The NIL Revolution: How it’s changing College Football

Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights have become a huge thing for athletes in College Fooball. These rights allow athletes to profit from their personal brands which had previously been forbidden. 

Having been approved as policy in July 2021, NIL-related laws have been introduced across many states, with the NCAA, amongst other groups, calling for federal NIL laws to be introduced.

It is seen as vital for the athletes though who perform to such high levels and provide their colleges with huge sums of revenue while not being eligible for any financial reward before turning pro. Millions are also spent on college football lines every season as the NCAA is immensely popular across the United States with football fans.

These rights have now given the athletes the chance to earn through endorsements, social media work as personal appearances outside of their college setting. 

NIL Pushes Colleges to Pay Athletes

Colleges, especially successful ones in the NCAA, have profited incredibly from their college stars, especially their football programs. This has led to their financial successes, which players have, over the years, grown to resent more and more. College football players know the importance they have on their college’s financial stability and have increasingly grown more vocal in their desires for reward.

In 2024, history was made, with the NCAA and its five power conferences agreeing to allow schools to pay their athletes for the first time in the more than 100-year history of college sports.

A revenue sharing plan has been agreed in which schools will be allowed to share up to $20 million per year with its athletes. This is a huge figure which athletes will feel is more than expected from their side.

College Football has provided the platform for future NFL superstars for generations, but as the league grows its worldwide reputation, the sport is played more and more globally. While the quality of coaching will remain a long way off outside the United States for now, it will continue to improve. Offering college athletes payment for their work, it will help continue to make the college football route the most important system in which players can prepare themselves for the rigours of the NFL.

Player Recruitment after NIL Rights

If you look back over time, the biggest and most successful college programs are able to attract players through their facilities, legacy, and the promise of success as a team. All of this would have helped athletes put themselves on the NFL watchlist and provided them with a career that comes with life-changing sums of money.

The NIL rights policy looks set to change how recruitment athletes are able to promote themselves and earn in smaller colleges, which may provide them with a better setting for the early stages of their careers.

Looking at it from the other side, the powerhouse colleges will look to ensure that their programs help to enhance an athlete’s personal brand and marketing capabilities.

It is something which will affect how colleges approach and target athletes for their programs, as well as how athletes will consider their path in football.

Are the NIL Rights good?

We will have to wait to see how this all pans out, but there are some positives as well as areas to be cautious about at present.

Let’s start with the positives. With the massive revenues colleges have made from athletes who have been unable to receive any financial reward, profit sharing seems fair. With the number of supporters in the stands for gameday, college football players can play in front of crowds as big, if not bigger, than most other professional sports.

Football players put their physical and mental health at risk through the demands on them as athletes at such a young age, and they should be able to manage their own rights rather than allow others to profit off of them.

On the other hand, there needs to be some caution about how this affects athletes in college. All of a sudden, the hierarchy changes within the dressing room. Coaches will need to prepare how they deal with the locker room throughout the year.

Athletes will need to be prepared to deal with the differences in financial revenues amongst friends and teammates. Jealousy can arise and players with better abilities at marketing coud earn more than players who are better on the field. 

Questions will aslo be answered on how this affects players performance academically compared to their efforts on the pitch. A divide could be even more noticeable in those who are aiming for the NFL and those who will know they are destined for a different career. Will players put up with the potential riches of their teammates and continue to play rather than devote their time to their studies.

We are in the early stages, and adaptations and laws will be introduced as we learn more about how NIL rights will affect the future of college sports.