NIL deals could be a boon for pro leagues

The NCAA’s 2021 NIL rule change that gave college athletes the go-ahead to profit off of their names, images, and likenesses came with plenty of implications for brands and, of course, athletes.

But there’s another player in the game: leagues. The policy has potential positive impacts for them as well, according to NIL experts, especially women’s leagues and smaller ones looking to expand their popularity.

Follow me: Jeff Ehrenkranz, COO at sports marketing agency Allied Sports, said pro women’s leagues stand to benefit significantly from athletes joining with preexisting relationships with fans and brands.

• “Those women athletes coming out of college where they had commercial relationships already will bring those relationships and those followings to the professional leagues,” he told Marketing Brew. “We already saw it coming out of [Women’s March Madness] and the draft for the WNBA.”
• This year’s Women’s March Madness broke viewership records, and when the WNBA Draft happened not long after, it was the most-watched in almost two decades, according to ESPN, with 572,000 viewers, up 42% year over year.

Matt Hochberg, who doesn’t work specifically with college athletes, but represents pros in women’s leagues like the NWSL for brand deals, said NIL has contributed to increased brand interest in emerging leagues by giving them a more easily accessible way to try out sports marketing for the first time.

“Then they come to realize, ‘Oh, there’s this entire world of all these amazing athletes who may not be star NBA players or star NFL players, but are athletes, and we can work with them, and we can afford them,’” Hochberg said.

League marketing: While brand deals might not hold the same level of social currency as Livvy Dunne rizzing up Baby Gronk, they certainly don’t hurt in raising an athlete’s profile.

• For one, athletes are going pro with more knowledge of how to market themselves, according to Parker Cain, VP of talent marketing at Excel Sports Management.
• Leagues also use athletes in their marketing, which can be easier to do with those who have previous “brand exposure that only makes [them] that much more marketable as a new face,” according to Joe Caporoso, president of sports and entertainment media company Team Whistle, which also has an internal agency that pairs brands with creators.

Take USC quarterback Caleb Williams, for instance, who’s widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He’s already done deals with and appeared in commercials for brands including AT&T, Beats by Dre, and Neutrogena: “He’s not going to be some unknown that you’re now trying to put on a poster for Sunday Night Football or Monday Night Football,” Caporoso said. “Everyone’s gonna know who he is.”