College hunks cashing in on their NIL

 College HUNKS Hauling Junk. Yes, this is a real company which is now partnering up with collegiate athletes. If you’ve been following the exploding NIL deals, Miami QB D’Eriq King just partnered with College Hunks Hauling Junk moving company out of Florida. NCAA NIL era is evolving every day as we see more and more brands partnering up with collegiate athletes. NIL is still new territory open to interpretation. I am most interested in apparel brands competing for athlete partnerships. 

Let us take for example, University of Miami. In 2012, Miami partnered with Adidas in a 12 year deal estimated to be at around $6.55 million a year (although the exact amount has not been confirmed since Miami is a private institution and not required to disclose financial details) which is currently one of the most lucrative apparel deals among collegiate teams. (Nike was the previous partner with Miami and declined to match the Adidas deal). This means, that all U of M athletes are outfitted with Adidas apparel. I have seen their uniforms, especially the track ones, and they are 🔥 

With NIL now opening up the flood gates for athletes to benefit off their NIL, what happens when brands such as Under Armour want to partner with say QB King? Will such a deal be permitted since U of M already has a deal in place with UA competitor Adidas to outfit their athletes? Time shall tell. This determination will also depend on State NIL laws (New York does not have its own NIL laws as of the date of this post). Florida does have its own NIL laws and according to their laws, in pertinent part, a collegiate athlete may not enter into a contract for compensation for NIL if the terms of the contract conflicts with terms of the athlete’s team contract. Let’s break that down. If, for example, the U of M’s contract with Adidas contains terms/language that its athletes may not wear, display, or endorse any other brand during play (on the track, on the field etc), then the individual athlete must only wear Adidas while in play. However, unless the terms of the University’s contract with Adidas states otherwise, there is nothing in the contract language prohibiting an individual athlete from entering into a partnership deal with UA if they only wear and endorse the apparel out of play, and promote on Instagram, Twitter and so forth. I wonder if apparel brands will attempt to tailor the terms of their contracts going forward to include language prohibiting athletes from partnering with competing brands. I do not think this approach will fly very well in this new NIL era. Some universities have been supporting and pushing for NIL laws and therefore likely will not agree to such confining contract language. Importantly, SCHOOLS CANNOT SOLICIT NIL OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEIR ATHLETES! Curious to see how this all plays out.