THE JUMP he days of the student-athlete compensated only with a college scholarship are gone. This fall, when you see Desmond Ritter throw a touchdown pass or Paul Scruggs hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, you’re likely seeing a student-athlete-entrepreneur at work. College sports’ new NIL rules (that stands for name, imagine, and likeness) allow and therefore encourage amateur athletes to do what their universities have done for decades: Make money. “I’m all for it,” says Greg Christopher, Xavier’s athletic director. “Why was it that a talented student who maybe played in the Xavier band could play in a garage band or at a weekend wedding and get paid, while a student athlete couldn’t do anything to make extra money without losing eligibility?” The changes came rapidly as politicians and even the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the unfairness of a system that awarded universities millions in ticket sales and TV contracts while the athletes winning those games couldn’t even accept a free Coke from an admiring fan. That all changed July 1, when the NCAA threw up its hands and adopted the NIL rule. State legislatures and governors followed up quickly with some rules of the road, but most of what happens next is up to the individual athlete and the universities they play for. For a while, says John Cunningham, athletic director at the University of Cincinnati, it’s going to be the “wild west” in college sport—a capital market governed not just by athletic prowess but, perhaps as importantly, social media presence. “When we think of the NIL now, we naturally think of that high-level athlete and, certainly, that’s going to impact them in a very positive way,” he says. “But I think, too, of the high-profile student athlete who’s a big thinker and who knows how to market themselves through social media. The ones that put sweat equity into this and think it through are going to benefit too.” Xavier tennis star Ahmeir Kyle, with more than 13,000 Instagram followers, was signed by Western & Southern Financial Group shortly after the NIL went into effect to cut a TV commercial for the W&S Open. She readily acknowledges it’s her social media presence, not her fierce forehand, that enhances her marketability. She believes Western & Southern and other companies she’s contracted with are attracted by her multiplier effect. “When I post for them, almost everyone who has reached out to me has thousands of followers, so that gains a great audience [for the companies I endorse],” says Kyle. Like many athletes, she’s mostly been paid in gift cards or free clothes from the companies she’s represented, though W&S did pay her cold, hard cash. Christopher and Cunningham agree it will take a few years for the NIL market to sort itself out and for them to see the impact on recruiting and athlete retention. In the meantime, both Xavier and UC have placed guardrails around their athletes endorsing companies that sell sexually explicit products, performance-enhancing drugs banned by the NCAA, and tobacco or promote gambling.
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MARKETING
GETTING PAID ON CAMPUS How Xavier and UC are handling the new name/image/likeness rules for college athletes. —JOHN STOWELL
18 REALM FALL 2021
I L LU S T R AT I O N BY M AT T J O H N S T O N E
