Highest earner, average in July in college athlete NIL endorsements

 Opendorse, which provides technology to the athlete endorsement industry, shared NIL data from the month of July with On3 Sports’ Eric Prisbell.

Opendorse’s data set spans 324 Division I, II and III colleges and universities and includes more than 2,500 athletes who engaged in NIL activity during the first month that they were able to profit from endorsement deals.

Among the insights:

• The average compensation per athlete: $400
• Average compensation for a Division I athlete: $471
• Division II: $81
• Division III: $47
• The median athlete compensation: $35
• Average compensation for a female athlete: $123
• Average compensation for a male athlete: $538
• 46% of all NIL compensation came from social media promotions
• 29% from licensing NIL rights
• 10% from signing autographs
• 6% from making appearances
• 6% from creating content
• 1% from hosting camps
• 1% from selling products to consumers

Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger shared that he learned one athlete earned $210,000 in total NIL compensation in July, though the average compensation among more than 2500 athletes was just $400. The market is proving to be extremely top-heavy so far.

The player is unknown so far.

Dellenger also noted that the market share is heavily skewed towards football players, with 79% of the market share. Men’s basketball came in second with just 9.6% of the market share.

“It’s top-heavy,” Blake Lawrence, the CEO and founder of Opendorse said to Prisbell. “The top athletes are getting a lot, and that is bringing the average up.”

The top 10 percent of athlete earners in July pulled in 93 percent of all the dollars in the market, Prisbell learned.

Notable NIL deals

Nick Saban noted while speaking to Texas high school coaches at Texas High School Coaches Association that Alabama starting quarterback Bryce Young is making nearly $1 million in sponsorships but didn’t provide any specifics.

Other quarterbacks in the south have seen a lot of success too. Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and North Carolina Sam Howell announced endorsements from Bojangles. Uiagalelei also recently announced a deal with Dr. Pepper in August. Auburn quarterback Bo Nix announced a deal with Milo’s Sweet Tea. Perhaps the most successful has been Miami quarterback D’Eriq King. King received a five-figure signing bonus from one business and inked agreements with three more companies. In August, the Florida Panthers announced an NIL deal with King.

Twin Fresno State women’s basketball stars Hanna and Haley Cavinder, who have massive social media followings, announced deals with Boost Mobile and Six Star, among others.