Now that college athletes can be paid, a March Madness buzzer-beater could be worth a lot more than a trip to the Final Four. It could be worth thousands of dollars, thanks to the name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals college basketball’s biggest stars can sign.
The Supreme Court may have forever changed the college sports landscape when it ruled that NCAA athletes should be allowed to profit off their images. NIL deals mean students can get money in various ways — including via endorsement deals, sponsorships, business ventures, partnerships, and collectives that raise money on behalf of a university.
With that kind of money now in college sports, some athletes are making upward of a million dollars.
College athletes have signed NIL deals with huge companies, including Gatorade (PEP), Uber (UBER), Adidas (ADDYY), Chipotle (CMG), Redbull, and Amazon (AMZN). High school students can get in on the action, too — USC women’s basketball commit Jazzy Davidson has signed a multiyear deal with Nike (NKE), while No. 1 men’s basketball recruit AJ Dybantsa reportedly landed an NIL deal worth around $7 million for committing to BYU.
Media group On3 has created an NIL Valuation index, which, according to the website, “calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects outcomes over the next 12 months.” Football players typically earn the most NIL money — 21 of the top 25 earners on On3’s ranking play the sport. The top-earning collegian is Texas quarterback Arch Manning ($6.5 million), while the female athlete who brings in the most NIL money is LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne ($4.1 million), who is fourth overall on On3’s list.
But basketball players are no slouches when it comes to NIL deals. Via On3’s ranking, here’s a look at the top 15 NIL earners among the men’s and women’s March Madness stars.
Jalil Bethea, a freshman at Miami, has signed NIL deals with Mondelez (MDLZ), Miami’s school team store, and the Klutch Athletics by New Balance brand.
Tre Johnson, a freshman at Texas, has signed NIL deals with Austin Creative Reuse, PSD Underwear, and Panini America.
RJ Luis Jr., a junior at Saint John’s, has signed an NIL deal with No Bull.
VJ Edgecombe, a freshman at Baylor, has signed NIL deals with Panini America and PSD Underwear.
JT Toppin, a sophomore at Texas Tech, has signed NIL deals with Athletes Thread and Raising Cane’s.
Eric Dixon, a redshirt senior at Villanova, has signed NIL deals with Friends of Nova and Robert Pollock Elementary.
Paige Bueckers, a redshirt senior at UConn and the projected No. 1 pick in this year’s WNBA Draft, has signed NIL deals with Gatorade, Crocs (CROX), CeraVe (LRLCY), Bose, Nerf (HAS), Nike, Dunkin’, Taco Bell (YUM), CVS (CVS), Topps, and Madison Reed.
Flau’Jae Johnson, a junior at LSU, has signed NIL deals with Powerade (KO), Raising Cane’s, Papa John’s (PZZA), Doritos, Amazon, Tampax (PG), Tinder (MTCH), JBL Audio, Intuit TurboTax (INTU), Experian (EXPGY), JanSport (VFC), and Apple Cash (AAPL).
Kam Jones, a senior at Marquette, has signed NIL deals with the Marquette NIL store and is on Cameo.
Ace Bailey, a freshman at Rutgers, has signed NIL deals with Nike and the Knights of the Raritan.
Dylan Harper, a freshman at Rutgers, has signed NIL deals with Nike, Red Bull, and the NIL store.
PJ Haggerty, a redshirt sophomore at Memphis, has signed NIL deals with the Bluff City NIL, the Flying T Club, and the Memphis Redbirds.
Maxime Raynaud, a senior transfer student who most recently played at Stanford, has signed NIL deals with Air France (AFLYY) and Lifetime Cardinal.
Braden Smith, a junior at Purdue, has signed NIL deals with Stanley (SWK), HeyDude Shoes, the NIL Store, the Boilermaker Alliance, and the Purdue NIL store.
Cooper Flagg, a freshman at Duke, has signed NIL deals with Gatorade, New Balance, the NIL Store, and Fanatics.
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