Introduction
Traditionally, college athletes were prohibited from being compensated for using their name, image, or likeness. After decades of resisting changes, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rule was enacted in 2021, allowing states and institutions of higher learning to implement laws that allowed college athletes to receive NIL benefits. This significant shift occurred during the summer of 2021, ushering in a new era where student-athletes would earn income, access new opportunities, and better prepare for their future while actively participating in college sports. With the rise of the new era, athletes and candidates of collegiate sports must familiarize themselves with the provisions associated with NIL to help bring forth and capitalize on its opportunities while effectively navigating the mental health issues associated with the new paradigm of college sports. This paper delves into the transformative impact of NIL, examining its role in preparing college athletes for the future, creating avenues of opportunity, and exploring its potential effects on their mental health.
Preparation for the future
Athletes dedicate their entire careers within the confines of sports, aiming to improve their skills. Intrinsically motivated athletes, for instance, are goal-focused and strive for continuous development and improvement of their talents. On the other hand, extrinsically motivated athletes dedicate their entire lives to sports aiming to win competitions, and they may feel they will disappoint if they do not win trophies. There is no right or wrong motivation, but the bottom line is that the dedication to hone one’s talents leaves athletes with little or no life beyond the field. Contemporary college sports call for athletes to work on their talents, as being among the top one percent in any field has become man’s natural tendency.
It is crucial to note that dedication to practice and focus on learning and becoming better at it determines the athlete’s success in the sport and life in general. However, devotion to sports may turn college athletes into workaholics, damaging other facets of life, such as family and relationship fulfillment, spiritual wellness, business, and entrepreneurial endeavors. In light of this, dedication to sports can lead to overworking, which is detrimental to athletes, their families, and the community and limits them from experiencing the joys of life. This is where NIL steps into the spotlight. NIL encourages and provides a platform for student-athletes to maintain their focus while diversifying their skill set in other endeavors beyond the realm of sports (Wynn 309). It encourages student-athletes to develop essential skills such as entrepreneurship, time management, leadership, and organization. By managing their commitment to sports and diversifying their skill set, NIL enables athletes to learn multiple facets of their lives, effectively preparing them for the demands of the world beyond sports. One of the primary benefits of helping athletes have diverse skill sets is increased adaptability. Beyond the field, the rapidly changing job markets, trends, and technologies demand athletes to have diverse skills to quickly adapt to new situations and learn the skills that are in demand. When athletes have expertise in multiple areas, they can draw on their experiences from different fields to find innovative solutions to problems, increase their earning potential, and ultimately lead more fulfilling lives at the end of their careers.
In addition, NIL principles emphasize financial literacy and independence. It is worth highlighting that, naturally, the commitment that student-athletes give to their sport is not the same when it comes to their finances. The lack of financial literacy has so far resulted in a large number of college athletes making poor financial decisions that often lead to adverse lifelong impacts. For example, the former NBA star Antoine Walker infamously owned a fleet of luxury cars and multiple homes before his financial downfall. Similarly, the former NFL player Michael Vick spent millions of U.S. dollars on luxury items before declaring bankruptcy in 2008. The financial downfall of these athletes, among others, stem from matching their spending level to what their peak earning allow or even beyond. At the end of their career in sports, those earnings decline, and the payments on liabilities continue, ultimately leading to bankruptcy. With NIL in the equation, athletes are trained in financial literacy by providing them with real-world experience on the skills needed to effectively locate, evaluate, and use information to make informed decisions about credit, debt, budgeting, acquiring assets over liabilities, and planning for the future. NIL also presents athletes with an excellent opportunity to partner with reputable businesses where they receive guidance, exposure, and mentorship regarding the inner workings of the corporate world (Ehrich 47). Athletes can, thus, leverage the financial literacy gained from NIL programs to achieve Financial Independence and Early Retirement (FIRE). From a practical standpoint, athletes who are equipped with financial literacy throughout their careers in sports are better equipped to set financial goals, make informed decisions about their investments, and avoid unfavorable contracts. By having a good understanding of personal finances, athletes can make informed decisions that lead to financial stability, independence, and early retirement.
Furthermore, NIL helps student-athletes recognize and leverage their personal brand. It is widely known that athletes have the largest numbers in terms of fanbase. From children to adults, loyalty to athletes has become an intricate part of society in all cultures. People from diverse backgrounds are drawn to the excitement of seeing athletes push themselves to the limit to win. In addition, sports are a celebration of human excellence and achievement as people come together to witness the skill, athleticism, and dedication that athletes possess. With its increasingly growing popularity, NIL encourages athletes to leverage their massive following and effectively extend their influence beyond the realm of sports. In doing so, athletes can create a unique identity that stands out from the competition in a world where celebrity influence is more important than ever. NIL also imparts athletes the discipline needed to build trust with their fanbase and clients, which they can monetize even beyond their careers. The skills that athletes develop in building a personal brand, fostering positive relationships with commercial brands, and networking are transferrable to various sectors where interpersonal connections play a vital role. As athletes become more recognized and respected beyond the realm of sports, they become more exposed to opportunities, such as job offers, partnerships, and speaking engagements. This can lead to higher-paying jobs, new career opportunities, and more lucrative contracts, ultimately leading to a better quality of life after retirement from active athletics. In addition, personal branding can help the athlete be seen as an expert and thought leader across various disciplines, leading to more prestige, recognition, and visibility.
Providing opportunities
With the new era of NIL comes tremendous opportunities for student-athletes. The primary opportunity NIL extends to college athletes is revenue generated by mega deals from college sports. Currently, of the more than thirty sports sponsored by the NCAA, only men’s football and basketball turn a profit. It is worth noting that college football and basketball, the only two sports that underwrite athletic budgets, are made up of more than 75% young black men, often from low-income backgrounds. Despite their financial constraints, the rules enforced by the NCAA prevent institutions of higher learning from giving student-athletes direct money other than educational scholarships. NCAA’s justification for not paying college athletes is that all colleges would not be able to pay for the same amount of money. Paying student-athletes would lead to the bigger institutions recruiting the cream of the crop for talent, while the smaller institutions would be disadvantaged, giving them no chance to compete with them (Addo 188). Whether to compensate student-athletes is a topic that has been highly contended. On one side, the NCAA prevents schools from paying athletes directly, and on the other side, proponents argue that paying student-athletes would motivate them to work harder. NIL effectively and successfully navigates this dilemma by working with donors, boosters, trustees, and donors. By collaborating with these financiers, NIL allows the athletes to land endorsement deals that they can use for social justice and community service initiatives.
In addition, NIL enables athletes to explore entrepreneurial endeavors with their passions and interests. At the core of NIL’s empowerment for indentureship among athletes, NIL offers them a platform to engage in marketing sponsorships. The advent of NI paves the way for student-athletes to establish long-standing connections with brands early in their careers to seek out sponsorship opportunities. In doing so, NIL allows athletes to gain hands-on experience and invaluable insights into their preferences and interests. This means that athletes have the opportunity to explore and identify the types of business ventures and collaborations they work best with, all while pursuing their passion for sports. With the initial provisions of the NCAA, such exploration of entrepreneurial interests could only occur after the athlete’s career had ended. With NIL, however, student-athletes can leverage their prime marketability years, especially during their college tenure, to monetize their ideas and venture into entrepreneurial collaborations at a very young age. As a result, student-athletes can leverage the newfound agency to help carve a path and shape their own destinies that seamlessly blend their entrepreneurial aspirations with their athletic achievements.
Beyond financial gains and entrepreneurial opportunities, NIL provides the perfect opportunity for student-athletes to build and expand their networks. Previously, college and high school athletes were not allowed to profit from endorsements, hindering the possibility of monetizing their name or image. With the enactment of NIL, these athletes can now become content creators and brand influencers and leverage their popularity to accept endorsements and forge business partnerships around their personalities. Due to the nature and psychology of sports, NIL athletes have a high-engagement audience built throughout their careers. That emotional connection with the fans and organic engagement is the kind of loyalty that translates to sales. In addition to expanding the persona brand of college athletes, NIL helps with reputation management. Reputation management encapsulates the practice and processes of influencing public conversations and stakeholder perceptions about an athlete and their brands (Ehrlich 47). NIL achieves this by training college athletes to monitor conversations, effectively respond to reputation threats, and proactively seize opportunities to boost reputation. Through the NIL initiative, athletes become more mindful of their behavior on social media while they use various platforms to showcase their talents, connect with fans, and share their experiences. With a positive brand reputation comes opportunities to connect with coaches and professionals from other fields. Naturally, networking with other professionals provides access to professional connections, career advisees, and valuable information, enabling the athlete to gain a competitive edge in the corporate world.
Furthermore, NIL rules can be a gateway to educational opportunities for athletes. The new NIL provisions allow colleges to form partnerships with traditional brands. These partnerships aim to support college athletes, and in doing so, they provide the institutions with significant funding sources to improve facilities, support athletic programs, and provide scholarships to athletes. Providing educational sponsorships to athletes has several advantages. To begin with, extending educational sponsorships to athletes reduces the financial burden for the costs associated with higher education, such as tuition and living expenses. Moreover, educational sponsorships enhance the reputation of the athlete. Specifically, sponsorship from reputable international organizations adds prestige to the student’s resume, helping NIL athletes distinguish themselves from their peers. The educational opportunities conferred to college athletes also give the respective beneficiaries a global perspective. This helps the athletes to understand global issues, develop intercultural communication skills, and align athletes with the values and causes they are passionate about (Sorbe et al. 15). The long-term impact of providing athletes with additional education opportunities that align with their values and causes is improved employability. These educational programs provide these students with exposure to industry professionals and practical experience, improving their chances of securing employment at the conclusion of their careers in sports.
Impact on Mental Health
The major challenge associated with NIL is navigating the potential mental health concerns stemming from the demand on athletes’ self-image and time. Obviously, NIL is a perfect means to attract prospective student-athletes to attend a particular institution, even though pay-for-play is highly prohibited in the rules. With exposure to a global audience and sponsors’ expectations to perform at the highest level, college athletes become more prone to psychological problems as their careers become more dedicated to success and the pressure that brings. While NIL fosters positive relationships, educational opportunities, global influence, and entrepreneurial opportunities, it exposes young college athletes to an environment where abuse and bullying are rife. With the larger influence and becoming a public figure, toxicity can come from all angles, including mainstream and social media. The triggers to emotional turmoil and public scrutiny can range from poor individual performance, perceived as letting the entire team and sponsor down to an athlete’s gender or race (Chang et al. 216-220). With the advent of technology, bullying is increasingly done on social media platforms, where offensive online comments and trolling can take a toll on the athlete’s mental well-being, potentially causing anxiety and stress. When criticism is repeated over time, college athletes may succumb to the long-lasting effects on their emotional and social development.
It is crucial to note that prior to the introduction of NIL, college athletes were already overwhelmed with overly demanding schedules from training, travel for competitions, rehabilitation, and academics. NIL exposes them to new and more challenging stressors, including photo shoots, NIL events, and autograph sessions. Individual and societal expectations to secure endorsement deals also pressure these athletes to maintain a solid and reputable social media presence. Combining these new demands. Investing too much energy, time, and resources to cope with the pressure to deliver and increasing workloads may result in the depletion of energy resources needed to balance sports and personal life, consequently impacting mental well-being resulting from burnout and high-stress levels.
Conclusion
While recruitment under NIL may open college athletes to a whole lot of new challenges that may negatively impact their emotional and mental well-being, NIL deals add extra benefits to the mix. The financial help and entrepreneurial opportunities set up a stable future for the athletes. By guaranteeing financial stability, NIL ensures student-athletes are less likely to experience financial distress and they are able to focus better on other aspects of their lives, such as personal growth, networking, and entrepreneurship. In addition, NIL controls athlete’s exposure to social media and online activities that are known to cause too much pressure on the athlete, thereby limiting exposure to public scrutiny.
Works Cited
Wynn, Hanna. “The Path to Name, Image, and Likeness Rights for College Athletes and Its Potential Effects on Student-Athletes, the NCAA, and Athletic Programs.” Colo. Tech. LJ 20 2022: 309.
Ehrlich, Sam C., and Neal C. Ternes. “Putting the First Amendment in play: Name, image, and likeness policies and athlete freedom of speech.” Colum. JL & Arts 45 (2021): 47.
Addo, Jesse. “Antitrust Implications of the NCAA’s Restrictions on the Use of Name, Image, and Likeness of Student-Athletes.” U. St. Thomas LJ 18 (2022): 188.
Sorbe, Josh, Tyler Custis, and Mandie Weinandt. “The NCAA’s breaking point for equal opportunity: A Title IX perspective on name, image, and likeness sponsorship legislation.” Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education 16.1 (2022): 1-22.
Chang, Cindy, et al. “Mental health issues and psychological factors in athletes: detection, management, effect on performance and prevention: American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement—Executive Summary.” British journal of sports medicine 54.4 2020: 216–220.
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