You’ve probably heard the term NIL when you’ve heard people talk about college sports, but do you know what it really means?
It stands for “Name, Image, and Likeness,” and allows players to earn millions of dollars while still in school.
Ahead of Saturday’s Apple Cup, KIRO 7’s Eric Thomas explored what it all means for the University of Washington and Washington State University as both schools compete to keep up.
“Unfortunately, for a lot of cases… schools of WSU’s size and stature, it’s become a keeping up with the Joneses scenario; that we have to be creative," said Tim Brandle, treasurer at the Cougar Collective.
Corporate sponsors and big boosters have always been hanging around college campuses, but now, with the evolution of NIL, they’re legally here to stay.
“Everybody’s trying new and unique ways to attract talent and retain talent. And, make sure that they’re staying ahead of it,” said Brandle.
The Cougar Collective is Washington State’s volunteer-run NIL program, founded in 2022, partially to help lure Quarterback Cam Ward from the Football Championship Subdivision’s (FCS) Incarnate Word program over to WSU.
Brandle explained, “That’s how we were formed, basically, like, look, ‘We need to put together a package for this guy, crowdsourcing as many people together… businesses, local businesses, and Cougar alum who came together and put a package together for Cam. And, we were successful! And, then it was like ‘now what’?”
Since then, the Cougar Collective has launched a beer, a wine, a coffee, a cocktail, and a merch store — all to help bolster the athletic department as a whole.
As for the Huskies, a handful of different NIL foundations work in conjunction with the school, including the Boundless Futures program, the Montlake Futures collective, and Dawgs Unleashed.
The mission statement for Dawgs Unleashed reads, in part, “To better support and facilitate opportunities for UW student-athletes to promote partner brands within the NCAA’s structure, Dawgs Unleashed will support students by facilitating connections and endorsement opportunities while adhering to university and regulatory standards.”
Although schools are required to disclose NIL data to the NCAA at least twice a year, the waters are still murky when it comes to the amount of money coming in.
Both UW and WSU are bringing in millions — but they’re still miles behind some of the top-earning schools.
Schools like Texas, Ohio State, and LSU are bringing in more than $20 million — an enticing draw for the nation’s top talent.
Now, groups like the Cougar Collective and Dawgs Unleashed are looking to band together to make sure their schools don’t get left behind.
“That’s the important message: it just takes all of us,” added Brandle.
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