Name, image and lucrativeness?
Inside the truth about NIL deals & why social media followers may trump talent
Name, image and likeness deals may seem like a gold mine for college athletes. After all, athletes such as LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne are making bank. Dunne will earn $3.5 million in NIL sponsorships. Even Arch Manning who has yet to throw a pass for Texas football is down to earn $3.2 million.
But Dunne, Manning and a few dozen more multimillion-dollar athletes are outliers. The facts reveal that most athletes have made very little since the NCAA permitted them to earn as much as possible by selling their name, image and likeness to sponsors. Why?
Evidence is now surfacing that reveals the secret sauce for athletes from any sport to get paid big money.
Social media.
“I think that social media is king for these NIL deals,” Jayden Lee, Quinnipiac University men’s hockey team defensemen said.
And he’s got a point.
Quinnipiac men's hockey team defenseman Jayden Lee - Photo by Rob Rasmussen - P9photos.com
Quinnipiac men's hockey team defenseman Jayden Lee - Photo by Rob Rasmussen - P9photos.com
Rankings provided by On3.com, a website that tracks NIL deals, lists the top 100 valuations for athletes from the high school to collegiate level.
On this list, only six out of the top 20 highest paid players are ranked five-star athletes. A five-star athlete is the highest rating for a collegiate level player as these ratings range from one to five.
There is one common factor with all 20 top earners though, and that is a substantial following on various social media platforms.
An estimate of total followers combined within the top 10 earners comes out to a mind-blowing 33 million followers. As for the total valuations of those same players, well, that equals $25.7 million.
Content creator and social media influencer Ethan Blanco who goes by the name Its.Blanko on various social media platforms amasses a total following of over 4 million people. He said social media isn’t going away and will be the channel through which athletes can attract attention in big numbers to earn big money.
“Having a bigger social media means having a bigger audience to promote to. Growing a social media account is something that requires work and strategy, and justifies a more fitting sponsorship,” Blanco said.
Olivia Dunne is a perfect example of this.
Dunne is a student athlete at Louisiana State University. At LSU, Dunne is an all-around gymnast who in 2021 earned All-American honors for her success in the sport.
Unlike other sports in college such as football and men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics don’t draw much traditional media attention to attract sponsors. That limits the range of NIL deals collegiate gymnasts can sign. The money follows the eyeballs.
Ticket sales, merchandise, television rights and in-stadium or on-arena advertising all give universities revenue streams via traditional methods.
Dunne’s popularity stems from her social media accounts. With over 11.2 million followers across platforms, she commands an audience that sponsors want to reach regardless of how she fares on the uneven bars.
“The bigger the following someone has, the bigger potential of a brand deal. The big brands want the best of the best in terms of influencers, they don’t want to settle for who they think won’t be worth their time or money,” Blanco said.
Its.Blanko has over four-million followers on various platforms
Its.Blanko has over four-million followers on various platforms
The concept isn’t rocket science.
The more people athletes reach to promote a product or service, the more money will flow the athlete’s way.
Sponsorship with Vuori - credit to Forbes
Sponsorship with Vuori - credit to Forbes
Dunne commands at least 12 sponsorship deals with brands such as ESPN, Body Armor, Forever 21, Grubhub, and American Eagle Outfitters.
That puts Dunne in select company.
Photo by Chris Parent LSUsports.net
Photo by Chris Parent LSUsports.net
Her sponsorships are valued at $3.5 million, according to On3.com. That puts her in second place in NIL earnings by college athletes -- right behind LeBron James’ son Bronny James with a $7.4 million valuation.
Yet Dunne is in an exclusive group.
Photo by Chris Parent LSUsports.net
Photo by Chris Parent LSUsports.net
Most athletes measure their NIL deals in hundreds, not millions.
Take Jared Zimbardo, an outfielder for Quinnipiac’s baseball team.
Photo by Farrah Chernov
Photo by Farrah Chernov
“I have one NIL deal that is through Jocko Willink's brand called Jocko Fuel, the benefits involve discounted products from supplements to clothing. I’ve also received free packages when new products are released because I help represent the company,” Zimbardo said.
Zimbardo recounts the time in which he locked in his first NIL deal.
“I was somewhat thrilled to receive something that I finally didn’t have to pay anything for,” Zimbardo said. “It was nice to know that I had someone on my side.”
For student athletes like Zimbardo that aren’t able to command millions of followers online or through major collegiate programs, attempts at growing an audience are all that they can really do.
Anthony Cioffi, a former football player for the National Football League’s Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets, Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Redblacks and BC Lions, and United States Football League’s Tampa Bay Bandits. says he plans to create social media content to boost his income. It’s “something I may do when my football career is over,” he said.
Photo courtesy of New York Jets
Photo courtesy of New York Jets
For Quinnipiac pitcher Frank Craska, academics, practices and games make it difficult to create content with enough hype to attract followers.
“I have considered producing content on social media to increase my following, the difficulty is finding time to balance that with academics and athletics,” Craska said.
Quinnipiac University pitcher Frank Craska
Quinnipiac University pitcher Frank Craska
Jayden Lee shares a similar story.
“Personally, I have not, I don’t think the right opportunities have presented themselves,” Lee said. “Additionally, the whole NIL is quite new and there are many grey areas and deals themselves can get quite complicated.”
2023 Quinnipiac University men's hockey team national champions -Photo by Rob Rasmussen - P9photos.com
2023 Quinnipiac University men's hockey team national champions -Photo by Rob Rasmussen - P9photos.com
Zimbardo, meanwhile, is all-in on the content.
“I have actually promoted myself through Tik Tok at one point of my career because I felt that it would increase my Instagram following and help me receive great benefits through NIL deals,” Zimbardo said. “It ended up increasing my following which helped me out a good amount over the last two years.”
Zimbardo shared a similar understanding as Blanco did in terms of the difficulties in growing an audience.
“Now is the time it is the easiest to be big on social media, but also the hardest to stand out,” Blanco said. “It’s easier to get 100k followers than it was five years ago, making it not as notable.”
Zach Ross, a head talent manager for a company with clients amassing millions of followers on social media, think now’s the time for athletes to hop on the bandwagon.
“Having a large social media following is the current state of the world and the future. Athletes and people who don’t learn, grow, and utilize social media to their advantage will get left behind,” Ross said.
But it’s not just for individuals.
“The same goes for businesses, if they don’t innovate, they will get left behind,” Ross said.
While current student athletes could be left behind if they don’t adjust, former student athletes know the NIL express has left the station without them.
Cioffi, who finished his tenure as a student athlete at Rutgers University in 2017, missed out on the NIL eruption.
“In some ways I’m envious based off revenue they can generate in college. But it all comes with a price and I’m thankful for each step of my journey,” Cioffi said.
Top 100 NIL valuations from On3.com
Top 100 NIL valuations from On3.com
Craska feels the pain of athletes who finished school before a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision promoted the NCAA to relax rules about athletes earning money through their name, image and likeness.
“I do feel for former athletes, there were so many of them from the past few decades that could’ve reaped so many benefits from NIL if it were in place at the time,” Craska said.
Football and men’s and women’s basketball carry the most appeal to sponsors because national television contracts make them national if not global stars. Lee said he and former collegiate hockey players know that their sport does not have the footprint of football and basketball.
“Hockey has not yet caught up to football and basketball, while some teams in the Big10 for hockey have players on NIL deals, smaller schools are currently behind, so it all depends on what sport you played and which school you were enrolled at,” Lee said.
Video podcast discussing the lucrative ways of NIL deals
And while there is a lot of evidence proving social media to be the driving factor in NIL deals, all of the athletes who contributed to this shared an understanding that production in a sport still holds weight, too.
“I’m sure every company has a team of people working to find that optimal balance between talent, production and a social media following,” Lee said.
Zimbardo agreed.
“I feel as if an athlete stands out amongst others, it presents a bigger opportunity for a company to give the athlete more publicity,” Zimbardo said.
“You’re your best marketer and opportunities are out there for you if you perform well on the field and on social media,” Craska said.
Cioffi echoed that remark.
“Producing on the field is very important too, I think that’s the hardest part of it because they don’t want to brand an athlete who isn’t getting attention as well as playing well,” Cioffi said.
If given a choice, how many athletes would pick social media over on-the-field-heroics? Probably most of them.
Donald De La Haye, now known as Deestroying, stands as an example of that. The former University of Central Florida punter and kickoff specialist had a choice in 2017 when the NCAA told him in pre-NIL days to demonetize his YouTube channel that documented his daily life and training for football or be declared ineligible.
He decided to leave football and focus on social media.
In short, De La Haye, to the criticism of many at the time, decided to leave the football team and continue his journey as a content creator.
Six years later, De La Haye has a YouTube following of over 5 million people under the name Deestroying and an estimated net worth of over $5.5 million.
Now tell me, which side are you picking?
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