What Is NIL In College Football?

NIL stands for Name, Image, and Likeness. It’s the NCAA set of rules that allows college athletes to profit from their personal marketability. 

Large-scale NIL rules went into effect on July 1, 2021.

NIL can be utilized by NCAA athletes from any sport. LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne is a compelling example of how an athlete can use their own personal charm and marketability to maximize their personal financial benefit while in school.

 

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However, NIL has become particularly relevant in two hypercompetitive places: college football and men’s college basketball, the traditional revenue sources in NCAA sports.

Historically, it was against NCAA rules for athletes to make any kind of money, even if it came from a marketing deal that had nothing to do with their sport, team, or status. NIL changed that.

The most famous NCAA athletes have little trouble signing regional or even national marketing deals. 

 

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For the remaining 99.9%, NIL collectives – systems that help recruits and future athletes build NIL branding deals – can help rank-and-file NCAA athletes craft marketing deals with local partners to cash in on their celebrity and status. 

Schools and alumni groups that install NIL infrastructure can gain a major recruiting advantage. Thus, NIL has become a way to indirectly pay NCAA athletes. 

NIL has also paved the way for the 2024 House settlement, which will formally end the longstanding amateurism model and allow schools to directly pay NCAA athletes via a revenue-sharing agreement. 

When college football players get paid directly, it’s unclear what will become of the NIL landscape.