College Athletes Enter the Marketing Realm

During my time as a college athlete, I was told that I was an ambassador not just for the team, but for the whole school. It was always an honor to be a leader and inspire young athletes, but now there are more incentives to make your mark as an athlete in the commercial world.

As of July 2021, the NCAA has approved a policy that gives student-athletes the right to sign and profit from endorsement deals for name, image, and likeness (NIL). Currently, the only face you see on a box of cereal are members of professional sports; but now they will be joined by faces of college athletes as well.

This article by Jackson Thompson at Insider, reviews the emerging market of representing college athletes in their business ventures. This is exciting news for college athletes because they currently accrue no payment while playing for their university. Companies often will wait until an athlete goes pro before approaching them with partnership offers.

According to the article, “independent startup agencies now have a new pool of clients to partner with business, and the day-one signings indicate there will be a strong demand.” The demand is for eager college students to make professional connections to earn money, but they have no business partnership experience.

A startup called MarketPryce emerged, working much like Tinder to match prospective athletes with endorsement partners. Another agency called Playmaker, “specializing in connecting athletes to a young audience through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.” will build the athlete’s social media presence. Both agencies will help the athlete build a profile that will get them greater and more enticing endorsements.

Overall, this is a change that needed to happen; social media has a significant role in digital marketing. Influencers everywhere are promoting somebody’s products. College athletes can finally make the money they deserve, while companies can expand their market to the college athletics audience.

photo by Taryn Mathews "Softball players from Big Bend CC and University of Washington, some of which have NIL endorsements under the NCAA policy."