A Caution for Student-Athlete NIL Deals
The first two weeks of college athletes earning money from their name, image, and likeness rights are behind us. From watching all the developments, we have learned a few things including there is in fact a market and brands are interested in working with college athletes, female college athletes are just as marketable (if not more) than males, and marketing tools such as logos, websites, and merchandise have all been utilized. But perhaps the most important lesson we’ve learned from the first two weeks is the importance of having someone qualified to advise and review anything student-athletes sign.
On day 1 of the college NIL era, the founder of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, announced an “athlete marketing firm” called Barstool Athletics to promote student-athletes. There were reportedly over 100,000 student-athletes that applied and tried to get involved. However, student-athletes who are taking part in Barstool Athletics are actually risking their NCAA eligibility. Barstool Sports operates both online and in-person sportsbooks. Most student-athletes are prohibited from entering into partnerships with anything related to sports gambling. This creates a direct conflict of interest for Barstool, even if Barstool Athletics is a separate entity from their sportsbook. There have already been athletic departments that have stated it is a violation of NIL regulations to work with Barstool.
There have also been reports of unfavorable language found in endorsement contracts sent to student-athletes. Some brands have tried to have athletes grant perpetual and royalty-free usage rights licenses. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of usage rights in endorsement contracts. Student-athletes need to understand what rights they are signing over and ensure they are being adequately compensated for the things they are allowing brands to do with their NIL rights.
With NCAA, university, state, and federal regulations still all over the place with NIL rights in college sports, it is important now more than ever for student-athletes to have patience in their approach. Whether it be a lawyer, agent, or anyone else qualified, student-athletes should make sure they have someone they trust to review anything they sign/sign-up for. They should also maintain patience in finding a brand to work with. It may be tempting to rush towards the first deal that gets presented to a student-athlete but making sure it is a quality partner that aligns with the student-athlete’s personal brand will help prevent problems down the road.
