NCAA's NIL deal database showcases earning power for Power Four women athletes

Even in its most basic form, the NCAA’s NIL Assist data dashboard – which was unveiled two weeks ago and includes aggregated NIL deal data – offers a gold mine of interesting insights.

That’s especially true when it comes to women’s sports.

The public database – which does not identify athletes by name and school – injects some transparency into a three-year-old NIL space that has been defined by a lack of reliable transaction data. That transparency has been a priority for NCAA President Charlie Baker.

The information displayed in the database as of Sunday includes data submitted by members who elected to share their data from the 2023-24 academic year. Beginning Aug. 1, it includes self-reported data from active Division I institutions and Division II and Division III schools that sponsor a Division I sport as required by NCAA bylaws. 

The real-time data dashboard will obviously change over time, as more information is disclosed. The aggregated data has identifying information removed but illuminates trends. It includes the valuable ability to sort by a multitude of filters, including subdivision, sport, player position and type of NIL deal.

And even if it’s still in its infant stage, some indicators about the health of the women’s NIL market are revealed.

What does women’s sports NIL data reveal?

Here is just a sampling of some of the interesting insights gleaned from the data reported from Jan. 1, 2024, through Sunday:

• The data reveals that 22.7% of reported NIL deals in Power Four women’s sports come from basketball, followed by a reported 18.5% in softball. Volleyball comes in third with 15.2% of the reported deals, followed by soccer at 12.8%, lacrosse at 12.3% and gymnastics at 5%.

• At the Group of Five level, 29.4% of the reported deals are from women’s basketball, 21.4% are from softball and 18.5% are soccer athletes. The rest of the women’s sports are well under 10%.
  
• The reported data for women’s sports indicates average Power Four athlete earnings are $7,947, the average disclosed value is $554, and the median value is $55.

• The average reported earnings from the Group of Five female athletes the money-making potential of playing at a top conference school. Group of Five women athletes reported an average earning of $1,425 through NIL deals, the average disclosed value is $230, and the median value is $50.

• As expected, all of these earning totals pale in comparison to Power Four football and men’s basketball players who reported an average earnings of $88,495 with an average disclosed deal value of $9,054 and a median value of $500.

Women’s basketball leads way with big NIL deals

• However, when football and basketball are removed from the data, women athletes compare quite favorably to male athletes. For example, the average earnings for Power Four male athletes outside of football and basketball is $5,566. That’s $2,381 below the Power Four women’s average total earnings.

• With the huge growth of women’s college basketball over the past year and massive NIL stars like Paige Bueckers, Flau’jae Johnson and Juju Watkins returning, it’s not a surprise to see the reported average total earnings for Power Four basketball players at $16,222.

• But for NIL deals involving social media – which is a huge driver for women athletes and brands – the reported total average earnings jumps to $28,077 and an average of $6,752 per disclosure in women’s basketball. Camps and lessons are another big driver for women’s basketball players with reported average total earnings of $35,285 and a median disclosed value of $5,000. Women’s softball players reported total earnings of $4,976 off social media and an average of $841 per disclosure.

College brand experts agree the numbers make sense – especially with the recent ratings success in basketball and softball. Consequently, most project we’re going to only see NIL opportunities expand for women athletes in the 2024-2025 school year.

Additionally, thanks to the new database, we’ll able to better monitor the growth in real-time.