Advice For U: Knowing Your Worth in NIL Deals

• Listen to all potential opportunities and partnerships with an open mind.
• Be sure the deal is benefiting you as much- if not more- than it is benefiting the company.
• Don’t underestimate (and don’t overestimate) your worth in a deal. Be realistic or else you risk losing $$$

Would you take a couple hundred dollars to do a phone interview, pose for pictures, or write a tweet? If you are like most, the easy answer is yes.

However, time and again over the last 75 days offers of NIL deals like these have been countered for amounts stretching far beyond what one would consider “fair market value.” Some may wonder why a student-athlete between 18 and 21 years old would ever turn down compensation for approximately thirty minutes to an hour of their time. In many cases, the request is a simple social media post. The answer is simply because too many athletes perceive their market value is far greater than what it realistically is.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of  student-athletes are not going to be racking up hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of dollars because of who they are as an athlete.

Bryce Young, Gable Steveson, Quinn Ewers, the Cavinder twins, and others are extremely rare examples of athletes who will accumulate big time wealth strictly off of who they are and what they do.

For the other 460,000+ NCAA student athletes across the country, there are countless opportunities to work with a variety of people, companies, and brands that are also wanting to partner with you and provide opportunities. Most of these NIL deals will come in the form of social media postings, signing of merchandise items, or becoming an ambassador of their company. The compensation for the deals will likely range from three to four figures, and in some cases could come in the form of free products or services. There are thousands of opportunities like these available in the marketplace for student-athletes. But these deals are being tarnished because too many athletes have an inaccurate view of their realistic market value.

Too many times the support system of family, girlfriend/boyfriend, high school coach, etc. are trying to persuade athletes and influence their decisions in regards to potential opportunities. Unfortunately, they are are not marketing experts. They love you and believe you are the very best, but don’t allow their influence to remove potential money and opportunities from the table.

My advice would be to listen to all potential opportunities and partnerships with an open mind. Always be sure the deal is benefiting you as much, if not more, than it is benefiting them. There is a fine line between knowing the nature of a deal and knowing what you are worth. Be sure you understand both and go elevate your brand!

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