NIL Student-Athlete Endorsement Deals, What You Need to Know

Student-athletes are now able to earn money from their name and likeness! NCAA has changed the rules, making it a lot easier for brands to use student-athletes in advertising. NCAA also allows compensation to student-athletes without jeopardizing eligibility. This blog post will explore what these changes mean for NCAA Student-Athletes and Brands alike.

This is a groundbreaking shift in marketing and advertising. Brands now have the opportunity to use NCAA Student-Athletes for advertising, and student-athlete can also earn money from their name image likeness. The new rule changes will likely make a large impact on NCAA Student-Athletes and Brands alike.

However, the NCAA has not set a uniform set of rules for the Student-Athlete NIL (Name Image and Likeness) contracts. Rather, they are leaving this up to the individual states, colleges and universities. NCAA has said that the NCAA does not want to have any restrictions on Student-Athletes’ NIL contracts.

There are several states that have already jumped to the task and have passed laws regarding the NIL Contracts to help schools in their states decide on the issues with the NIL contracts that may come up. South Carolina has passed it’s laws and several other states are already bringing this to their legislatures. As well as the legislatures, each school can come up with its own rules and regulations with regard to its athletes.

What Have We Seen So Far?

So far, there have been several Student-Athletes who have nailed some big contracts and we expect to see that continue. However, here at Creators’ Legal what we are tracking is the rules and regs. Several universities require agreements such as management agreements and brand agreements to be brought to the university for review.

What are the schools looking for? Well, for the most part, they want to make sure no one is taking advantage of the athletes. The Athletes’ Union is making sure to ban certain types of advertising.

Mainly, Tobacco, Brands of a Sexual Nature, and Alcohol. The NCAA has also indicated that it will require anyone representing a student-athlete to register as an athlete-agent within the state the athlete is located.

Who is Getting the Deals?

So far, there have been some announced deals. It is reported that Master P’s son, Hercy Miller at Tenessee State University signed a $2M deal under the new NIL rules and D’Eriq King signed a deal with College Hunks Hauling Junk. We also expect to see several college Olympians not just bring home medals but also come home to endorsement deals that they could really never touch before.

Who Else?

Well, we also expect that having a household name will matter much less than having a great social media presence. Local heroes in college towns with significant followings (100,000) or more will likely see local endorsement deals. Whether these are deals for $5,000 or $500,000 if an athlete can become an influencer in a community a brand will want to do business with them.

What Should an Influencer Manager or Athlete Know?

Well, it is important to document the deal, and depending on the state or school you may even need to show the deal to the school. Also, make sure to read any rules regarding Prohibited Activities. Make sure to have the Proper NIL Brand Contract ready before you negotiate and get the deal done.

The Wrap

We expect to see a lot of Brand/ Student-Athlete Endorsement Deals, as well as agencies, moving quickly into this space. There will be a lot of upstarts over the next few months and lots of deals.  Also, make sure you are moving forward with the right contracts. Creators’ Legal has NIL Endorsement Contracts ready to go as well as specialized Student-Athlete Management Contracts. Creators’ Legal is the first and only DIY legal tool built just for content creators.

Get simple, straightforward, and trustworthy creator contracts in a fast, easy-to-use platform. With a powerful guided Form Builder, a secure e-signature system, and your own personalized dashboard to store and organize all your contracts, you can get yourself protected in minutes without the need for expensive entertainment lawyers!

Want to learn more? Check out CreatorsLegal.com, where you can get single-use contracts or monthly and annual subscriptions on all contracts for creators! Try us now!