Nebraska's Jaz Shelley promotes dates she can execute NIL deals

Jaz Shelley made the decision to return to Nebraska for a final season last month.

The guard is arguably the top player on the Cornhuskers’ roster. She led the team in scoring last year. She’s experienced, spending two seasons at Oregon before leaving for Nebraska. She averaged more minutes per game than any other player, too.

The choice to return to Lincoln obviously makes competing in the Big Ten a tad easier for Nebraska. Facing Caitlin Clark twice a season isn’t ideal.

Shelley’s commitment also gives her time to actually monetize her NIL. Unlike most college athletes, she isn’t able to easily execute an endorsement contract with a local Lincoln business or quickly make a post on social media for compensation. An Australian native on a standard F-1 visa, there are limitations on the types of income visa holders can earn.

She announced Monday across her social media channels she is open for business. The basketball player is traveling back to her homeland from May 25 to July 1 where she will fulfill deliverables for brands, both inside and outside the United States. To make sure she does not hurt her visa status, she’ll have to post the content when she is not in the U.S.

The 5-foot-9 guard made it clear for businesses to reach out to her on social media or through her Opendorse profile. A first-team All-Big Ten selection last season, she has nearly 140,000 total social media followers. There’s not much doubt businesses will want to partner with her.

“What she has to be careful of doing is the actual work of endorsements: posing for photos, posting on social media, promoting products, that kind of thing,” said Amy Maldonado, the principal attorney at the Law Office of Amy Maldonado LLC. “But just informing the public that she’s going to be available to do deals and photoshoots and whatever, I think that’s fine.”

Shelley could earn work visa

A vocal advocate for international athletes’ rights, Maldonado’s practice focuses specifically on immigration law. Most U.S. visa regulations have not been updated since 1986, a few of them since 1996. Current student visas explicitly bar athletes from working while studying and playing in the U.S. There are around 20,000 international athletes at high schools and colleges across the nation who are in the same bind. 

Maldonado was able to assist Dominican Republic native Hansel Enmanuel receive approval for an O-1 visa, which gives him the ability to pursue NIL deals in the U.S. through his newfound work authorization.

She believes Shelley could earn a work visa, which would allow her to profit of NIL in the states, because of her on-court success and social media fame.

“She’s on an unfair playing field,” Maldonado said. “I think Jaz Shelley would be eligible for a work visa based on the fact she’s a star. But, it’s interesting, we’ve been contacted by a variety of universities. The universities, at the end of the day, don’t want to get involved in finding attorneys to do the work around cases for athletes. It’s really on the individual athletes to find a lawyer to try and figure this out.

“This is somewhere that an NIL collective could step in.”

Visa change has path on Capitol Hill

Lawmakers have put some pressure on the Department of Homeland Security recently to revise visa regulations. U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats from Connecticut, sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas las month asking for DHS to provide guidance and updated regulations to allow international athletes to exercise their name, image and likeness rights similarly to their American teammates.

Murphy and Blumenthal have been two of the most vocal members of Congress when it comes to issues related to college athletics and expanding the rights of athletes through potential legislation. Murphy co-authored the College Athlete Economic Freedom Act, one of a handful of federal bills involving college athletes’ NIL rights. Blumenthal also introduced the College Athletes Bill of Rights last summer.

New NCAA president Charlie Baker, and the Power 5 conferences, have collectively taken their own approach to their strategy and lobbying, are turning to members of Congress as they lobby for the future they want. Limited NIL opportunities for international athletes is an issue which could require a federal solution.