In the modern era of college sports, it’s hard not to run into the phenomenon that is NIL.
NIL, or name, image and likeness, is how the NCAA has legalized paying collegiate athletes. Since June 30, 2021, they have been allowed to benefit financially from their personality and brand in the new digital age.
This sounds great for the athletes; however, there are still naysayer fans, whose negativity stems mostly from the misconceptions of NIL.
The most prominent misconception is that athletes have money thrown at them for no reason. LSU’s associate athletic director of NILSU, Taylor Jacobs, said this is the farthest thing from the truth.
“The reality is businesses are still looking for that return on investment for them, and they are still really making sure that whoever they do work with will be, one, a good representation of their brand, and two, somebody that would be valuable for them to actually utilize in marketing services,” Jacobs said.
This leads to another common misunderstanding: it is not hard work to profit from your NIL, which Jacobs said is especially untrue.
At LSU, the goal is to help athletes build their individual brand, which means assisting them in displaying their truest, most authentic selves on social media.
Jacobs describes it as another level of support that LSU offers its students, this time specifically for athletes. Like a regular student has access to resources for academics and health, athletes also have NIL resources to help build their brand.
Jacobs’ job is to help athletes determine what their brand is and which businesses they want to align with or partner with. For many, it takes intentional effort to produce consistent content that aligns with their brand image.
“[An athlete] might sit in my office and tell me, ‘My faith is really important to me, my friends are really important, my family is really important to me,’” Jacobs said. “But on your social media, maybe you’re posting things that don’t show that.”
Another reason NIL can be so upsetting for fans is that teams with more television coverage are more highly sought after.
While there are still deals available for athletes in smaller sports, if a team is more likely to win a national championship and bring it back home to local businesses, the athletes on that team are more likely to secure sponsorships.
“When we talk to the athletes about their brand, the biggest thing that we remind them of is that now they’re on this larger platform in competing for LSU,” Jacobs said. “So they have more eyes naturally on them, especially if they’re in a sport that has a major television broadcast.”
The larger the platform, the better the athlete and the more marketable they are, the better.
“If somebody’s watching a broadcast and they hear something or see something about a player, they’re going to look them up on social media to see what kind of person they are on and off the field,” Jacobs said. “They may or may not decide to follow them because they’re fans.”
Another large misconception is that athletes have always been directly paid by schools, which was not true until June 6, 2025. On that day, a vote allowed universities to pay their athletes directly.
Before then, it was entirely up to school sponsors and other outside brands to create deals with collegiate athletes.
There’s more to it than being paid to play. It involves countless hours of learning how to edit and produce brand-approved content, while balancing a full course load and an athletic schedule.
Jacobs said athletes learn how to be “on” all the time, so there’s never a moment that they could lose a brand deal.
It’s all of these things that make NIL more than just buying athletes for top schools. Every day, businesses must prioritize their employees’ wellness, even if that means letting go of an athlete.
“You’ve got to think of it kind of like a third-party marketing agency, in the sense of we’re talking to businesses,” Jacobs said. “We’re helping them understand the value of NIL and the value of these student athlete partnerships, but they’re still seeking that return on investment.”
