“When people see athletics, they don’t think being involved with the community is part of that. They think it’s just covering sports.”
For Bianca Miceli, Assistant Director of NIL and Community Outreach at UW-Madison, it’s much more than that, and she’s determined to correct any and all misconceptions you may have.
When you think of college football, you may think of the action on the field, the roar of the crowd, and the excitement of competition.
But what about what happens off the field? Modern athletes also need to stay on top of the marketing deals, endorsement contracts, and sponsorships that they can now pursue thanks to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) laws.
And behind those deals is someone like Ethan Weinstein.
For years there has been a debate circulating the college athletics world about whether student athletes should be allowed to get paid while playing for the school.
Today, the side in favor of paying the athletes has won the debate as Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals have skyrocketed.
NIL deals can include endorsements for certain products or brands, social media posts, promotions of brands, camps and clinics hosted by an athlete, and many other opportunities.
A lot of people have differing opinions surrounding NIL rules and how that plays out for colleges, coaches, players, the NCAA, and simply, college sports as a whole.
It’s interesting to look at and examine whether NIL rules impact players negatively or positively and whether players support or don’t support the change. Coaches display their opinions, and fans have their own opinions, but let’s look at the sole beneficiary of the NIL rule: the athletes.