NCAA Launches Platform for Transparency on NIL Deals: Will Athletes and Agents Join the Call?
The NCAA’s new name, image and likeness transparency platform, NIL Assist, went live Thursday morning, offering anonymized information about NIL compensation as well as a directory of service providers and educational programs.
The app and website, created in partnership with Teamworks, create for the first time a public database-like platform where athletes and the public can find average and median earnings for NIL deals, sortable by division, sport, position and type of NIL transaction. The goal is to show, for example, what a Power 4 quarterback earns on average for a social media post — on Thursday morning, the website data dashboard reported that the average disclosure under these parameters was $6,605, but the median was $150.
Here’s an example from the NIL dashboard, which shows that the average NIL deal on social media for a P4 QB is $6,605, but the median is $150.
(The NCAA stressed that the data will become more accurate as time goes on and more information comes in.) photo.twitter.com/LvIM3KikpT
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 1, 2024
In January, the Division I Council adopted new rules requiring athletes to notify their schools of any NIL agreement worth more than $600, including the terms of the deal, services rendered and payment. The schools must then share the information, stripped of names, with the NCAA at least twice a year. More than 20 states already require similar disclosures.
“We’ve heard from coaches, student-athletes and their families that they want some information about what the market is yielding, and we think making that public is the best way to do it,” said David Schnase, the NCAA’s vice president of academic and membership affairs. “There are going to be people who want a lot more information than this is going to provide, but this is at least a starting point for people who are trying to figure that out.”
While athletes are required to disclose their NIL deals, there is no clear penalty yet for failing to do so. NCAA officials stressed that this database will not be used as a trap for eligibility and is for informational purposes only. The Division I Council added an incentive in April, allowing schools to offer more NIL assistance to athletes who disclose their NIL deals.
“That student-athlete can choose not to disclose, but then they can’t take advantage of institutional assistance related to NIL. So we think there’s a carrot at play,” Schnase said.
Free daily sports updates straight to your inbox.
Free daily sports updates straight to your inbox.
Officials cautioned that the data is incomplete at launch, but will improve over time as more information is fed into the system. They also acknowledged concerns about conflicts of interest with Teamworks, which has its own NIL management service.
“We are treating this partnership as an individual endeavor,” said Kevin Barefoot, senior vice president of business development at Teamworks. “We are not taking any data from this project and using it in other commercial forms. This is a collaborative project with the NCAA that was specifically focused on delivering to schools and student-athletes what they requested and voted on with the NCAA bylaws.”
In addition to NIL data, the NIL Assist platform has a voluntary service provider registry for agents, brands, collectives and products. Officials hope that providers will sign up so athletes can find more connections or see past work, which could help other athletes find an agent in the future.
When The Athletics Earlier this summer we interviewed officers and collectives about the registry, and several said they would not sign up, wondering what its value or impact would be.
“It’s mixed, which is what we expected,” Barefoot said of the enrollment numbers. “Some people have said they feel good about the access and visibility among student-athletes. … Perfect is the enemy of good here. If we can get to a point where there’s more information available to student-athletes to understand the marketplace and the service providers, that’s a great outcome.”
GO DEEPER
What does the future hold for NIL collectives after the House of Representatives v. NCAA settlement?
The disclosure of NIL data could play a role in the recent House settlement proposal, which outlines the idea of a clearinghouse to monitor contracts and the possible creation of an enforcement arm to determine the fair market value of NIL deals and whether they are true NIL arrangements. Collectives have already questioned the legality of that practice, and it is unclear how that would play out if the settlement is approved.
“There are a lot of things going on outside of what we can control with this platform,” Schnase said. “So while this platform is not going to affect those outcomes, when the board starts making decisions, we will have pretty good data to help them make informed decisions. That’s the most important part of this outlook. … I wouldn’t specify the (House ruling), but there is an active lawsuit that is affecting a lot of our decisions right now.”
(Photo: Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
