NIL: Sport-by-sport breakdown in compensation, activity through December 2021

Opendorse on Thursday released compensation data on the first six months of NIL deals in college athletics, dating back to July 1, and the leading conference — in both total compensation and total activity — is the Big Ten.

Through Dec. 31, the Big Ten conference appears to be leading the way in both total activity and total compensation.

Total activity, which quantifies the number of overall NIL deals, is led by the Big Ten conference, followed by the Big 12 in second, the ACC in third and the SEC in fourth. Four Power Five conferences lead the pack, but three other conferences — the AAC, MAC and Mountain West — all come in between six and eight, leading non-Power Five conferences.. Rounding out the top 10 in total activity is the Big East and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

Total compensation, by comparison, represents the overall monetary value associated with the NIL deals, which paints a slightly different picture. Again, the Big Ten leads the way, but the No. 2 and No. 3 spot is much different than total activity — instead, it’s the Big East and AAC that follow the Big Ten in total compensation through December. At No. 4 and 5, it’s the SEC and Big 12, and the rest of the top 10 includes the ACC, Pac-12, Sun Belt, Mountain West and MAC.

From a sport-by-sport outlook, the top-four sports in both total compensation and total activity are the same. Football leads the way, with 45.7% of total compensation and 33.8% of total activities, followed by women’s basketball in total compensation (26.2%) and men’s basketball in total activity. The top five sports, in order for total NIL compensation through Dec. 31 are football, women’s basketball, men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and baseball. On the other hand the top five sports, in order for total NIL activities through Dec. 31 are football, men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, baseball and men’s track and field.

Through six months of NIL deals, the top activity the top activity for receiving compensation is signing something, like memorabilia, which makes up for 24.1% of activity. Posting content, on the other hand, is barely behind at 23.2%, followed by licensing rights with 22.3% and creating content with 13.8%.

How NIL deals affect college athletics

According to Auburn’s first-year head coach Bryan Harsin — whose Tigers team signed a plethora of NIL deals — it’s difficult to decipher whether the introduction of NIL deals might affect a team’s focus.

“I think the assumption is how much that affects the locker room — it’s hard to tell right now,” Harsin said. “Just as far as this being so new. Don’t really have an answer for you on that. But I think eventually you’re gonna see some things will come out of this, and hopefully it’s good. Some of the things that will come out of it that are negative, we’ll probably learn as the season goes on. 

“Make adjustments as we go, and figure out what’s the best way to use this model so we can still develop players. They can have an experience and we have really good people surrounding them while they’re here in the program.”

Whether NIL deals affect a team’s focus might be up for debate; less so, however, is the fact that the Name, Image and Likeness era of college athletics is heavily impacting the recruiting world.

“Prospects in basketball and football say the ability to land endorsement deals is shaping how they go through the decision-making process,” On3 Sports’ Jeremy Crabtree said previously.

“Both recruiting analysts and college recruiting coordinators say prospects talk with each other about NIL opportunities,” he continued. “NIL has brought about a seismic change in recruiting, and it leads to some pressing questions for those involved in the recruiting process in both sports.