After a California NIL law passed in 2019, the NCAA announced it would restore its athletes’ rights to profit off their name, image, and likeness. But more than a year-and-a-half later, the governing body still hasn’t passed NIL rules.

Meanwhile, the NAIA passed NIL laws in October 2020, and athletes just spent their first year making money.

NAIA’s Blueprint

The NAIA’s rules are much looser than the NCAA’s proposal from November.

For example, they’re much less restrictive on the types of deals athletes can participate in. The NAIA allows athletes to use their school logos, or wear their jerseys, in endorsement deals. That’s something the NCAA wants to prohibit, according to its November proposal.

The NCAA’s legislation would also keep athletes from signing deals with companies that “conflict with NCAA legislation” — like “banned substances” or sports betting entities. Athletic departments, however, currently have sponsorship deals with sports betting operators.

The NAIA leaves that restriction up to individual conferences.

Perhaps the dizzying number of caveats to NCAA NIL rules is why the governing body plans to pay a third-party administrator to oversee and police its deals. The NAIA, meanwhile, only requires that athletes tell their athletic departments about their NIL plans.

The NAIA didn’t respond to FOS’ written interview requests. But athletes all over the NAIA have already successfully made money off their NIL. And, in general, the sky hasn’t fallen.

Unnecessary Complications 

The NCAA wants tight control over NIL deals. But in January, the Justice Department warned that the NCAA’s rules could violate federal antitrust law because they’re too strict, according to USA Today. 

So the governing body claims it can’t pass NIL laws until it receives a decision in the antitrust Supreme Court case, NCAA v. Alston. 

The NAIA has shown it’s possible to write NIL laws that don’t violate antitrust. The NCAA could follow suit, but it’s too concerned with NIL deals going awry — which could result in losing its grip on amateurism.

State-by-State Caveats

NAIA schools could be subject to state NIL laws that don’t specify that they refer only to NCAA athletes. In fact, the NAIA knew it would have to abide by the California law, which is why it changed its rules in the first place.

So while this year may have been simple, NAIA schools may have more specific restrictions if they’re in states where laws have extra caveats.

In December, Aquinas College volleyball player Chloe Mitchell became the first college athlete to profit off her NIL. 

During the pandemic, Mitchell became famous on TikTok for a DIY home project and started signing endorsement deals. When NIL rules took effect in the NAIA, she was able to continue making money.

Mitchell, now one of hundreds of NAIA athletes who can make money off her NIL, currently has almost 3 million followers on TikTok. She told FOS that she recently signed her biggest deal yet: Two sponsored TikTok posts that would make her $18,000.

Leading the Charge

Mitchell doesn’t just profit off her own NIL — she’s helping other NAIA athletes do it, too. She launched a company called PlayBooked, an NIL marketplace connecting athletes with companies looking for endorsers. 

“Some get it right away, get to work, and get paid right away,” Mitchell said. “Others require more hand holding and NIL and athlete influencer education.”

About 450 athletes have signed up so far, half of which have already gotten deals, according to the company. And when NIL state laws take effect covering NCAA athletes, Mitchell plans to open the company up to them.

To understand how simple it is, just look at PlayBooked’s campaign with a company called Smart Cups. PlayBooked connected the company to athletes, who only had to create content talking about the company, get it approved, and post it, Mitchell explained. Then, they got paid $30 through Venmo.

“It is the easiest process in the world,” Mitchell said.

And while $30 may not sound like much, there’s no limit on how many posts athletes can make in their spare time, so the possibilities are endless. And even with a small amount, Mitchell said: “$30 pays for my groceries!”

Any Snags?

In both her own experience or helping athletes through PlayBooked, Mitchell said she hasn’t really seen complications with how the NAIA’s rules are set up.

The hardest thing to navigate was athletes on student visas — who, as of now, can’t profit off their NIL due to immigration law, as FOS previously reported. PlayBooked also had to turn down athletic departments looking to partner, as it’s a conflict of interest to partner with departments and athletes.

Other than that, the NAIA process is smooth. So Mitchell doesn’t believe that the NCAA needs such restrictive NIL rules. 

“I think that the NCAA has had their hands in the NCAA athletes’ business for far too long,” Mitchell said. “My opinion is: Leave the athletes alone.”

After launching NIL rules in perhaps the strangest year in college sports, it appears the program was a success. And it’s also clear that unrestrictive NIL rules can work if done correctly.

What else can the NCAA learn from this? 

Looming Competition

High school athletes are even considering forgoing NCAA Division II or III for the NAIA because of its NIL rules, according to emails Mitchell has received.

It signifies just how much making money means to college athletes.

False Fears

With the change in NIL laws, the NCAA’s biggest concern has been preserving amateurism. 

The NCAA is terrified that unrestricted NIL would get in the way of athletes going to class and studying — that is, more than sports do already.

Mitchell had two responses to that. First, she noted that NIL endorsement posts are easier and quicker for college athletes to make money than many other jobs.

And second, Mitchell thinks NIL actually educates athletes on an important skill: How to grow their personal brands. She’s seen evidence that athletes are more careful about their behavior while in school now that they can profit off their NIL. They fear that an inappropriate post or broken rule could lose them endorsement opportunities. 

“My teammates are now, more than ever, cognizant of their behavior off the court because bad behavior could cost them income potential,” Mitchell said.

Fearmongering

In a Senate hearing last year, Power 5 officials and Republican lawmakers threatened that unrestricted NIL could negatively impact women’s sports. 

They implied that revenue used to fund women’s sports — from men’s basketball and football — may decrease with NIL. (The only way that would happen is if athletic departments competed with athletes for the same sponsorship dollars, and athletic departments lost.) 

If revenue decreased, officials would then cut women’s sports, they said.

They said this, of course, despite the fact that Title IX requires schools to provide equitable women’s sports opportunities no matter how much money a school makes.

Mitchell, as a women’s sports athlete, disagrees with this fearmongering. “I think that argument is very fallible. … There are more than enough donor dollars to go around.”

And either way, women’s sports athletes are now able to catch the attention of brands and make money — undoubtedly a better position than they were in before.