NIL Deal for a Freshman Footballer with a Frosty Name
College athlete name/image/likeness (“NIL”) deals have been in the news since the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) announced in 2021 that it would remove its longstanding prohibition on athletes monetizing their personal brands.
And, since “name” is literally the first word in NIL, here’s one to remember: DeColdest Crawford.
Crawford, a freshman wide receiver for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team, garnered millions of views for a video ad for SOS Heating & Cooling, an Omaha-based HVAC company. The ad features a play on Crawford’s first name, promising to give customers “de coldest” air conditioning.
Both the “name” and the “likeness” in NIL can also be registered as trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with a U.S. trademark registration providing benefits to collegiate athletes in both licensing and enforcing personal marks used in NIL deals.
Turns out this Cornhusker is just one of many in the new NIL world. Here are some of the reasons:
– The athletes capitalizing on NIL aren’t limited to the biggest names on the field. While Crawford looks like a solid player, the NIL deal was based on his name, not his current on-field skills at Nebraska, since he is injured and has yet to play a game this season. Similarly, athletes throughout the country are monetizing NIL based on non-sports factors like social media presence.
– For the most part, men bring in bigger deals. But not always. Sticking with Nebraska, the Cornhuskers volleyball team was the 2021 NCAA Division I runner-up and setter, Nicklin Hames, recently inked a deal with adidas. Still, by and large, women make up far fewer of the NIL deals. One report stated that nearly three-quarters of NIL deals in NCAA Division I involve male athletes.
– NIL platforms abound. Platforms have sprung up to connect athletes, schools, and brands. One of the big players in this space, Opendorse, was founded by former Nebraska football teammates Blake Lawrence and Adi Kunalic. Opendorse, which originally managed personal brands for professional athletes, pivoted into the collegiate world with the NIL rule change.
– Alumni are getting into the game. NIL collectives, often made up of alumni and other supporters, have formed to help groups of investors invest in current athletes. The latest of these in Nebraska appears to be Big Red Collaborative, a nonprofit collective co-founded by former Huskers kicker Kris Brown that reportedly plans to help athletes with financial literacy while they earn private funding for promoting charitable organizations.
It seems that Nebraska is a pretty cool place for NIL. Some might even say it’s DeColdest.