Notre Dame TE Michael Mayer’s On3 NIL Valuation skyrockets to $570,000
On April 26, Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer had an On3 NIL Valuation of $157,000, the highest number on the Notre Dame team. Now, one week later, the star tight end’s valuation has jumped $413,000 to $570,000, an increase of 263 percent.
Mayer now has the 16th-highest NIL valuation in college football, and he is No. 27 on the On3 NIL 100 list, which is composed of college football and basketball players, along with high schoolers playing the sports. The only collegiate tight end with a greater valuation than Mayer is Georgia’s Brock Bowers ($894,000).
The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.
There are a number of factors which impact the valuation, including social media presence. The 6-4, 230-pound tight end has a total of 35,000 followers between Instagram and Twitter. Over the last week, Mayer’s Instagram following has increased 16.6 percent to 27,000, while his Twitter following is up 9.5 percent. His per-post value is around $626.
As we move into the fall, and the hype around the tight end increases when it comes to both Notre Dame and the 2023 NFL Draft, expect his social media presence to increase.
The role of ‘FUND’
Presumably, the massive jump in NIL Valuation is also due in large part to the recent creation of Notre Dame’s NIL collective, aptly named Friends of the University of Notre Dame (FUND).
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The project, which is backed by former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, was announced in April. Notre Dame athletes go through a process similar to a job interview and can ultimately be approved by FUND’s board of directors, which includes the namesake of the business school, Tom Mendoza, along with former Notre Dame football players Pat Eilers and Jason Sapp.
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The select group of athletes are paired with charitable organizations about which they are passionate and are compensated for attending fundraising events, volunteering and promoting the cause on social media. The charities also receive donations from FUND.
The collective is the first at Notre Dame, and its existence gives the Irish student-athletes a higher ceiling when it comes to bringing in NIL money. With the addition of FUND into Mayer’s fold, his opportunities opened even more.
Mayer hosts camp back home
Thanks to the changes in the NIL rules in college athletics, Mayer is able to profit off his name, image and likeness by hosting camps like the one he had last weekend. Alongside his brother, AJ, who is a graduate transfer quarterback at Arkansas State, Mayer hosted the “Michael and AJ Mayer Football ProCamp” on April 30.
For three hours, boys and girls between first and eighth grade could come out to Park Hills (Ky.) Covington Catholic, the Mayer brothers’ high school, and learn from and interact with the two college football players.
In addition to the coaching, the kids got autographs, photos and t-shirts to commemorate the experience.
