Trump’s plan to save college sports […]

Published

1 hour ago

May 11, 2025

Your Sports Nation

A college sports commission is coming. And it’s coming for the money the players are now making.

If that wasn’t obvious, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) made it so in comments to CNN that were broadcast on Sunday.

“He’s got a commission that he’s putting together,” Tuberville said regarding President Trump’s plan to save college sports from itself. “I’ve recommended some people to go on it, of course. I’ve been working on it for four years. Nick Saban is gonna be involved. I think the NIL is in dire need of restructuring.”

And there it is. When Tuberville says “NIL is in dire need of restructuring,” he means that the players need to be making less money. And that they need to have less flexibility to go from one school to another, in order to make more money — or to simply be happier with their situation.

Earlier this month, Tuberville made his views clear regarding the preferred outcome during a radio interview: “Everybody would be on the same level. We’ve got to come up with some rules for the transfer portal, possibly a contract for players. We do not want to turn into minor league sports. I talked to [Auburn men’s basketball coach] Bruce Pearl a few weeks ago, he says it’s a disaster, absolute disaster in basketball, and I’m sure it goes over into football and some of the other sports.”

It’s a “disaster” for the schools, not the players. It’s a “disaster” for the school because decades of antitrust violations have yielded to a free market for player services. And, like so many other issues that aren’t really issues, some in politics are trying to take a trumped-up “disaster” and make it into a crisis that cries out for a solution that isn’t actually needed.

And, of course, Tuberville believes that anyone who opposes an outcome that saves the colleges to the detriment of the players hates America.

“I think we can get [legislation] on the floor, the problem is getting it past a Democrat group that really wants nothing to do with making this country better,” Tuberville said in the same radio interview. “They don’t care about college sports or education, they worry about the power that they control in this country.

What of caring about the players who will see their compensation drop and mobility restricted as a result of the NIL reform? Does it “make the country better” to artificially restrict someone’s earnings and flexibility?

Aren’t we all supposed to have the right to pursue happiness?

Tuberville, Saban, and their ilk are trafficking in multiple false presumptions, in an effort to engineer “happiness” for the colleges and the coaches. One, that college sports is broken. Two, that the colleges shouldn’t be expected to fix the problem on their own. Three, that big-time college sports is truly about education. Four, that there’s something bad about young men making as much money as they can.

It’s all one gigantic crock of shit. At its core, this is about a certain group of people making things the way they want them to be, not the way they need to be. And if, as we predict, the upcoming college sports commission has no true voice to advocate for the rights of the players, it will be a sham aimed at turning back the clock to the days when the colleges (and the coaches) had the power and the players didn’t.

Here’s what they want, in a nutshell: Amateur sports from the perspective of the players who will once again be exploited by the system, and professional sports from the fat cats who can return to the days of lighting their backroom cigars with $100 bills.

Link

NIL

Rich Rodriguez Openly Discusses NIL Issues on College GameDay Podcast

Share Tweet Share Share Email While it’s no secret that college football is in an awful spot, West Virginia‘s new head coach, Rich Rodriguez, made a powerful statement about just how tough things are. Rodriguez recently appeared on the College GameDay Podcast with Rece Davis and Pete Thamel and referred to college football’s current landscape […]

Published

1 hour ago

May 11, 2025

Your Sports Nation