In 2021, student-athletes were finally allowed to get paid for their name, image and likeness, also known as NIL. This came after years of the NCAA earning billions while athletes had to go pro to profit from their talent.
Three years later, NIL continues to shake up the sports world, with some athletes making millions.
Former NFL player and Georgia Bulldogs running back Keith Marshall is the co-founder of ‘The Players Lounge’, a platform for student-athletes to create content and grow a fan base to attract NIL deals.
“I do think it’s important for kids to take control over their brands, make sure that they’re cultivating the right type of persona externally. The way they engage with fans, the way they engage with brands, the way they carry themselves on social media,” said Marshall.
He added that some of the students who work with his company are very outgoing, unlike when he was a freshman running back in Georgia.
“I wasn’t somebody that would have been on Instagram … but my roommate would have been the exact opposite. He would have been on everything,” Marshall noted. “It’s been very interesting to see the way that different kids are leveraging the opportunity that NIL opens up and how they’re engaging with it.”
Big names like the recently drafted college athletes Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have garnered NIL deals worth over a million dollars. While their peers may not be generating the same income off of NIL, Marshall notes, it shows that the floodgates are starting to open for young athletes.
Last year, the NCAA generated nearly $1.3 billion in revenue and garnered record viewership and attendance numbers for its March Madness basketball tournament, according to the company.
And for the first time ever, the women’s title game had more viewers than the men’s, averaging over 18 million viewers on ABC and ESPN.
As more people tune in to watch these games, Marshall says he wants to find a way for student-athletes to engage with fans directly.
“The whole ‘New Media’, and what it means to me, is really direct to the consumer,” said Marshall, who uses his some of his own NFL experiences to drive his business.
“I intimately understand what it’s like to be a college athlete. I understand the journey of these kids. I have credibility because I have relationships in this space … it’s like the perfect place for me.”
