I’ve worked in the world of sports sponsorship for 25 years. I am not an NIL expert and I don’t purport to be one. But I will say this… most reputable and well-known national brands won’t touch the space, mostly because there’s little opportunity for meaningful and measurable ROI or impact across a host of brand measures. The brands that are credibly utilizing NLI are doing so in a targeted way (to support rebranding, new product launches, expansion into new markets, etc), or because the student-athlete adds relevance and credibility to the brand and/or its products/services based on the young man’s or woman’s academic major, areas of interest, personal background or story - and NOT based on what sport they play. I exclude endemic brands above, such as energy/isotonic beverages in the examples above.
I do believe that the NCAA has mismanaged NIL in a monumental way, and I am not the least bit surprised. The best way to fix this, IMO, is for the NCAA to set up a fast-track review team, whose sole focus is to approve or disapprove NIL deals based on publicly available information that clearly spells out all the approval process and criteria that must be met (i.e., a credible connection between brand and athlete). If the NCAA needs to set aside budget to cover costs related to this review process, let them keep a small percentage of any NIL deal it approves - from the overall NIL agent fee. Controls need to be put in place. Quickly.
