NIL AT 3: The Annual Opendorse Report

To celebrate the anniversary of NIL, Opendorse has released its third annual industry report: NIL AT 3.

Since July 1, 2021, the total projected NIL market has exploded from $917 million in 2021-22 to an expected $1.67 billion in 2024-25 – with no signs of slowing down.

And while the 2021 rule change was transformative in its own right, college athletics is set to encounter yet another seismic change one year from now. The NCAA and its power conferences unanimously supported the motion for settlement of the House, Hubbard, and Carter cases, agreeing to a framework for revenue sharing, allowing institutions to directly pay millions of dollars annually to their student-athletes. There are questions as the settlement looms, but one thing is clear: the market for college athlete payments is growing.

Early projections point to the total NIL market exceeding $2.5 billion in the first year of revenue sharing. The vital role of collectives will undoubtedly evolve, including recent trends toward marketing agency and in-house models, but their importance will not diminish. Likewise, commercial NIL deals have experienced significant growth and will play a crucial role in the post-settlement era.

Colleges are already preparing for the future by developing budget caps, understanding their athletes’ fair market value, and aligning with their collectives. Opendorse is actively working with its college and collective partners, leveraging new products for budgeting and fair market value assessments, gleaned from 12+ years of industry leadership and $250 million in real NIL transactions.

About the NIL Report

This year’s report delivers the most in-depth look into NIL to-date. With 165+ never-before-published datapoints, we’re excited to provide next-level insights into this constantly evolving market.

KEY FINDINGS

• The collegiate NIL market is projected to grow by more than 40% this year, with an overall estimated market spend of $1.67B
• The collegiate NIL market is projected to eclipse the $2B mark in tandem with the highly anticipated revenue sharing slated for the 2025 academic year
• In the commercial segment, Women’s Basketball is in the number two spot for total compensation, second only behind Football
• By 2025, Top 25 NCAA DI quarterbacks can expect to net more than $1.3M annually when factoring Scholarships & Benefits, Commercial NIL, Collective NIL, and Revenue Share payments
• Competitive collective budgets within Power 4 conference are up 50% YoY, amassing to a war chest of $13.9M
• Realignment will result in power conferences experiencing on average a 19% change in NIL dollars
• National businesses account for 59.8% of compensating parties in commercial NIL activity and deliver 81.0% of commercial NIL compensation

ALSO IN THE REPORT

• As the popularity of female athletes continues to rise, the projected NIL market spend for women’s sports is 1.15x greater than last year’s figures (pg. 4)
• Collectives continue to dominate, accounting for 81.6% of all NIL compensation in the market (pg. 5)
• In the collective sphere, Baseball has solidified itself as the third most compensated sport, leapfrogging Women’s Basketball and Women’s Volleyball (pg. 5)
• Annual expected earnings for Football (+33%), Men’s Basketball (+72%) and Women’s Basketball (+85%) are all on the rise YoY
• Top earning Women’s Volleyball players can expect to receive nearly 90 commercial NIL deals and 11 collective deals per year (pg. 7)
• Athletes who have transferred or are currently transferring earn 1.7x more compensation annually than non-transfer peers (pg. 8)
• Athletes who have agent representation earn 5.3x more compensation annually than non-represented peers (pg. 8)
• On average, top college athletes’ expected annual earnings are 35.3% of pro league salaries – with the exception of Women’s Basketball where Top 25 NIL earners average $10K+ more than the median WNBA salary (pg. 9)
• 33.9% of collective deals are sent on a bi-weekly cadence, mirroring stable payroll behavior (pg. 10)
• >55% of top spending collectives finished Top 20 or higher in overall athletics success (pg. 11)
• 15.2% of commercial NIL activity is driven by multimedia rights (MMR) holders (pg. 12)
• Leading brand categories in commercial NIL include Technology (16.9%), Apparel & Accessories (14.2%), and Non-Profits, Charities, Associations (9.9%) (pg. 14)

About the Dataset

Since our launch in 2012, Opendorse has established itself as a leader in data reporting and market insights. Opendorse’s role in the ecosystem has uniquely positioned the company in ownership of the industry’s largest dataset, including at least one active student-athlete using Opendorse at 98% of NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA membership institutions. Altogether, Opendorse insights encompass 150,000+ athlete users, $250M+ in NIL compensation, from 100,000+ NIL activities.

Additionally, this report was produced in collaboration with The Collective Association (TCA). Formally established in July 2023, TCA is a trade association comprised of 40 of the top collectives across the NCAA Division I landscape. Throughout the report, unless otherwise noted, datapoints shown represent compensation amounts for NCAA Division I student-athletes based on actual NIL transactions disclosed through, or processed by, Opendorse between July 1, 2021, and June 7, 2024.