Top 5 On3 NIL Valuations heading into 2023 NCAA softball season

Opening weekend has arrived for college softball. And the season starts with plenty of top-ranked teams competing in top events like the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla.; the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, Calif.; and the Black and Gold Classic in Orlando.

While female student-athletes in gymnastics and basketball have dominated the headlines during the first two years of NIL, brands have discovered there’s a loyal following in the world of softball. Companies understand there’s a benefit to doing NIL deals with the top softball stars. Plus, collectives have ponied up to ensure star players remain at their respective schools.

With that in mind, here’s a look at the top five in the On3 College Softball NIL Rankings heading into the 2023 season.

No. 1 Montana Fouts

School: Alabama
Position: Pitcher
On3 Women’s NIL 100 Ranking: 24
On3 NIL Valuation: $146,000

Outside of Tiare Jennings, Montana Fouts is the most widely known name in college softball. And Fouts has earned that recognition for her performance on the field. She’s a three-time NFCA All-American, three-time NFCA first-team All-South Region pick and a three-time All-SEC selection. Oh, yeah, she’s also been picked twice to the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament team.

Fouts has a massive social media presence of more than 367,000 followers, and she has been active through NIL. She has hosted a pitching camp and partnered with The Athletic Collection, Diamond Kinetic, Fan Jolt, Bama Stuff, Cameo and others. Fouts also recently launched her own YouTube channel.

All of this has helped her grow her On3 NIL Valuation to $146,000, a number that will surely climb if she has more success on the field in 2023.

No. 2 Maya Brady

School: UCLA
Position: Utility
On3 Women’s NIL 100 Ranking: 42
On3 NIL Valuation: $71,000

Maya Brady is one of the biggest names in softball, on and off the diamond. On the field, she was named an NFCA first-team All-American (2021) and is a two-time All-Pac-12 pick (2021, 2022). Brady was named to the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament Team in 2022 after leading the Bruins with a .438 batting average, seven RBI and two home runs in Oklahoma City.

Brady became the first Bruin since Rachel Garcia to hit two home runs in a WCWS game when she left the yard twice against No. 1 Oklahoma in game one to force an “if necessary” game later that day. During the 2022 season, Brady had a .339 batting average and was second on the team with 15 home runs and 53 RBI. Brady was also a member of Team USA in the 2022 Japan All-Star Series.

Brady has some amazing athleticism in her family. Her mother was an All-America pitcher at Fresno State. Plus, her uncles are seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and two-time World Series champion Kevin Youkilis.

With her success on the field and more than 82,000 followers on social media, Brady is building one of the best NIL brands in college sports. She’s already executed deals with Sprouts, Wescom Credit Union, American Eagle Outfitters and Champion. Plus, she’s also represented in NIL dealings by powerhouse agency WME Sports.

No. 3 Jordy Bahl

School: Oklahoma
Position: Pitcher
On3 Women’s NIL 100 Ranking: 44
On3 NIL Valuation: $62,000

Jordy Bahl took the college softball world by storm as a freshman at OU. She was a 2022 NFCA first-team All-American, NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year, Big 12 Freshman of the Year and the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Year. Bahl had a 22-1 record, 205 strikeouts and a jaw-dropping 1.09 ERA with 14 complete games. She was a big reason the Sooners won the 2022 national championship and has three more seasons left in Norman.

Bahl has also been a star in NIL dealings. She has an On3 NIL Valuation of $62,000, more than 85,000 followers on social media and a long, long list of executed deals. For example, she’s worked with Cameo, Glad and Scooter’s Coffee, and she’s also signed a partnership with Crimson and Cream, the OU-focused collective.

Since she’s just getting started in her career at OU, NIL insiders believe she’s in line to become the face of college softball, and that surely will translate to more deals down the line.

No. 4 Grace Lyons

School: Oklahoma
Position: Infielder
On3 Women’s NIL 100 Ranking: 46
On3 NIL Valuation: $57,000

Grace Lyons arrived at Oklahoma from Peoria, Arizona, with a strong resume of accomplishments on the high school and club level. She immediately made an impact at Oklahoma and has broken or tied a long list of school records during her first four seasons at OU.

In 2022, she was named to the USA Softball Women’s National Team, was an NCAA Woman of the Year nominee, an NFCA first-team All-American, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, a first-team all-league pick and a finalist for national player of the year.

With more than 63,000 social media followers, Lyons has been active on the NIL front, executing deals with Resilient SFBL, Devon Energy, Chinook Seedery and others. That’s helped her boost her On3 NIL Valuation to $57,000 – a number that should climb with more success in her “super senior” season.

No. 5 Kinzie Hansen

School: Oklahoma
Position: Catcher
On3 Women’s NIL 100 Ranking: 59
On3 NIL Valuation: $46,000

Kinzie Hansen was named to the 2022 USA Softball Women’s National Team. In 2021, she was named to the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament team, and was an NFCA second-team All-American, a first-team all-region pick and the Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding player.

Hansen, an All-American candidate and four-year starter, posted via Instagram Wednesday that she “had a little mishap with my appendix yesterday.” That means she will miss No. 1-ranked OU’s trip this weekend for the five-game Mark Campbell Invitational. She battled through multiple injuries last season to help the Sooners repeat as national champions with a 59-3 record. Hansen batted .273 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs.

She has been active with NIL deals so far with Homeland Stores, D1 Players Society, Blast Softball and others. She also has a NIL partnership with Crimson and Cream. If she rebounds from the setback and past injuries, she could easily see her On3 NIL Valuation climb in the 2023 season.

About the On3 NIL Valuation

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV).

A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation establishes the overall NIL market and projected 12-month growth rate by measuring two categories, Brand Value Index and Roster Value Index.  

The Brand Value Index measures the national licensing and sponsorship market. The Roster Value Index collects data from all school Collectives into a proprietary Roster Management software. Brand Value and Roster Value are combined to create the overall NIL market.

Using the overall NIL market size, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s Brand Value and Roster Value by using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories:

+ Performance
+ Influence
+ Exposure

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. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.

The On3 NIL Valuation is publicly available. Performance, Influence, and Exposure ratings along with the athlete’s personal Brand Value Index and Roster Value Index are available only to the athlete in the “Athlete Verified” private dashboard on the On3 Athlete Network.