Will the 2024 Election outcome impact NIL deals for collegiate athletes?
WASHINGTON (TNND) — It’s another football weekend and athletes around the country are making money like never before. But, with the recent election, what does the future look like for these athletes and their parents with Name, Image and Likeness contracts?
The Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that U.S.-born athletes could earn money from things like advertisements, autographs and university boosters. Before this, athletes were only able to compete in exchange for a degree.
The NIL platform Opendorse estimates the NIL market is expected to reach $1.67 billion in the 2024-2025 school year. The platform reports the highest earnings typically go to top men's basketball and football players.
The decision has changed the game for athletes preparing to go pro, who can now create their own brands while still in college and secure future endorsement deals.
Recent examples include athletes like Colorado's Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, Texas's Arch Manning and Alabama's Jalen Milroe. According to On3, Sanders's NIL evaluation is $6.3M, Hunter's is $3.4M, Manning's is $3.1M and Milroe's is $2.2M.
Robert Boland is a sports law attorney with the Shumaker law firm in Ohio and a professor at Seton Hall University. The National News Desk spoke to him about NIL deals and how a new Trump administration could play a role in how the process works.
With the NCAA collecting money selling tickets for games over the years, Boland said it is fair for players to get a percentage.
"College athletics is an $18 billion business only exceeded by the NFL. And so yeah, the athletes who have helped make that possible and they have been denied probably for too long a percentage of that."
Boland said one of the challenges being faced in the industry is the system for sharing that revenue and right now it is NIL, which remains largely unregulated at the moment.
There are plenty of examples out there where athletes have not gotten what they were promised, less than they were promised, or none of what they promised," Boland said. "And there are certainly people out there waiting to take some of that money from them when they get it."
On the other hand, Boland said many good things about NIL allow athletes to "benefit tremendously."
"It is a very much a mixed bag and one that probably demands some, some, some cleaning up and some fixing, considering how young some of these athletes truly are," Boland said.
Boland noted that money management for athletes could be a potential concern.
I do think it has a benefit to give athletes some participation and percentage, maybe at a lower level before they make a lot as a professional. In some cases, maybe all they're going to make."
Despite this, Boland said with concerns over youth and immaturity, the athletes need protections around that.
Shifting to politics, President-elect Donald Trump's sweep of the White House and Congress has some families wondering what will happen to NIL with full congressional control.
"We're probably heading for a time where the movement that went along with denial of athletes being employees and athletes being union members is probably going to slow down. If not stop," Boland said. "So, NIL may exist as the predominant system by which athletes are paid, which means you're not an employee, you're an endorser and an independent contractor."
Boland said we're also looking ahead to a settlement in the case of House v. NCAA.
In October, a California Judge gave preliminary approval for a proposed settlement of House v. NCAA, which includes a landmark $2.8 billion settlement of three antitrust cases facing the NCAA and conferences, The Athletic reported. This would clear the way for schools to begin paying players directly through revenue sharing as early as 2025.
Boland feels this will get greenlit by a Republican Congress and the Trump administration.
"But, NIL will still be out there for others. If not, just somewhat restricted," Boland said.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.