By TARA OWEN, Senior Reporter
For Northwestern Men’s basketball player, Cameron McDowel,l a name, image and likeness deal began early.
While a freshman at a Division 1 school, he received his first NIL a paid partnership with Dodge.
This was a time that he was able to learn about business and NIL as a freshman. Getting his first ever NIL deal months after NIL was approved.
NIL refers to the legal rights of individuals controlling how their image is used for promotional purposes.
College sports refer to it in the way that athletes can now receive financial compensation just for the use of their name, image, and likeness.
“As a freshman and receiving an NIL deal that large, I felt like I was on top of the world,” McDowell said.
Years later he continues to receive NIL deals throughout his athletic career.
“They [his current NIL deal] had been to a couple of games and felt like I was the one they wanted to give NIL to, and I was thankful for that,” McDowell said.
NIL got approved through the NCAA in July of 2021, just months before McDowell’s first NIL experience.
For the first time in the history of college sports, players could now benefit from their name, image and likeness alone.
Signing autographs, selling apparel and corporate partnerships are all forms of NIL.
However, previously any form of favoritism or payment was not allowed in any college sports.
“We have around 10 to 15 students receiving NIL, none of those are anything big or large contracts,” said Gretchen Jones, assistant ahletic director of compliance.
For Northwestern students, the NIL options may be limited, the Division 1 schools have seen a much larger change and impact on the teams.
As for Northwestern, the changes might not be visible now but are coming.
“As I look at that, NIL hasn’t changed Northwestern Athletic, as it hasn’t changed most of the Division 2 schools,” said director of athletics Brad Franz.
For a smaller Division 2 school, the athletes have the community to rely on.
Whereas some larger schools do not have the community atmosphere.
“This community is by far the best I have ever been in,” McDowell said. “This is a community that is extremely hands on, they really care about us at Northwestern.”
For Northwestern students athletes like McDowell, he explained how thankful he is to be able to receive benefits for attending a smaller school.
“The students that are recruited here are wanting a small-town feel, and some of them come here and think they can go somewhere else and get a better deal, when in reality it was better here,” Jones said.
Not only is that seen as an advantage for Northwestern, but also the community.
For students like McDowell, the community is able to provide financial benefits that larger schools will not offer from the community, along with more scholarship opportunities for the student athletes.
“The community has donated tons of money toward Northwestern athletics throughout the years but not necessarily just towards NIL, “Franz said.
However, many times donations go toward the whole program or school, not individual students. Where NIL gives the opportunity for individual athletes. According to Sports Epreneur website, one of the pros to NIL is the financial empowerment that comes with this program.
“I think NIL is a good thing for the athletes, as it gets them more involved in the community because they have to get themselves out there and out of their comfort zone,” Jones said.
NIL has provided life-changing amounts of money to college students, just in the few years it has been around.
While some people think that NIL was long overdue and deserving to the students, others think that this is a loss of passion and will lead to irresponsible decisions, along with many other problems in the future.
“A lot of people get really angry about the NIL, but really what has gone on is just the money is bigger… “ Franz said. “Personally, I don’t have a problem with it.”
According to Sports Epreneur website, 98 out of 100 top NIL ranking receiving students are either football or basketball players. Along with an unclear balance of men and women sports.
Another concern in the future for NIL is that the students receiving large sums of money at such a young age could become a distraction.
Along with the fact that there is more pressure to perform at a higher level.
However, one of the most common forms of NIL is paid partnerships.
“For a small community like us, the NIL we see most of, it’s businesses trying to get their name out there, so they will use the college athletes for social media post and little things like that,” Jones said.
In Northwestern’s case, some see a disadvantage because students might be thinking they could receive more NIL in a larger town, which causes more transfer students and changes.
In the future, some athletes may not receive their degree if credit hours are not accepted at each institution.
“The con of NIL is these athletes are always going to be thinking they could be doing better somewhere else, or get more money somewhere else,” Jones said.
In some cases, with larger NIL deals, these students are taking away time from their academics and athletic obligations to fulfill NIL deals.
Academics and their athletic obligations should be their main priorities.
According to SportsBusiness Journal, in 2024, Catlin Clark, a women’s basketball player made over $3 million from NIL, and there were others who made much more than her.
Bronny James, a men’s basketball player made $4.9 in NIL deals in 2024.
He also had NIL deals with Nike and Google.
In 2023, more than 58% of NCAA student athletes were on scholarships, not including NIL deals.
In 2022, NIL had only been around for a year, and 17% of college athletes were receiving NIL deals.
As NIL is still considered new, the future of it is uncertain.
“I think the NIL is a great opportunity for students, but there again,” Jones said. “I don’t want to see them chasing that when their education should be what they are chasing.”
