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V O L . X X X I I N O. X I V J U N E 2 9 , 2 0 2 6 10 H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N / P RO F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T F O C U S W hen college basketball star Cash McClure wasn't scoring points for the Bentley University Falcons, the Readfield native was making money from his branding side hustle. By the time he graduated this May, McClure had landed deals with nine different businesses for use of his name, image and likeness, or NIL, in social media posts and promo- tional appearances. Clients included a Gardiner-based wealth management firm that capitalized on his fitting first name to promote financial literacy and a mental performance coach that paid him to improve his free-throw shooting. While the $17,000 income from those deals is a fraction of Cooper Flagg's estimated $4.8 million NIL value during his year at Duke University — Maine's most famous modern-day athlete is now playing for the Dallas Mavericks in a four- year, $62 million NBA contract — the extra income has come in handy for McClure. e experience also gave the 23-year-old business and economics major a grounding in entrepreneurial skills and useful sponsor contacts as he launched youth basketball clinics and camps in his home state. Without ruling out a pro career later on, McClure has this advice for today's college athletes who want to turn their personal brand into dollars: "Get started as soon as you can and jump on any opportunities presented to you," he says. Speed matters in a landscape changing faster than University of Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning of football's famous fam- ily throws a pigskin in a commercial for Warby Parker eyewear. Manning tops NIL values ranked by sports media firm On3 at $4.8 million, with WNBA rookie Flau'jaye Johnson of the Seattle Storm leading the women at $1.5 million. Sports marketing expert Dan Lobring expects the emerging "super- star economy" to put more dollars in players' pockets. "For elite quarterbacks and athletes with national appeal, $5 million-plus valuations will likely become more common as NIL programs, sponsor- ships and performance measurement continue to become mature," predicts Lobring, of Chicago-based Stretch PR. In Maine, personal branding is gaining traction on a much smaller scale as athletes and schools adapt to new economic realities, five years after an NCAA rule change that triggered a "gold rush" of NIL deals nationwide. e University of Maine has also joined other schools in the NCAA's Division I paying athletes directly under a year-old revenue- sharing model that's being tested in the courts. Athletes courting brands While colleges have been award- ing scholarships to athletes since the 1870s, it wasn't until 1956 that the NCAA allowed them regardless of academic ability or financial need. Fast forward to 2021, when the NCAA allowed NIL compensation for student-athletes, sparking a wave of endorsement and appearance deals. Fans and alumni also began form- ing independent collectives to help student-athletes at schools of all sizes find paid opportunities. As a sports branding expert who founded Pliable Marketing in 2021, Greg Glynn has had a front-row seat to the advent of professionalism in collect sports. Game changers 2026 college graduate Cash McClure, who scored several branding deals during his time at Bentley University, is back in Maine hosting youth basketball clinics. Maine athletes, schools navigate the new economics of college sports B Y R E N E E C O R D E S P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Amateurism is over. — Greg Glynn Pliable Marketing

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