"Set me up for life": Female college athletes stash NIL cash

[Auggie]

NIL: Name, Image, Likeness

Associated Press / March 1, 2022

A figure sprints toward the camera along a walkway at an apartment complex, first in real time, then in slow motion before going back to real time. The woman is dressed in a tracksuit, she’s fast and the spoken word-song playing over the video says “it’s me against me.”

More than 20,000 people have viewed this Eastbay-sponsored TikTok post on Kentucky sprinter and hurdler Masai Russell’s account, and 2,000-plus engaged with it. It’s just one of several name, image and likeness deals sending a good chunk of change in Russell’s direction since July.

SNIP

Russell and a growing number of female college athletes are making a name for themselves on social media and cashing in under the NCAA’s interim policy covering athlete compensation by serving up a range of looks: serious business on the court, laid-back casual at home, approachably confident, slinky, sexy coed. Whether their self-run social media profiles are more wholesome or risque, they’re embracing the power of their image, hoping it brings attention not just to their sport and themselves but also financial independence after college.

“We can’t play forever and we have to have something to fall back on. The ball stops bouncing at some point,” North Carolina sophomore basketball player Deja Kelly told The Associated Press. She said she has six NIL deals, including Dunkin’ Donuts, Outback Steakhouse and a couple yet to be announced, and some of the deals have equity partnership.

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/sports-college-sports-basketball-college-basketball-11525c4429825f9df0d14248a2643e58

Quote (from the link): (I)t’s a generational opportunity, it’ll set me up for life," Kelly said. "If I were to stop playing basketball in five years, I would be fine because all the things I’m setting up now and I’m focusing on now.”

Russell’s NIL deals include Walgreens, Hulu and WWE ... most of her NIL activities have been on social media, which has left her wanting "more exposure” and to explore “who I am outside of just pictures."

LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne: 1.5 million followers on Instagram and 4.8 million followers on TikTok ... told the AP in a written response to questions that she has about 10 deals, most of them recurring, and said she’s “a top-earning athlete in the NIL space."

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Quite a boon for athletes, though admittedly I find the commercialism and worship of celebrity to be generally loathsome and socially destructive. Plus, where's the commercial compensation for the really important professions like teaching, nursing and social work (for example), right?