EdCircuit Staff 
NIL stands for name, image and likeness: a college athlete’s right to be paid when a business uses who they are to sell something. Since 2021, athletes have been able to sign endorsement deals, post sponsored content, make paid appearances, sell their own merchandise and run camps. In 2025 the system changed again, when a federal court approved a settlement that lets schools pay athletes directly. For many student-athletes, college sports now involves running a small business alongside a full course load and a training schedule, and colleges have been slow to treat that work as part of their education.
What is NIL?
For most of its history, the NCAA barred athletes from earning money from their own fame to protect the idea of amateurism. That changed in the summer of 2021, when the NCAA adopted an interim policy allowing athletes in all three divisions to make NIL deals consistent with the law of the state where their school is located. The policy kept two limits that still matter: a deal cannot be pay-for-play, and it cannot be used as a recruiting inducement.
A typical NIL deal is an exchange of value for promotion. A local car dealership pays a quarterback to appear in an advertisement. A clothing brand sends a gymnast products and a fee for posts on her social media accounts. A basketball player is paid to sign autographs at a store opening. Athletes can also earn through group licensing, such as jerseys and video games, and through collectives, which are booster-funded groups that pool money for NIL deals with a school’s athletes.
How NIL works after the House settlement
On June 6, 2025, a federal judge in California approved the settlement in House v. NCAA, the antitrust case brought on behalf of former and current athletes. According to a summary from CUPA-HR, the settlement:
- allows schools to share revenue directly with athletes, up to about $20.5 million per school in 2025–26, with the cap rising each year;
- provides about $2.8 billion in damages to Division I athletes who competed as far back as 2016;
- requires outside NIL deals worth more than $600 to go through a clearinghouse that checks for a valid business purpose and fair market value;
- created the College Sports Commission to enforce the new rules.
The cap for 2026–27 allows up to $21.3 million per school, FootballScoop reported. The clearinghouse, called NIL Go and operated by Deloitte, has been a real check on deals. In its first year it approved about $355 million in deals and rejected nearly $90 million, ESPN reported. The most common reasons for rejection were no valid business purpose, pay out of line with what similar athletes receive, and no actual NIL activity.
How big are NIL deals?
The money is large and uneven. Opendorse, which runs a widely used NIL marketplace, estimates that total pay to college athletes, including revenue sharing, will reach $4.5 billion in 2026–27, and projects the NIL market will top $5 billion by 2028–29. Its figures also show how concentrated the money is: the highest-paid athlete it tracks, a Power Four quarterback, averages $1.5 million, while men’s basketball players average nearly $14,000 per deal and the top earner outside football and men’s basketball, a Power Four women’s basketball player, makes about $137,500 a year.
For most athletes, then, NIL is not a fortune. It is a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, earned by doing the same things any small business owner does: finding customers, agreeing on terms, delivering the work and keeping records.
The athletes behind the headlines
The best-known NIL stories show how quickly the field moves. Olivia “Livvy” Dunne, the LSU gymnast whose NIL value was estimated at $3.3 million by On3 in 2023, signed deals with brands including Vuori, Grubhub and American Eagle before retiring from gymnastics in April 2025. Shedeur Sanders signed with Gatorade, Beats by Dre and Nike while playing quarterback at Colorado, then was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2025. The Cavinder twins, Haley and Hanna, built a large social media following while playing basketball at Fresno State and then Miami; their college careers ended after the 2024–25 season.
Not every star rushed to sign. Texas quarterback Arch Manning, the most recruited player in the country, was kept out of NIL deals at first: his coach said in 2023 that Manning’s grandfather would not let him take NIL money until he became a starter. He has since signed with brands including Warby Parker, Uber and Raising Cane’s, Sports Illustrated reported.
Student-athletes are entrepreneurs
Being a student-athlete with NIL income now means pitching yourself to sponsors, reading contracts, tracking how your content performs and often managing a small team of agents, family members or friends. The most successful athletes run their social media accounts like small media companies, planning content, studying what their audience responds to and working with other creators. That is a long list of business skills to learn while attending class, training and traveling.
Colleges already accept that students learn outside the classroom. A theatre major who takes a role in an independent film, or a music student who tours with a band, is seen as gaining real experience in their field. When athletes negotiate deals, manage a brand and report income, they are doing the kind of hands-on work an internship provides. There is a case for colleges to recognize that work, and to teach the skills it requires, rather than treating it as a distraction from school.
What colleges can teach athletes
Some schools have started. At Ohio University, the Center for Entrepreneurship and the athletics department ran a pilot workshop series in 2024 that taught football players personal branding and how to launch a business, with talks from athletes who had started companies. Programs like this point to what a fuller NIL curriculum could include:
- contract literacy and how to evaluate an NIL offer;
- personal finance, taxes and record-keeping for self-employment income;
- how the clearinghouse reviews deals and what makes a deal valid;
- social media strategy, brand identity and audience growth;
- intellectual property, including trademarks for an athlete’s name or logo;
- forming a business and working with agents and advisers.
Much of this help now comes from outside the university, from agents, collectives and marketing firms with their own interests. Colleges that offer it in-house, through business schools and entrepreneurship centers that already exist, can give athletes advice that is in the athlete’s interest and give them skills that last after their playing careers end.
NIL in high school and in Congress
NIL has also reached high schools. In 41 states and Washington, D.C., high school athletes can sign NIL deals, Capital News Service reported in 2025. Arkansas allows it only for athletes who have been accepted to an Arkansas college, and Wyoming does not allow it. That brings the same questions about contracts, money and guidance to younger students and their families, and to the high school counselors and athletic directors who advise them.
A national NIL law is still pending. The U.S. Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act 77–22 on September 29, 2026; the bill would create a federal NIL right, require disclosure of deals over $600 and override conflicting state laws. House leaders said the bill will not be considered until after the midterm elections, so for now NIL is governed by the House settlement, NCAA rules and a patchwork of state laws.
Frequently asked questions
What does NIL stand for? Name, image and likeness. It refers to an athlete’s right to be paid for the commercial use of their identity.
When did NIL start? The NCAA adopted its interim NIL policy in the summer of 2021.
Can colleges pay athletes directly now? Yes. Since the House settlement was approved in June 2025, schools can share revenue with athletes up to an annual cap, about $20.5 million per school in 2025–26.
What is an NIL collective? A group, usually funded by boosters and fans, that pools money to pay a school’s athletes for NIL activities. Under the settlement, collective deals worth more than $600 are reviewed by the NIL Go clearinghouse.
Can high school athletes get NIL deals? In most states, yes. As of 2025, 41 states and Washington, D.C. allowed it.
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