Hartford Business Journal

12 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 26, 2021 Cashing In Agents, lawyers, marketers see opportunities, unanswered questions in NCAA's name, image or likeness policy change By Zachary Vasile zvasile@hartfordbusiness.com N ew rules allowing college athletes to profit from the use of their name, image or likeness could turn out to be a mixed bag for sports agents, lawyers, marketers and others in Connecticut looking to snatch up a piece of the new market, with industry insiders pointing to a long list of legal uncertainties and likely meagre earnings for all but the most elite college players. Less than a month after the NCAA dropped its long-standing ban on compensating players beyond scholarships, experts largely agree the change will not automatically open up a cash spigot for most athletes or their representatives. But that doesn't mean the so- called "NIL" sector is devoid of opportunities, especially for local sports agents, law firms and others looking to educate players about their options, and young people who may be interested in forming and growing a marketable brand on social media during their four years on a college team. In Connecticut, star athletes on the high-profile UConn men's and women's basketball teams could be the biggest financial winners of the policy change, although colleges across the state are implementing policies around the new rules, in case their student athletes choose to participate and potentially cash in. "The average student athlete is not going to make a ton of money," said Jason Belzer, managing partner of Student Athlete NIL, a company that will help pair brands with college athletes. "That said, this is going to be a nine-, ten-figure industry, and over the next few years, they will be getting more of that." Paydays will depend not only on a player's skill on the court or field but on their social media followings, which will determine their leverage with advertisers. Most college athlete-level marketing will likely be done through sponsored posts on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, mirroring the methods of long- established influencers. The archetypal example of that hybrid star athlete and social media presence could be Paige Bueckers, the UConn women's basketball point guard and winner of numerous national player of the year awards. Bueckers has around 863,000 followers on Instagram and over 335,000 followers on TikTok, which, according to sports marketing platform Opendorse, could translate to $382,000 in advertising earnings per year. But if she ultimately opts to cash in on NIL deals, the windfall that awaits Bueckers will be the exception, not the rule. "It will be culled down to a small number of kids who could make a lot of money," said Joe Linta, a veteran NFL agent and president of Branford-based JL Sports. "If these are above-board transactions, in most cases, [advertisers] are going to look at a student athlete's followers on Instagram and Twitter and maybe pay them $500 to tweet about their product." One example would be a restaurant in a medium-sized college town paying a locally-prominent player a few hundred dollars to take a picture or film a clip promoting their business. These types of social media-based advertisements — not glamorous endorsement deals with Nike or Adidas — are probably as far as most college players, even some exceptionally talented ones, will ever go. And the competition for those opportunities, at least beyond small- scale local promotions, could be fierce. Casey Muir, senior director of football at Stamford-based sports and entertainment agency Octagon, noted that marketing budgets for most industries have not increased. "These athletes are coming into it and they're going to be fighting for the same slice of the pie as the professionals and the influencers," Muir said. A profusion of small deals, in which companies hire a large number of athletes to promote their products or services and pay each relatively little, has left advertisers holding all of the cards, according to Muir. "A lot of brands are clearly winning the value battle as compared to individual athletes," he said. He also worries about the language folded into NIL agreements, including provisions that indemnify the partnering brand or give companies ownership of the content players PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Now that college athletes can profit from the use of their name, image or likeness, UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers' 863,000 Instagram followers and over 335,000 TikTok followers could translate to $382,000 in advertising earnings per year, according to sports marketing platform Opendorse. Jason Belzer Joe Linta CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | UCONN

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