College athletes change women sports for better

In 2021, College Sports was flipped upside down as athletes were granted the ability to make money from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). The passing of this bill was an overnight economic change that people young and old had hope for, as there are countless inhumane stories of college athletes unable to eat because of lack of funds, blackmail, and some unable to fulfill their dream of playing college sports because they had to choose between sports and supporting their family.
It was widely known that players were paid and compensated under the table by schools for their commitment and loyalty. Those same players were trapped and blackmailed, as any news of their dealings behind closed doors could erase or dampen their professional careers. Cases like Reggie Bush, Johnny Manziel, and many others are examples of what punishments were in store for people who accepted money for something as simple as signing autographs or accepting merchandise from stores to prompt. Now, that is a thing of the past, and college and high school athletes are paid for their hard work.
Men’s sports were off to the races, but coaches, experts, and players alike involved with Women’s sports wondered if there would be the same appeal and draw for their sports and players. It didn’t take long for that question to be answered. “I could now see why athletes, before the passing of NIL legislation, would have a hard time choosing between social media and their sport,” says Chloe Mitchell, a volleyball player at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich. In December 2020, Mitchell took advantage of the NAIA’s move to allow NIL payments 10 months before the NCAA did, and the do-it-yourself TikTok star became what’s believed to be the first college athlete to earn NIL money. “It gets to a point where you make massive decisions on where your time and money is best spent.”
“Through the first year and a half of the NIL era, women’s sports holds six of the top 10 highest-earning sports by NIL compensation,” stated Opendorse President Adi Kunalic. Opendorse, a company that supports student-athletes with marketing and endorsement deals, also reports on the success of NIL opportunities.
Following the introduction of NIL rights, collectives began to emerge and quickly spread. NIL collectives, as defined by the IRS, are “structurally independent of a school, yet fund NIL opportunities for the school’s student-athletes.” Essentially, such collectives raise funds to “create opportunities for student-athletes to leverage their NIL in exchange for compensation.”
Former LSU and WNBA Chicago Sky star Angel Reese is the face of women’s NIL as she leveraged her skills on the court and personality off the court to secure a 1.8 million dollar value in NIL while in college. “Everybody knows the WNBA doesn’t make that much money, so I just want to grow my brand as much as I can in college before I go to the WNBA,” she told Sports Illustrated in a 2023 interview. “I’ve done so many photo shoots. I’ve done so many commercials. Being able to pitch those things with the team I have now, is going to help me when I graduate and decide to go to the WNBA.” According to ON3, Reese has landed deals with companies including Goldman Sachs, Beats by Dre, Tampax, Reebok, AirBnb, Playstation, and Amazon.
“I love that the brands want to work with us and continue to want to work with us,” Reese shared with VIBE. “I want people to know the deals don’t stop in college. When you go to the pros, they continue, and I feel like they’ve grown even more.”
While women’s basketball at the collegiate and Professional levels garnered new attention due to Angel Reese and Catlin Clark performing at high levels as rookies, gymnasts also benefited from NIL and the personality of their star athletes. Simone Biles led the charge for gymnastics on the Olympic level, but Olivia Dunn and Jordan Chiles are the faces of the sport at the collegiate level. “For women’s athletics, there’s not a lot of professional leagues after college,” Dunne says. “So being a woman and being at the forefront of this NIL stuff means the world to me.”
Dunne also mentions in an interview with ESPN that finding balance is the biggest challenge to her life post-NIL. “It’s a lot of work,” Dunne says. “It’s all about balancing when I can make the ads. I practice, I have school and now work is thrown in. I carve out certain times of the day when I make time to [create content]. I’ve learned a lot about time management.” Dunne has over 13 million followers across social media and current NIL is valued at 4 million. She is the highest women NIL earner and second highest overall.
Chiles was a national brand before attending UCLA as she was part of the 2020 Olympics gymnastics team that won silver and has been part of the National team since 2013. She has deals with Reebok, Pottery Barn Teen, DoorDash, Urban Outfitters, GK Gymnastics, Gymshark, Amazon, Sofi, Degree, and many others. She also participated in the first-ever NIL Summit and was named Breakthrough Athlete of the Year. Chiles’ brand deals will rise as she earned a bronze medal in individual competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, her first medal working solo.
One of the new faces of college women’s sports is USC freshman phenom JuJu Watkins. Watkins has been on a blazing career path since high school, finishing as the number one ranked player, and was named Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Watkins became the first high school star to sign with Klutch Sports for NIL representation, and she was one of the first players to sign an NIL deal with sportswear and sneaker giant Nike. She also has landed deals with Lids, Celsius, Morgan & Morgan, Cash App, and a partnership with House of Victory, a USC-focused collective. Currently, Watkins is ranked 12 in NIL valuation at 433k, but that number is expected to rise once her sophomore season begins with the Trojans.