What People Get Wrong About NIL

For decades, college athletes were told they should be grateful for a scholarship while universities, coaches and television networks made billions (with a big damn B) of dollars from college sports. The NCAA defended the system by arguing that athletes were amateurs and that the education they received was fair compensation for putting their bodies on the line in the name of college sports.

But let’s call a spade a spade. These athletes, many of them Black, were being exploited. Everybody was getting paid except the people actually playing the games. Thankfully, that has changed.

In 2021, athletes gained the right to earn money from their name, image and likeness (NIL.) The change transformed college sports, but despite all the headlines about athletes getting paid, most of them will never see anything close to life-changing money.

This is a big deal, so let’s tiptoe in our Jordans through it. First, let’s examine what NIL is and is not.

What NIL Is

I said this earlier, but I did not stop to explain what it meant. NIL stands for name, image and likeness. But as they say in the country, let me put it where the goats can get it.

In simple terms, NIL means college athletes can now make money from their personal brand. If a business in a college town wants to pay star basketball players to appear in commercials, that’s NIL. If an athlete gets paid to promote a product in an Instagram Get Ready With Me video, that’s NIL too.

NIL essentially allows athletes to be paid for their star power. That’s essentially what NIL allows.

What NIL Is Not

NIL is not a salary from the university. Let me be clear on that point. It allows athletes to profit from the fame and attention their athletic success creates, just like influencers and other public figures do every day.

But there is an additional wrinkle. For a while, NIL was the only way student athletes could get paid. That’s not true anymore.

Revenue Sharing

Beginning in 2025, many schools can directly share revenue with athletes as part of the House v. NCAA settlement. In plain English, colleges can now share a portion of the money they make from television contracts, ticket sales and merchandise with student athletes.

Let me give you an example.  Washington Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr. secured the bag to the tune of $4 million through a revenue-sharing and NIL package with the university. Just a few years ago, that would have been unthinkable. Today, it is part of the business of college sports.

So, NIL and revenue sharing means Black parents should stop worrying about education if little Johnny shows a little athletic ability, right? Wrong. Let me tell you why.

Two Reasons Why

First, your kid might play the wrong sport. Every year, thousands of college athletes compete in sports like track and field, tennis, wrestling, soccer and volleyball. Most of the athletes who play those sports will never sign a major NIL deal—they are just not popular enough. And even in football and basketball, many athletes earn little or nothing because brands and collectives tend to focus their attention on a relatively small number of mega-star players.

Second, reaching the level where NIL money becomes enough to be life-changing is difficult for great players and nearly impossible for just good ones. According to the NCAA, less than 2% of high school athletes receive an athletic scholarship to compete at the Division I level. An even smaller group becomes a star player capable of attracting major endorsement deals or lucrative revenue-sharing packages. For every Demond Williams Jr. securing millions of dollars, there are thousands of athletes grinding through practices, classes and games without seeing a four-figure check, much less a million-dollar one.

The reality is that for every athlete signing a million-dollar NIL deal, there are thousands who will never make enough money to cover a semester’s worth of books. The odds are overwhelming that little Johnny will spend far more years earning a living than playing sports. That is why he still needs to hit the books, learn algebra and take school seriously. A diploma is a much safer bet than a jump shot.