The NIL market is expected to be worth approximately $1.7 billion Season 2024-2025 According to Opendoors. $1.1 billion of that goes to college football. Men's basketball players earned about $389 million. Women's basketball players received about $75 million. Olympic athletes made about $134 million.
The money started coming in July 2021, when the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA couldn't prevent student-athletes from profiting from their name, image and likeness. Since the decision, legal battles between the NCAA and state legislatures have continued.
“It's been really interesting to see the competitive balance between the states,” said Rob Senn, CEO of Blueprint Sports. “Tennessee is more aggressive, Florida wants to get more aggressive, then Texas wants to get more aggressive. More state laws have been passed and repealed and then passed again.”
Blueprint Sports oversees several high-profile groups across the country. Individual and corporate backers and donors often choose to fund groups that then pay athletes for appearances or endorsements. It is estimated that the groups control about 80% of… NIL market.
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“The schools are already spread out pretty thin. So, for the career services unit, they're happy to know that we're going to put staff on campus that will represent them and the student-athletes,” Sen said. “We as a marketing agency, we'll handle all the operations, we'll provide a third arm for athletic departments where we can do negotiations with agents, we can do negotiations with athletes who we can deal with if an athlete gets into the portal transfer process, or terminates a contract, or things like that.”
Blueprint Sports oversees collegiate groups from across the country, including One Pack NIL in North Carolina, the 5430 Alliance in Colorado, Pennsylvania Happy Valley United and Arkansas' Arkansas Edge.
“Pennsylvania has different rules than Arkansas does or North Carolina does,” Sen said. “The NCAA guidelines are there to be exactly what they are, setting the guidelines. Then you have to follow state law in certain areas.”
The NCAA's first directive in 2021 aligns with Supreme Court decision. Athletes can be paid if state law allows it. The rules attempted to prevent schools from using NIL funds to recruit athletes.
“It's been a lot easier,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). He said referring to how NIL laws have changed the recruitment process in recent years. “There's no hiring now. It's buying. It's completely different.”
Before Tuberville was elected to the Senators, he coached at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati. He has since co-sponsored NIL legislation alongside Sen. Joe Manchin, IW.V. He plans to reintroduce or amend the Protecting Athletes, Schools, and Sports Act (PASS Act) alongside Democrats in the next Congress.
“In football and basketball, who gets the most money,” Tuberville said.
California signed the state's first zero-risk law in 2019. Many others are starting to follow suit. Eventually, legislatures began passing laws to circumvent NCAA guidelines, to allow NIL funds to be used for recruiting.
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“Over the years, the money has gotten higher and higher, and student-athletes are going, 'Wait a minute, you know, why don't we get some of this money? Why don't we share in the revenue?' Tuberville said.
Tuberville says associations have too much influence and that legislation like the PASS Act would help level the playing field. But groups differ.
“I don't think the federal government is the way to do it. I think it creates more complications,” Sen said. “I've watched those hearings before and there wasn't a lot of direction and bright ideas coming out of them. There were a lot of draft bills. I think it's going to be difficult for them to pass anything.”
Not all university officials believe the federal government should stay out of the debate about nothing.
“This is a free market economy. We live in the greatest country In the world. I think it's great that our student-athletes are now finally able to get compensation for what they deserve but we need national standards in college sports. Every coach should know that when that ball is thrown, we are all playing by the same rules. “Right now, we're not,” Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl said.
The initial laws in Alabama and South Carolina reflected NCAA guidelines that prohibited the use of NIL funds for recruiting. Other states began passing laws that deviated from this guidance and allowed loopholes for outside donors to promise money to prospective student-athletes. This prompted the NCAA to change its position. In 2022, the Division I Board of Governors clarified that schools can ask donors to provide funds to groups, as long as they are not directed to a specific sport or athlete.
“In the past it was like that About graduation ratesor it was about, can you help me get to the NBA? Will we win championships? What is the culture of the program? “These things used to be more important to parents. Now they're more transactional,” Pearl said. What is my market value? How much will I get if I go to that school? Of course, everyone is playing with a different budget right now. “That makes it a little unfair.”
Updated NCAA guidelines prompted Alabama and South Carolina to repeal their initial NIL rules. Both states decided that other schools had greater opportunities to recruit better players.
“It gave us a little more freedom,” Pearl sad. “We would like the conferences and the people who direct our programs to be empowered. Right now, everything goes to the courts. They lose every lawsuit.”
Texas passed legislation in 2023 that deviated from NCAA guidance in allowing donations to certain sports. The law also allows perks and benefits for fans who donate to NIL groups. There is also a provision that makes it illegal for the NCAA to penalize a school for taking full advantage of the NIL.
“A lot of people were starting to find a gray area. And so, donors or other organizations around the country were looking at this, 'Okay, well, we're going to raise, instead of $100,000, we're going to raise $2 million,' or we're going to raise $20 million and we're really going to start building this and creating a very competitive advantage because no one is telling us we can't.”
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New transfer portal rules have increased competition to find better players and pay more money. Two months before the Supreme Court issued its no-no decision, the NCAA updated its transfer portal policy, allowing Division I athletes a timely opportunity to transfer and compete immediately.
Originally, an athlete could transfer schools, but needed to sit out a year before playing, unless granted a waiver by the NCAA. In 2024, the federation updated its guidelines to allow unlimited transfers as long as athletes meet certain academic eligibility requirements.
“The Marshall University football team, almost every single one of them got transferred. They had to pull out of a bowl game,” Tuberville said. “Their coach left and they followed them.”
Marshall is set to face the Army in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. Instead, dozens of Marshall athletes entered the transfer portal. Army will now face Louisiana Tech instead.
“I understand that families are in a position where they may never be able to make more money than they do now. This is what they are guided to do. We teach children how to flee, not fight.”
UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka announced in September that he will enter the transfer portal for the second time in his college career. Sluka's agent said the $100,000 was never paid after he agreed to transfer to UNLV.
“Graduation rates have been destroyed because the combination of the NIL and the transfer portal working together, these guys are free agents,” Pearl sad. “In some cases the money can be significant.”
State laws also vary on who can represent student-athletes. In 2019, the Uniform Law Commission recommended that states adopt the Uniform Sports Agents Act. Student athletes were allowed to hire agents with the goal of protecting them from unfair practices. At least 39 states have adopted the law, but it says nothing about none. Some legislatures have added proxy clauses to state laws.
“Players have agents, they have lawyers, they have accountants. That's what we've fought against for many years. Don't sign with agents. Keep them out of your life. But college football and college sports have evolved.”
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the The NCAA will now Allowing universities to pay players directly, in addition to what they already receive through scholarships and third-party payments. Each school has a cap of $20.5 million across all sports. Schools are already funneling most of that to their football programs.
“We're going to lose a lot of football programs and basketball programs and women's sports if we don't figure something out. The NCAA has to work with us,” Tuberville said. “There really aren't a lot of answers when you have so many hands in the pie and everyone wants to have it their way.”
