Several states around the country will allow college athletes to start profiting off their names, images, and likenesses (NIL) in ways that have previously been prohibited by the NCAA.聽State laws in places like Florida, Georgia and more than a dozen other states (many of them with big time college athletic programs) all take effect on July 1.
College athletes in Maryland will be able to profit off their NIL in 2023.
But simply giving an athlete the right to monetize their own brand doesn鈥檛 automatically mean they鈥檒l be able to do so. In some cases, their personal social media accounts will make it easier to reach that big audience, and in other cases it might be a detriment.
Currently, professional and college teams have a whole staff working behind the scenes, studying 鈥渓ots of really complex analytics,鈥� said Tammy Clegg, an associate professor at the University of Maryland鈥檚 College of Information Studies. 鈥淭hen they have these deep understandings of how to tell stories and how to do the things that will actually maximize the impact of social media marketing and helping athletes to establish their brand.鈥�
鈥淎 media team is going to be doing extensive analytics every time they put out a post,鈥� said Clegg. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e collecting lots and lots of data about what times of reactions 鈥� what times of hits and things like that they鈥檙e getting so they can maximize the effect of the posts that they鈥檙e making.鈥�
Some athletes will be more engaging and capable of sharing a story naturally and authentically better than their teammates. But even then, a lot of behind the scenes stuff involved in that branding stays behind the scenes even to the athletes who are involved in the social media content produced by the schools they鈥檙e playing for.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of ways that the university helps the athletes with that now when it鈥檚 for the university,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey already have extensive media support. They have media specialists on each team that travel with the team and help them to interact and develop some of these skills. But they often are shielded from some of the more technical aspects that they鈥檙e going to now need if they want to manage their own social media brand.鈥�
Those assets, not to mention sophisticated cameras and other equipment, as well as someone who has plotted out a storyline already may not always be available to players. That鈥檒l be especially true in those moments that are bound to occur when a team鈥檚 branding and goal might not always align with the image that a particular athlete is trying to promote.
Clegg said athletes will need to understand this is one more responsibility that will primarily be foisted upon them.
鈥淭hey already have full time jobs 鈥� they already have really two full time jobs,鈥� said Clegg. 鈥淭heir academics and their sports by itself, so it鈥檚 a lot. I think they鈥檙e going to be well poised to take advantage of it, but we鈥檙e going to really have to understand how to help them do that.鈥�
But what about athletes on teams that carry lower profiles? The audiences built in to big time football and basketball programs and the athletes who play on them will naturally give them an edge in building an audience. But Clegg said there are advantages for athletes on what are considered 鈥渘on-revenue鈥� generating teams.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be easier and harder in some ways,鈥� Clegg said. 鈥淓asier in the sense that they鈥檒l have more room to sort of experiment and try things out and get it wrong and then perfect it, right? Whereas an athlete who is on one of the high profile or high revenue generating teams probably won鈥檛 have those opportunities. As soon as they share something, they鈥檙e going to have a wide viewing audience.”
鈥淭hat can be advantageous, because you have the numbers,” Clegg said. “But if you鈥檙e still developing that skill to understand 鈥榳hat do I want to share, how do I share it, what are the analytics behind it, how do I maximize it?鈥� 鈥� then I think that鈥檚 going to be more challenging that you鈥檙e going to have to do that in the public eye.”
