13 figures to watch in the NIL landscape in 2023

The new year will bring the start of a new NCAA president’s tenure, star quarterbacks returning for their fifth, sixth or even seventh year in college, and the first season of the Deion Sanders era at Colorado. Each event could lead to notable developments in the NIL landscape.

Now, more than half of the high school athletic associations in the country allow athletes to sign NIL deals. That has opened the door for blue-chip recruits with six or seven-figure social media followings to partner with regional and national brands.

While thousands of international athletes remain limited in their NIL opportunities, immigration attorneys, administrators and coaches, third-party providers and NIL collectives have explored creative solutions to help maximize foreign athletes’ opportunities. The scale of those solutions could increase in the next year after several success stories in 2022.

Here are 13 figures to watch in the NIL landscape in 2023.

Colorado coach Deion Sanders

No one approaches branding and content creation quite like new Colorado coach Deion Sanders. His son “Bucky” Sanders filmed the first team meeting between Colorado players and their new head coach. The younger Sanders then posted the video on his YouTube channel “Well Off Media,” which has more than 190,000 subscribers. The video has more than four million views.

“All the stuff you see us post, he’s the man,” the elder Sanders said of his son during the team meeting. “He’s been a one-man machine. Now he gets some help. It’s going to be unbelievable… We know how to do social media. We’re going to bungee jump in followers y’all got. Matter of fact, you tell them, what’s the best way for them to increase it today? Tell ’em.”

Bucky Sanders gave the Colorado players a few pieces of advice.

“You just gotta post,” he said. “Stay consistent. You got all eyes on you right now. Everybody wants to know what y’all about to do, who y’all are, who everything is and that’s what I’m a do.”

When Travis Hunter, the On3 Consensus No. 2 overall recruit in the 2022 recruiting class who committed to Deion Sanders and Jackson State, then announced his decision to transfer to Colorado, he did so on his own YouTube channel. That allowed him to monetize his announcement directly.

However, Hunter told his social media followers he’d only commit after he reached 100,000 subscribers, which only increased his following on YouTube and therefore his earning potential.

Auburn gymnast Sunisa Lee

Sunisa Lee announced in November that this will be her final season at Auburn before she focuses on training for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Prior to the implementation of state laws and the NCAA’s interim NIL policy, Olympic gymnasts had to choose between remaining an amateur in order to compete in college and turning pro to capitalize on the peak of their marketability.

Now they can go to college and sign marketing deals.

Lee has partnered with numerous national brands, such as Amazon, Gatorade, Target and Invisalign.

Lee’s college career will be an abbreviated one but the fact that she enrolled at Auburn in the first place speaks to the benefits of NIL laws and policies, particularly for Olympians. Lee was the NCAA champion on beam last season and she placed second in the all-around, so she will continue to have numerous NIL opportunities during her final season in college and in advance of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe

Oscar Tshiebwe was the first Naismith Men’s Player of the Year winner to return to school since North Carolina‘s Tyler Hansbrough did so after winning the award in 2008.

Is it a coincidence that his decision came during the first full offseason of the NCAA’s NIL era?

The Kentucky forward was the headliner in a wave of talented, veteran big men to return to college. Other players in that group include North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, Gonzaga‘s Drew Timme, Michigan‘s Hunter Dickinson and Indiana‘s Trayce Jackson-Davis.

“I think NIL played a factor with all of us,” Dickinson told On3 last summer. “Being able to not have to worry about money but also being able to play college basketball, I think, was the best of both worlds for a lot of us.”

Since Tshiebwe is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he has had to take a creative approach to maximize his NIL opportunities outside the U.S. During Kentucky’s exhibition tour to the Bahamas in August, he earned a reported $500,000. The Athletic reported his promotional work that week brought his total NIL earnings to roughly $2.75 million.

Tshiebwe is arguably a pioneer in the NIL landscape as an international athlete who took advantage of a trip abroad to maximize his NIL opportunities.

“After we did it in the Bahamas with just Oscar, we knew that there would be about, oh, forty or so different teams coming down to the Bahamas,” Tyler Jaynes, the founder of the NIL company Influxer, told On3 in November. The company helped dozens of college basketball players whose teams competed in the Bahamas in the fall.

Thanks to the NCAA granting athletes an additional year of eligibility in 2020, Tshiebwe still has the option to return to Kentucky, again.

Oregon quarterback Bo Nix

The day after Christmas, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix announced a partnership with Bose, which joins a list of Nix’s brand partners that includes Bojangles, Fanatics and Topps. After transferring from Auburn to Oregon, he threw for a career-high 3,388 yards and 27 touchdowns this season. Nix recently announced a return to the Ducks for 2023.

Since the end of the regular season, Washington‘s Michael Penix Jr., Nix, Florida State‘s Jordan Travis, LSU‘s Jayden Daniels announced their respective returns to school. Those four quarterbacks rank third, fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively, in terms of Week 1 starting quarterbacks whose On3 NIL Valuation increased the most during the regular season.

Each quarterback in this group is one worth watching on and off the field in 2023.

UTSA quarterback Frank Harris is worthy of inclusion in that group, too. Harris is returning for his seventh season in college.

His return announcement was immediately followed by the announcement of a new NIL collective called City Fans 210 that’s designed to support UTSA athletes. It has a stated $5 million fundraising goal in its first year.

In the NCAA’s NIL era, great college quarterbacks who may not necessarily be great NFL prospects could potentially maximize their earnings by staying in college, not leaving.

La Jolla Country Day point guard Jada Williams

Jada Williams is a five-star point guard from La Jolla (California) Country Day that signed with Arizona. She’s able to pursue NIL opportunities since La Jolla Country Day competes in the California Interscholastic Federation, which is one of 26 high school athletic associations in the country that grant athletes their NIL rights.

She has more than one million followers between her Instagram and TikTok accounts, which gives her a large audience for brands to tap into, in addition to her on-court talent. Williams has partnered with companies such as Gymshark, LaceClips, Lemon Perfect and Spalding.

Williams is one of the most prominent athletes in the growing high school NIL landscape.

South Carolina forward Chloe Kitts

Former Faith Christian (Florida) Academy forward Chloe Kitts committed to reigning national champion South Carolina in November. Six weeks later, she made her debut with the Gamecocks after enrolling early. Kitts, who was rated as a five-star recruit, recently signed with Excel Sports Management.

Notably, Florida isn’t home to one of the 26 high school athletic associations where athletes can engage in NIL deals. South Carolina, which is ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll after an undefeated start, has a roster full of players with significant NIL opportunities. In September, South Carolina players learned they have the opportunity to earn an average of $25,000 in NIL deals thanks to a group of donors.

Guard Zia Cooke, whom Excel Sports Management also represents, recently gifted her teammates Beats by Dre headphones. Center Aliyah Boston, who was the unanimous national player of the year last season, has partnered with national brands such as crocs, Orangetheory Fitness and Under Armour.

Kitts’ journey could potentially provide something of a road map for elite prospects who join elite programs, especially if enrolling early allows them to sign endorsement deals in college that aren’t available to them in high school. LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson, who also raps, has partnered with Meta, Puma and Taco Bell, showing the opportunities that can be available for a star freshman.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker

On Dec. 15, the NCAA announced Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker will succeed current NCAA President Mark Emmert. Baker’s term as governor will end on Jan. 5. His role with the NCAA will start in March 2023, while Emmert will serve as a consultant through June.

Since Baker is a Republican governor in a heavily Democratic state, the NCAA and its Board of Governors have promoted Baker’s ability to reach a consensus. The NCAA’s news release that announced Baker’s hiring included the word “bipartisan” five times.

Will Baker’s skill set and political background allow him to lobby effectively for federal legislation that could provide the NCAA with an antitrust exemption and more comfort in trying to enforce its rules?

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Sportico an antitrust exemption is unlikely in regards to the plans he and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) have to introduce bipartisan legislation regarding NIL in the spring.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)

While a handful of bills have been drafted, Congress has yet to pass any federal legislation with regard to NIL. Despite calls from university, conference and NCAA administrators for a federal law, Congressional intervention could be unlikely, although not impossible.

It’s worth monitoring how the NCAA’s hiring of Baker and the National Labor Relations Board’s Los Angeles region’s announcement regarding an unfair labor practices claim against USC, the Pac-12 and NCAA could impact lawmakers’ decision-making.

With a Republican majority House of Representatives and a Democratic majority in the Senate, members of the two parties will have to agree upon the extent of any potential reform to college athletics. For example, Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have placed an emphasis on health and safety standards in the Athlete Bill of Rights they introduced.

Given Sen. Tuberville’s experience as a head coach and his plans to introduce a bill with Sen. Manchin, he has become a central figure in the drafting of any NIL-related bills on Capitol Hill. However, he’s unlikely to push for an antitrust exemption for the NCAA.

“We’ve got to take care of all these recruiting possibilities first, and once we get through this we would like to stay out of it,” Tuberville told Sportico’s Daniel Libit. “If you get (Congress) involved, it is not a rule, it is a law. We don’t want to jump in this with all four feet and say this is how it is going to be with every situation.”

Attorneys Amy Maldonado, Ksenia Maiorova

In October, Northwestern State guard Hansel Enmanuel, a former three-star recruit who was born in the Dominican Republic, received approval for an O-1 visa. An O-1 visa is reserved for “individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement,” according to the United State Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Amy Maldonado, the principal attorney at the Law Office of Amy Maldonado LLC who helped Enmanuel receive approval for an O-1 visa, told On3 Enmanuel is the first college athlete to her knowledge to receive an O-1 visa for NIL purposes.

She credited her colleague and immigration attorney Ksenia Maiorova with helping her in the application process.

This was notable because there are significant limitations to the earning potential for international students who are in the U.S. on an F-1 visa. While some forms of passive income could potentially be permissible for individuals who are in the U.S. on an F-1 visa, athletic department and university employees often urge caution given the stakes.

Dozens of international athletes have had to capitalize on trips abroad to pursue NIL opportunities.

“You have to show either that the person has received an internationally recognized award, which of course you’re not going to get as a high school basketball player,” Maldonado said of the O-1 visa application. “And when they say that, they mean like an Academy Award, a Nobel prize, etc., or you show three alternative evidentiary criteria and you have to establish that the person is in the top percentage of their field.”

Enmanuel, who has partnered with companies such as adidas, Gatorade and T-Mobile, is one member of a select class of college athletes who were born in another country who could receive approval for an O-1 visa.

“I mean, it’s not zero, but it’s not a lot,” Maldonado said.

Later in October, Maiorova tweeted that she received approval for another extraordinary ability petition on behalf of an international athlete.

The NIL Education and Information Center’s Oliver Luck and Bill Squadron

Former West Virginia quarterback and athletic director Oliver Luck and former president of Bloomberg Sports Bill Squadron plan to release the first report from the NIL Education and Information Center in 2023. The NIL Education and Information Center was incorporated in September 2020 with the goal of providing a centralized, anonymized database of NIL deals.

The NIL Education and Information Center has received a mixed response with some agents and attorneys, in particular, expressing doubts, if not concerns, about the nonprofit corporation.

Arizona State‘s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Elon and Salesforce are also participating in the program. Squadron is an assistant professor of sport management at Elon.

“You see a lot of anecdotal information and individual headlines here or there about a supposed deal,” Squadron told On3 in July. “I think there is really a need for a systematic, empirical, objective way to understand how the market is operating. That’s the goal of this initiative.”

While individual schools and third-party companies that provide NIL marketplaces or technology sporadically release big-picture data from NIL deals, there’s often a lack of clarity in the NIL landscape.

“The goal will be to provide both privacy for individual deals with accuracy for how the market is operating,” Squadron said. “What I mean by that, the idea will be to present it in a way that’s anonymized in aggregate but broken down by various categories so people can have an understanding of how it’s operating by a particular sport or by a particular conference.”

For the NIL Education and Information Center to achieve its founders’ stated goals, it will take tremendous buy-in and trust from athletes, agents, leaders of NIL collectives and executives of third-party NIL companies, many of whom have a contractual obligation, desire or incentive to keep the details of NIL deals private.

Kansas Director of Athletics Travis Goff

After Kansas football coach Lance Leipold led the Jayhawks to their first bowl game since the 2008 season in just his second season, he signed a contract extension through April 2030.

Kansas Director of Athletics Travis Goff makes this list because Leipold’s latest contract is potentially the first coaching contract to include a clause regarding athletes’ NIL opportunities.

The clause states, “Athletics endeavors to make good faith efforts regarding name, image, and likeness with the aspirations to achieve a nationally competitive program by engaging boosters and supporters in a manner consistent with any applicable laws and regulations.”

The NCAA’s latest NIL guidance has given universities and their coaches and administrators explicit permission to promote their associated NIL collectives. Several attorneys have pointed out that the NIL clause in Leipold’s contract has several terms that are vague or open to interpretation.

With NIL specifically referenced in Leipold’s contract, which kept a desirable coaching candidate at one of the most historically downtrodden Power 5 programs, will Kansas’ institutional approach to NIL look different than other Power 5 institutions in 2023? If so, how?

In November, Kansas released a strategic plan that included specific, measurable goals related to NIL.