Tracking the Evolution of NIL Deals for UNR’s Athletes
Bela Reyes, Audrey Alavi, Mario Gomez, Alyssa Gershman and Greg Stone take a deep dive into a rapidly evolving situation.
The NIL landscape is continuing to expand at the University of Nevada, Reno, with an online store just opened, booster collectives, enduring disparities, a continued lack of transparency and new NCAA regulations in the works of what is allowed under the complex program to have top athletes get access to paid opportunities while in college.
Basically, an NIL deal is an arrangement between a student-athlete and another party, such as a brand, company or individual, where the student-athlete receives compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness.
While not all athletes are as transparent with their deals, or lack thereof, the overall sentiment among student-athletes at Nevada is that having NIL possibilities is beneficial.
“I think NIL deals are good. Even though I don’t have one myself, I think NIL levels the playing field, allowing players to negotiate their worth on and off the field,” says one Nevada football player who chose to remain anonymous.
The Basics
Starting July 21, 2021, the NCAA allowed athletes to profit off their NIL through public appearances, commercials, and social media posts. The NIL policy varies across states and universities. But there are three foundational components to the rule:
Athletes can engage in NIL activities, abiding by their school’s state laws. Schools MUST ensure compliance with these regulations.
In states without specific NIL laws, athletes can still participate in these activities without breaking NCAA rules.
Athletes have the freedom to seek professional assistance for managing their NIL pursuits.
Above a podcast explainer looking into NIL deals at Nevada.
How Does NIL Work at UNR?
Nevada athletes are more than welcome to find NIL deals on their own, as long as they comply with the state and university’s standards.
Hailey Gregor, a 4th-year member on the Nevada Pom team, currently works with brands such as Insomnia Cookies, HeyDudes, and Living Proof. She explains that brands would DM her and ask for a collaboration or partnership. If she’s interested, they work out the kinks online for how much they’re going to pay and what the deal includes.
“NIL is a positive thing for athletics, especially women’s athletics, showing support on a global scale for athletes,” said Gregor.
Having NIL benefits her at Nevada because even though the university isn’t as popular as Ohio State or Alabama, having NIL options available for Nevada’s female athletes is important to showcase that brands back women’s athletics. It also allows athletes to practice marketing, social media, and working with big companies.
Booster and Supporter Funds
Nevada also has several collectives that consolidate booster and supporter funds that are later distributed to athletes.
EmPOWER is a non-profit NIL collective that provides support to Nevada’s female athletes by teaching them life skills and helping them navigate through NIL opportunities.
The POWER in EmPOWER stands for “Providing Our Women Equitable Resources.” Nevada also uses INFLCR, a software built for content delivery that allows athletes, brands, and collectives to communicate and work out NIL opportunities.
Nevada’s NIL policy largely operates through Friends of the Pack, Nevada’s top collective that is powered by the marketing agency Blueprint Sports.
Essentially, Friends of the Pack pays athletes in exchange for community service. The collective was unveiled in 2022 and is led by alumni and long-time Wolf Pack supporters. Friends of the Pack facilitates communication between Reno businesses, brands, and UNR student-athletes, fostering various marketing opportunities through influencer campaigns, local appearances, coaching in youth sports, and other engagement initiatives.
How does Friends of the Pack Work Exactly?
Friends of the Pack receive funds through large booster donations and microdonations made through the members’ annual memberships.
These memberships include the bronze pass ($25/month or $250/year) the silver pass ($50/month or $500/year) and the gold pass ($100/month or $1,000/year).
That money is directed to Blueprint Sports, an organization based in Las Vegas that has partnered with several power-conference schools.
Blueprint Sports then distributes these funds to Wolf Pack athletes, notably those in basketball and football, in exchange for those athletes participating in community service events.
These community service events take place with the partners of Friends of the Pack, which include the Boys and Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada, Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation, and Grace Church.
What NIL Disparities Exist Among Sports?
There are several disparities among NIL opportunities across different sports.
For instance, as of 2022, 68.5% of all NIL money goes towards men’s basketball and football. That seems to hold true for Nevada Athletics.
Most athletes partnered with Friends of the Pack are men’s and women’s basketball, as well as football players. Moreover, a public record report recording all Nevada NIL deals from July 2021 to January 2023 reveals that most NIL agreements belonged to men’s and women’s basketball.
Many of those agreements were partnerships with community organizations, such as Victory Ranch and Girls on the Run. While no names were disclosed in this public record, compensation for these athletes ranged anywhere from $75 to $2300 per deal, per athlete.
The highest deal, $2300, belonged to a football player who partnered with the energy drink company A SHOC. The record states that he was required to post about the brand on a month-to-month basis.
When it comes to NIL deals, there is a large lack of transparency. Many athletes are not comfortable discussing their deals or are restricted from talking about them without permission from their NIL partners.
In his reporting and in an interview with the Reynolds Sandbox, Chris Murray, columnist and Digital Manager for Nevada Sports Net, recently touched on the privacy of these deals. He explained that this lack of transparency comes from the fact that Nevada uses third-parties to distribute this money to the athletes, such as Friends of the Pack. There are no public records that disclose the names of the athletes and the dollar amount they actually receive every year.
“I think in men’s basketball, they’ve done very well. I know we don’t have transparent numbers, but based on the numbers that I personally know, the Wolfpack has a pretty robust offering of NIL deals to its student athletes. Some of the students are making more than the median salary for a regular person living in Reno. Football I don’t have as much insight into football is a much more expensive sport to do,” said Murray.
When it comes to NIL and recruiting, he further explained that Nevada Men’s Basketball is very proactive in raising money to recruit and retain its players. It is easier to navigate NIL deals through basketball over football because of the smaller depth of quality players.
Gender Disparities
The disparities not only exist among sports but genders too.
Overall, female athletes generally have fewer NIL opportunities and earn less compensation than their male counterparts.
Opendorse, a leading athlete marketplace, and NIL technology company, released a report that reveals that male student-athletes receive 66% of deals from NIL collectives, meaning that only 34% of female athletes receive deals.
Moreover, according to bestcolleges.com, only 9 of the top 100 NIL deals have been made with women. It is important to note that more athletes are competing in men’s college sports than women. Moreover, several female college athletes are making good money. LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne ranks №3 in overall top NIL earners, with an annual value of $3.2 million.
NIL further creates disparities for international student-athletes. Maryam Goli, Assistant Director of UNR’s Sports Management program, explains that international athletes often miss out on NIL opportunities.
“NIL causes many challenges, primarily for international student-athletes. Throughout the country, international student-athletes make up a large number of players on collegiate teams, meaning many of them remain on F-1 visas. Due to that fact, these student-athletes miss out on many of the more significant opportunities that their teammates may receive,” says Goli.
The Future of NIL at Nevada?
On November 8th, as part of expansion plans reported in news package above, the Grand Sierra Resort announced that it will be partnering with the UNR Women’s Basketball team.
This NIL deal will consist of GSR supporting the team through the “Friend of the Pack” fund.
Members of the women’s team are allowed to access this money through the fund after community service events.
Senior Vice President of Marketing at the GSR, Christopher Abraham stated: “This partnership allows us to shine a spotlight on the amazing student-athletes and women’s basketball program throughout the season. We can’t wait to see how this partnership unfolds.”
A New Nevada NIL Store
The NIL Store company, backed by Mark Cuban and powered by Campus Ink, recently launched the Nevada NIL Store on December 6, 2023.
While there is no brick-and-mortar store, fans are able to purchase merchandise online. The Nevada NIL Store is store #39 and has launched around 50 athletes.
Ally Larkin is a UNR student-athlete and a Campus Ink intern who runs the social accounts for the UNR NIL Store.
“We are looking to continue to grow in every way that we can, and developing a partnership with UNR is another step in that process of growing, supporting, and cheering on those athletes who sign with us,” Campus Ink NIL rep Taylor Huizenga said.
The NIL Store provides every college student-athlete with the opportunity to sell officially licensed NIL merchandise.
College fans can shop with confidence knowing they are supporting their favorite college player directly by buying gear with their likeness.
The site will be updated often with exciting personalized drops for individual athletes, high-end jersey selections, and more.
Possible Changes to the NCAA Policy?
In early December 2023, NCAA President Charles Baker proposed rule changes to the NIL policy that would enable Division I schools to compensate their athletes without being restricted to education-related funds.
This would allow schools to enter into NIL deals directly with their athletes and would create a new subdivision of Division I schools that would be allowed to devise distinct guidelines for recruitment, transfers, roster size, and various other regulations.
To qualify for that subdivision, each school would have to annually allocate millions of dollars to a dedicated trust fund for athletes. Institutions in the top-tier division would have to set aside at least $30,000 per athlete annually, ensuring at least half of their athletes receive these funds. There would be no requirements on how the athletes spend it, and the schools could increase the amount.
Baker explained that these rule changes would help gender equity, as the trust fund would be required to follow Title IX rules. Moreover, it would set the framework to show to Congress in hopes to push forward federal legislation to help govern college sports.
Murray believes that these rule changes are a step forward, especially the creation of a third-tier of Division I schools. He explained that it was only going to get hard for mid-major schools, such as Nevada, to financially compete with Power Fiver schools in the NIL marketplace due to the fact that they do not have as many big money donors.
“I do think that the NCAA at least putting a plan forward is very positive. And I do think that making schools pay for the NIL rather than the boosters is also a positive step because, currently, colleges are basically getting the athletes paid but it doesn’t cost them anything. It’s illegal to actually pay them. So they’re making the owners do it,” Murray said.
Goli also shares the sentiment. “I believe it is an excellent way to compensate athletes; however, implementing these new rules and requirements is a challenging task, as specific rules still apply in regard to NIL deals and college athletics.”
NIL — Good or Bad?
The Name, Image, and Likeness Policy can be a controversial topic. While many agree student-athletes should be paid, people often critique the framework of NIL and its distribution of money to athletes.
“Well, I just think the implementation of NIL has been pretty horrific to be quite honest, because they’re just being paid salaries under the guise of NIL,” says Murray.
“I’m pro student-athletes being paid. But, I think the current model is kind of a sham because these are not true name, image, and likeness deals. Their salaries paid by donors through third parties and the NCAA is a lack of leadership and foresight. Reluctance to actually pay the student athletes over the last 10 to 15 years as media rights deals exploded, has led to this unfortunate situation where there is no uniformity or transparency and no plan for the future.”
Goli has a more positive attitude.
“The NIL policy has overall been beneficial to only some student-athletes as a whole and definitely beneficial for college athletics in general. It provides an excellent opportunity for student-athletes to gain exposure as well as take steps toward their future as athletes,” she explains. “Nevada’s NIL policy may have some benefits and some downsides. Overall, it may protect the name, image, and likeness of some student-athletes, but at the same time, it may take away from potential opportunities some athletes may receive.”
Critics say that by decreasing the disparities across sports, genders, and international students and improving the overall framework, NIL could be more beneficial overall. With new developments it seems month to month, NIL opportunities are rapidly evolving, and could lead to even wider differences between the haves and the have nots of collegiate sports.
