The name, image, and likeness of college athletes has been a topic of discussion for several years, and with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Alston Case in 2019, it was ruled that the NCAA cannot “restrict education-related compensation benefits for student-athletes”.
This ruling has opened a whole new world for collegiate athletes, and many have questioned how the landscape of college recruiting will change with NIL deals. However, as time passes, it becomes clear that the same schools continue to get the best prospects, and highly ranked schools pre-NIL continue to dominate in rankings.
With the nation’s number-two high school basketball prospect, Justin Edwards, committing to Kentucky on Monday, Duke and Kentucky have the highest ranked recruiting class of 2023—the expectation before and after the NIL rules were passed. While recruiting is still in process, Duke has already had four commitments from five-star prospects, while Kentucky has three, and no other school has more than one five-star commit.
The continued popularity and recruiting success of Duke and Kentucky post-NIL may lead some to believe that committed players have an advantage in receiving deals if they attend these schools. This, however, is untrue, and some of the biggest NIL deals in men’s college basketball thus far come from Drew Timme (Gonzaga), Anthony Hamilton, Jr. (Chicago State), and Hercy Miller (Tennessee State). Anthony Hamilton, Jr. had several hundreds of thousands of followers on social media platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram, while Miller is the son of rapper Master P.
These deals go to prove that larger NIL deals may depend more upon the following and platform these athletes had before entering college, rather than the actual college they are committed to or choose to attend. Considering many high-ranked collegiate hoopers choose to attend college for one year and then make the move to play professionally, it is likely that they choose a powerhouse school like Duke or Kentucky which have a legacy of producing NBA players and can help them get to a bigger stage. Bigger NIL deals may not be a primary focus when the promise of a hefty NBA contract or larger brand deal seems to be only a few years away.
The University of Kentucky initiatives to support athletes in their NIL deals and handle possible opportunities for their student-athletes. In December 2021, The University of Kentucky announced a partnership deal with The Virtus Brand, an independent player management company that could help manage NIL funds of all twenty-nine of the university’s sports programs. The partnership hopes to bring guidance to student-athletes, while also establishing the “15 fund” which would distribute NIL funds received by the university. [1] University of Kentucky’s policy also outlines that students may receive money for in-person appearances, social media posts, and media appearances. However, students may not endorse products or services related to nicotine, gambling, adult entertainment, athleisure, or services providing higher education. In addition, students may not skip school or team events to participate in promotional events or endorsement-related activities. Students may have agents for matters dealing with NIL only. [3]
Duke has less information regarding supporting student-athletes with NIL opportunities, however, they have clearly outlined what they can and cannot participate in. They allow students to post sponsored content on social media platforms, make appearances in commercials for products or services, appear in tv advertisements and obtain professional representation (lawyer, agent, advisor) to aid in the payments and use of NIL. However, Duke student-athletes cannot have an agreement without quid pro quo, cannot be compensated based on athletic performance, be offered compensation contingent upon attending Duke, endorse services/products related to gambling, or engage in NIL activities during team-related activities. Duke also requires that student-athletes receive school approval before using school trademarks or images associated with the university.
A little over a year after the Alston case, and the resulting adoption of NIL rules by the NCAA it has become clear that change was not as drastic as many expected. While these changes have brought large deals to select athletes, it has not changed the way incoming college basketball players choose which team they play for. Duke and Kentucky continue their reign over recruiting and even with the retirement of Coach K and the ever-changing NCAA, it seems that these schools have built a recruiting powerhouse with too big a sway.
