NCAA Pay to Play and NIL Rights

The recent announcement that NCAA athletes can make money on their name or likeness is going to create a lot of jobs. The NCAA still wants to keep NIL rights under lock and key.

Athletes sometimes have to decide ...

"... whether to eat or get gas for the car"

Should students be able to monetize their Name, Image, and Likeness?

California says yes. Other states are following suit. The NCAA is not convinced ... yet.

Whether you think athletes should make money or not isn’t the point.

The NCAA pulls in more that $1B a year

The fact that “student athletes” can now make money on their name, image, and likeness will create a whole new sub-industry for lawyers, social media experts, and perhaps many other sub-industries too.

NIL = Name, Image, and Likeness

So, in a sense the NCAA pay-to-play option is a Job Creation program. This is a good thing.

California Deems It Legal
Recently the State of California passed a law allowing athletes to profit off their likeness. This forced the hand of the NCAA. This week the NCAA has agreed to create a committee to evaluate the impact of said profiting. It was interesting that the NCAA didn’t actually agree to the law. The NCAA is “considering” changing their policies for “modernization” of the way they allow student athletes to participate in the process.

See California’s Fair Pay to Play Act (link)

As noted, the NCAA pulls in more that $1B a year. TV Networks, Coaches, and Administration efforts likely make 10x or 20x of this for broadcast rights, tickets sales, venue sponsorships, etc.

Coaches Salaries are a prime example of where the money is flowing.

Football and Basketball predominantly have very high salaries
Women’s sports too … just not as much, nor as widespread
Examples for Coaches, Assistant Coaches, Strength Coaches for football and Basketball coaches are here (see tabs on the right)

Top 10 Highest-Paid Coaches in NCAA Football (source: link 

1. Mike Krzyzewski—$8.9 Million
2. Nick Saban—$8.3 Million
3. Urban Meyer—$7.6 Million
4. Jim Harbaugh—$7.5 Million
5. Jimbo Fisher—$7.5 Million
6. John Calipari—$7.1 Million
7. Chris Holtmann—$7.1 Million
8. Gus Malzahn—$6.7 Million
9. Kirby Smart—$6.6 Million
10. Dabo Swinney—$6.2 Million

Also, strength coaches and other assistant coaches may pull in $500K a year too.

What's Next with NIL Rights?
It remains to be seen how many athletes can capitalize on their NIL. As usual some will make it big and some will spend a lot of time, money, and effort trying to make it big. In the meantime the services that support these athletes will continue to generate interest and likely revenue for their efforts.

I hope the athletes end up for the better in all of this. Whether or not they make it to the professional leagues. In fact, I suspect some athletes will do quite well in sports that may not have professional leagues (at least in the USA).

Imagine a softball player, cricket, rugby, equestrian oriented athletes, or even table tennis. 

It's up to the creativity of the athletes and their soon to be hired legal, social, and personal assistants to ideate, define, and deliver new ideas to the market. This can be especially true with sports that are popular in regions outside the USA.

I expect a few savvy athletes and their agents will make noise and visibility in sports where they don’t typically generate a lot of attention or TV time.

• Something to consider:
  Are Olympic Dreams at Risk?
  Is amateur status at risk if student athletes generate revenue from their NIL rights?
  Consider whether student athletes give up their options to compete in the Olympics. Perhaps this is a moot point. I don’t know if there is a significant number of student athletes considering trying out for the Olympics. But, this is something to consider.

What Do You Think?

• Should athletes be paid for their NIL rights?
• Will schools suffer if they “have to” share the revenue stream?
• Do you agree this will be a job creation boon for the ancillary services supporting NIL rights?

Share a thought in the comments or on the social network where you saw this.

Listen / Read for more details:

• NPR (3 minute listen) - https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774439078/ncaa-starts-process-to-allow-compensation-for-college-athletes 
• UpFirst (11:45 minute mark) - https://overcast.fm/+L2I5BbZc8/04:49 
• The Right to Sell Out (podcast) - https://overcast.fm/+L2I5BbZc8 
• Vox (article) - https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/3/20896738/california-fair-pay-to-play-act-college-athletes

Tags: #NIL #NCAA #Sports #SocialMedia #Olympics
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Jeff is business advisor, mentor and community engagement expert. He brings over 20 years of Channel Sales, Partner Marketing and Alliance expertise to audiences around the world in speaking engagements and via his writing. He has worked for Microsoft, Kodak, and K2. He is currently the Technical Alliances Manager at Zerto where he focuses on the Microsoft engagement efforts.

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