The name, image and likeness conversations that have dominated college sports for most of the past decade have tended to revolve around athletes getting access to traditional revenue streams such as jersey and video game sales.
In practice, however, many athletes have opted for deals that are both more creative and more personal in the months since they’ve been given the freedom to profit from their public personas for the first time.
Think something closer to the off-the-field branding empire built by Steelers star JuJu Smith-Schuster. He’s done most of his work outside the nascent NIL space as a pro since 2017. But he’s been a college-aged athlete for most of the time since he was drafted at the young age of 20, making him perhaps one of the best examples today’s college athletes may follow in the years ahead.
“I think the [deals] that hit home the best are ones where the athlete is not just trying to promote a product or service but really is telling a story that ties back into who they are, and why a particular brand aligns with who they are” said Luke Fedlam, a non-agent sports attorney based in Columbus, Ohio, who negotiates NIL deals for athletes.”
And — for better or worse — Smith-Schuster’s TikTok dances, Twitch video game streams and numerous public appearances all align with that vision pretty closely. As do many of the NIL deals that have gotten mainstream press this season.
Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux, for example, launched his own cryptocurrency back in September. $JREAM is now trading on Rally, a platform that “enables creators to launch independent economies powered by the ethereum blockchain.” Whatever that means.
In August, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young launched an NFT series titled “Rookies” that includes more than 3,000 pieces of art featuring himself by artist Arturo Torres.
And locally, Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett has signed a deal with the Oaklander hotel that includes weekly “hog” dinners for his offensive linemen.
So, yeah, you could say we’ve come a long way from the Max Talbot “superstar treatment” car ads of yesteryear.
The result is an environment where deals generate headlines simply for existing. The newness of the entire space means even more traditional campaigns can stand out simply because of the novelty factor.
Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei’s commercial deal with Dr. Pepper, for example, has been fascinating to watch as the Tigers have cratered from a top-five ranking in the preseason to unranked mediocrity ahead of their matchup with Pitt this weekend.
Can Dr. Pepper recoup its investment if Uiagalelei is slinging the rock in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl instead of the College Football Playoff this postseason? Or is Clemson’s fall itself enough to keep attention on the signal caller?
We don’t really know. And, at least at this stage, that’s kind of the point.
“I’m a firm believer that a lot of these brands are receiving a sizable return on investment just due to the fact that they’re operating in the space,” said Darren Heitner, a sports, entertainment, and intellectual property attorney based in Florida and a prominent NIL advocate. “Irrespective sometimes of who the athlete is and the actual deliverables that the athletes are providing, oftentimes the media is picking up on the sheer fact that this brand is engaging in NIL.
“We still are in the infancy of a brand new industry, not even four months in, and so I think there’s been an ability for brands to capitalize off of that alone.”
Whether that can continue over the long run remains to be seen. What’s clear, though, is that the fusion of NIL with the influencer space is likely here to stay, and that means it will likely evolve as quickly as the latest social media and online trends do.
Traditional revenue streams will remain part of the equation, to be sure. Heitner said he knows of some jersey sale deals that will mimic existing opt-in models at Big Ten powers Michigan and Ohio State.
And EA Sports has announced that it will be getting back into the college football video game business for the first time since former UCLA star Ed O’Bannon sued the company over its unpaid use of player likenesses is the middle of the last decade.
Still, those are large ships for individual athletes to steer, and Fedlam believes the average college athlete who may not have the same national recognition as an Uiagalelei or a Young is much more likely to deal on more of a community level.
He used youth camps as an example of a situation where a volleyball player or a basketball player without any serious pro aspirations can trade on their name recognition in their hometown.
And the Smith-Schuster model shows that simply letting fans inside an athlete’s day-to-day life via social media can be a simple way to build a following — then one can wield influence with the types of audiences brands want to reach, usually the younger crowds that spend more idle time scrolling through Instagram Reels than they do reading a glossy magazine.
“The fact that we’ve moved to social media influencing I think reflects kind of where industry marketing exists today, which is trying to meet consumers where they are,” Fedlam said. “And so many consumers are on social media.
“Brands aren’t looking at [NIL] as just an easy way to give away money to student athletes. Brands are looking for a return on their investment, and so when they’re making decisions about who they want to engage with, if a college student has the ability to help a brand penetrate a particular demographic that they’re trying to acknowledge or gain as a client or a customer/consumer, then they’re going to make that investment in that particular student athlete.”
Creative and personalized NIL deals of note
• Built Bar is covering the cost of tuition for Brigham Young walk-on football players, essentially putting them on scholarship with the rest of their teammates.
• The Cavinder twins of Fresno State, who have some of the biggest social media followings in college sports, have partnered with Sleeper on the first fantasy sports NIL deal.
• Arkansas wide receiver Trey Knox is partnering with Petsmart, but so is his dog, Blue, who is featured prominently in his advertising for the brand.
• Marshall lineman Will Ulmer is now pursuing a music career freely after previously performing under a stage name.
• Indiana’s Dylan Powell has a deal with a local boarding kennel that includes keeping an eye on his dog, Hoosier, when Powell is traveling with his team for road games
Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24.
First Published: October 24, 2021, 11:00 a.m.
