The NIL market is expected to be worth around $1.7 billion in the 2024-2025 season according to Opendorse. Of that figure, $1.1 billion will go to college football. Men’s basketball players earned around $389 million. The basketball players received around $75 million. Olympic athletes have generated around $134 million.
The money-raising began in July 2021, when the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA could not prevent student-athletes from profiting from their name, image and likeness. Since the decision, legal fights have continued between the NCAA and state legislatures.
“It’s been really interesting to watch the competitive balance between the states,” said Rob Sine, CEO of Blueprint Sports. “Tennessee is more aggressive, Florida wants to be more aggressive, and then Texas wants to be more aggressive. More state laws are passed, repealed, and then passed.”
Blueprint Sports oversees several high-profile collectives across the country. Promoters, individual donors, and companies often choose to crowdfund who then pay athletes for their appearances or endorsements. It is estimated that the groups control around 80% of the NIL market.
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“Schools are already very spread out. So for a career services unit, they’re happy to know that, hey, we’re going to put staff on campus, that’s going to represent them and the student-athletes,” Sine said. “The collective, as a marketing agency, we will take care of all the operations, we will provide that external arm for the sports departments where we can negotiate with the agents, we can negotiate with the athletes and we can handle if an athlete enters the transfer.” portal, terminate the contract or things like that.”
Blueprint Sports oversees collectives across the country, including NC State’s One Pack NIL, Colorado’s 5430 Alliance, Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley United and Arkansas’ Arkansas Edge.
“Pennsylvania has different rules than Arkansas or North Carolina,” Sine said. “The NCAA guidelines are there to be exactly what they are, to set guidelines. Then you have to follow state law in certain areas.”
The NCAA’s first guidance in 2021 aligned with the Supreme Court decision. Athletes could be paid if state law allowed it. The rules attempted to prevent schools from using NIL money to recruit athletes.
“It was a lot easier,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama. he said referring to how NIL laws have changed the hiring process in recent years. “Now there’s really no recruiting. It’s about buying. It’s totally different.”
Before Tuberville was elected to the Senate, he coached at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. He has since co-sponsored the NIL legislation along with Senator Joe Manchin IW.V. He plans to reintroduce or amend the Protecting Athletes, Schools and Sports Act (PASS Act) along with a Democrat in the next Congress.
“In football and basketball, what matters is who has the most money,” Tuberville said.
California signed the first state NIL law in 2019. Several others began to follow suit. Over time, legislatures began passing laws to circumvent NCAA guidelines and allow NIL money to be used for recruiting.
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“Over the years, the money has gotten bigger and bigger and student-athletes are saying, wait a minute, you know, why don’t we get some of that money? Why don’t we share the revenue?” Tuberville said.
Tuberville says collectives have too much influence and that legislation like the PASS Act would help level the playing field. But the groups do not agree.
“I don’t think the federal government is the way to do it. I think it creates a lot more complications,” Sine said. “I’ve seen those hearings before and there’s not a lot of direction or bright ideas coming out of them. There have been a lot of draft bills. I think it’s going to be difficult for them to get anything passed.”
Not all university officials believe the federal government should stay out of the NIL debate.
“This is a free market economy. We live in the greatest country in the world. And I think it’s great that our student-athletes can finally be compensated for what they’re worth. But we need national standards in college sports. Every coach needs knowing that when the ball comes out, we’re all playing by the same rules and right now we’re not,” Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl said.
Initial laws in Alabama and South Carolina reflected NCAA guidance that prevented the use of NIL money for recruiting. Other states began passing laws that deviated from that guidance and allowed loopholes for third-party donors to pledge money for potential student-athletes. That led the NCAA to change its stance. In 2022, the Division 1 Board of Directors clarified that schools could ask donors to provide funds for collectives, as long as they were not directed toward a specific sport or athlete.
“In the past, it was about graduation rates, or it was about, can you help me get to the NBA? Are we going to win championships? What is the culture of the program? Those things were more important to parents,” Pearl said. “Now it’s become a lot more transactional. What’s my market value? How much will I get if I go to that school? And, of course, everyone’s playing with a different budget right now. And that’s what makes it somewhat unfair”.
The NCAA’s updated guidance led Alabama and South Carolina to repeal their initial NIL laws. Both states determined that other schools had more opportunities to recruit better players.
“It gave us a little more freedom,” Pearl lamented. “We would like the conferences and the people who guide our programs to have power. Now everything goes to court. They lose all the lawsuits.”
Texas passed its legislation in 2023, which deviated from NCAA guidance by allowing donations for specific sports. The law also allows advantages and benefits for fans who donate to NIL collectives. A clause also made it illegal for the NCAA to punish a school for taking full advantage of the NIL.
“A lot of people started to find a gray area. And then donors or other organizations around the country were looking at this and saying, well, let’s raise, instead of $100,000, we’re going to raise $2 million. Or we’re going to raise $20 million and we’re really going to start building this and creating a very competitive advantage because no one is telling us we can’t,” Sine said.
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The new transfer portal rules have increased competition to find better players and pay more money. A couple of months before the Supreme Court issued its NIL decision, the NCAA updated its transfer portal policy, allowing Division I athletes a one-time opportunity to transfer and compete immediately.
Originally, an athlete could transfer schools, but had to sit out one year before playing unless the NCAA granted a waiver. In 2024, the association updated its guidelines to allow unlimited transfers as long as athletes met certain academic eligibility requirements.
“Almost all the players on the Marshall University football team transferred. They had to leave a bowl game,” Tuberville said. “Their coach left and they followed.”
Marshall was set to take on Army in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. Instead, dozens of Marshall athletes entered the transfer portal. Army will now face Louisiana Tech.
“I understand that families are in a situation where they may never make more money than they do now. And that’s what drives them. We’re teaching kids to run away, not fight.”
UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka announced in September that he would enter the transfer portal for the second time in his college career. Sluka’s agent said a $100,000 NIL payment was never fulfilled after he agreed to transfer to UNLV.
“Graduation rates have been destroyed because the combination of NIL and the transfer portal working together, these guys are free agents,” Pearl lamented. “In some cases, the money can be significant.”
State laws also differ on who can represent student athletes. In 2019, the Uniform Law Commission recommended that states adopt the Uniform Athlete Agents Act. It allowed student-athletes to hire agents with the intention of protecting them from unfair practices. At least 39 states have adopted the law, but it does not mention NIL. Some legislatures have added agent clauses to state laws.
“Players have agents, they have lawyers, they have accountants. That’s what we fought against for many, many years. Don’t sign with agents. Keep them out of your life. But college football and college sports have grown.”
The NCAA will now allow colleges to pay players directly, in addition to what they already receive through scholarships and third-party payments. Each school is capped at up to $20.5 million across all sports. Schools are already directing most of that money to football programs.
“We are going to lose a lot of football, basketball and women’s sports programs if we don’t find some type of solution. The NCAA has to work with us,” Tuberville said. “There really aren’t many answers when there are so many hands in the pie and everyone wants to do it their own way.”
