Colorado star Travis Hunter inks NIL partnership with United Airlines

Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter is already in Heisman Trophy contention.

Now he’s added an NIL partnership with an airline company. The former Five-Star Plus+ recruit has signed an endorsement deal with United Airlines, he announced Thursday afternoon in an Instagram post.

Full terms of the deal were not disclosed. He will be featured in advertising and social media spots for United throughout the year, along with promotion from his accounts. United previously partnered with USC quarterback Caleb Williams.

The promotional video features Hunter helping check luggage, taxi an airplane, help passengers board a plane and hand out snacks.

“Man, this guy is everywhere,” a passenger says. Hunter quickly replies, “Tell me about it.”

The United commercial comes a year after Deion Sanders said Colorado needed to put a hot tub on a plane for Hunter. United followed up by tweeting a picture of a hot tub on a plane.

“I don’t know how many snaps (Travis Hunter) played, but we’ll put a hot tub on the plane for him to make sure he’s straight,” the Buffaloes head coach said after the 2023 season-opening win over TCU.

Hunter finished the 2023 regular season playing 1,032 total snaps, finishing with 57 catches for 721 yards and five touchdowns. On the defensive of the ball, he tallied 30 total tackles with three interceptions.

Showing up in 2025 NFL mock drafts as a top-five pick, he opened this season with seven catches for 132 yards and three touchdowns last weekend. On the defensive of the ball, he tallied three total tackles.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Travis Hunter (@db3_tip)

Travis Hunter’s massive NIL brand

Five years ago, for example, Travis Hunter would be catching national headlines for his standout season. Thanks to name, image and likeness, the two-way star is monetizing his publicity rights.

His social media following has seen a notable uptick over the past two seasons, now sitting at more than 2.3 million. Beyond Instagram, X and TikTok, however, he’s built a major YouTube page. With more than 367,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, he can profit from the videos he posts. His coach also runs a successful YouTube page, managed by Deion Sanders Jr. and named “Well Off Media.”

Past the YouTube success, Hunter has long-term contracts with the Michael Strahan Brand, Actively Black and NXTRND. He’s tapped into his fishing hobby through NIL, inking deals with WaterLand Co., KastKing and Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits. Most recently, he’s worked with companies like JLab, Celsius and Rock ‘Em Socks.

The cornerback and wide receiver is repped by SMAC Entertainment and Constance Schwartz-Morini.

Hunter holds a $2.7 million On3 NIL Valuation. The valuation is No. 3 in college football. It is also No. 4 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value

While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career.