By Melanie Baltazar and Jorge Velasquez Soriano
@redlineproject
Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights were reinforced in 2021 after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided in NCAA v. Alston that the NCAA’s restrictions on student compensation violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. After the decision, the NCAA voted to allow athletes to receive compensation based on their NIL, which has changed college athletics forever.
NIL rights refer to a individual’s right to profit from and control the use of their identity commercially. For college athletes, this means sponsored posts on social media, partnerships with local or national businesses/organizations, merchandise, personal appearances and more.
It shifted college sports from amateur to a competitive place where athletes had the chance to market themselves and gain financial independence. It also brought along new pressures.
The House v. NCAA settlement is a landmark legal agreement approved in June 2025 that fundamentally changes college sports by ending the NCAA’s amateurism model, allowing schools to pay athletes directly, and providing nearly $2.8 billion in damages to former and current student-athletes.
Before the passage of NIL rights, college athletes earned no money outside of their school scholarships. They were responsible for paying for housing, transportation, and other academic needs. Especially for students from low-income families, NIL created a way that athletes could earn money to support themselves through university.
College athletes are now able to create their own self-image brands through platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. If their presence is large enough, they could potentially earn sponsorship deals. This could potentially benefit them as they seek to develop a professional sports career after college.
Many states passed new legislation in order to protect student’s NIL rights in universities. Illinois, for example, passed the Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act in 2021. The act protects NIL rights for college athletes, and allows those students to earn compensation from endorsement deals.
Many Illinois schools have NIL protections in place for their student-athletes to make sure that they can participate in partnerships fairly. In Chicago, there are five major schools that have such protections in place for their students: the University of Illinois–Chicago, Loyola University, DePaul University, The University of Chicago and Chicago State University.
At UIC, coaches have embraced the new NIL system. Ashleen Bracey, UIC’s women’s basketball coach, said that because of the new system there has been some changes in how coaches recruit players.
“[There are now] values attached to certain statistics, and so you kind of understand who’s kind of in your range,” Bracey said. “Previously, you might go after anybody and see if it would be a good fit.”
Although it is too early to identify possible issues in recruitment, the new NIL policies do mean that coaches must be more strategic in recruiting than before. While it does make a coach’s job more complex, Bracey acknowledges that the NIL benefits athletes as they can now earn money.
Emily Wollet, a UIC senior associate athletic director, said that money is going to be the issue that many universities may face as the seasons go by. She mentioned that big schools like The University of Alabama have a higher spending cap for these athletes, which may cause limited opportunities for smaller universities like UIC to offer contracts to athletes.
Wollet warned that the NIL will influence how much money is budgeted toward each sport, as the popular ones will be prioritized while the others are left behind.
“Primarily, this is your footballs and your basketballs right now, the other sports you know nationally [being prioritized],” she said.
A study conducted in 2025 by student researcher Thomas Brown helped further see if the NIL is beneficial for universities. Brown found that there was a higher percentage of wins for the basketball team–but not for other sports. The stigma that NIL is meant to buy wins is not true. The findings led him to conclude that NIL works better in some sports than others, working best in basketball.
However, NIL opportunities for all student-athletes are beneficial, the extent simply depends on the team and specific sport. At UIC, the main sports that offer NIL opportunities are men’s and women’s basketball.
Although NIL has a positive impact for the athletes, having good players is not the only thing that will drive a team to success. The coaches play a major role with the player. Brown wrote that NIL works very well if the coach has good experience with players and recruiting. Coaches need to learn how to adapt to change.
“While some universities have capitalized on this new era of collegiate athletics, others have struggled to adapt, despite significant investment,” wrote Brown.
Bracey has learned how to adapt to the new recruiting process.
“My controllables are working with the resources that I’ve been given through the university and then figuring out a way to maximize those the best. And that’s just kind of how I’ve approached it. And for us, it’s been okay so far,” she said.
The coach’s performance and ability to establish a culture also play a huge role on how students perform in the games. Recruiting a player based on their stats is a good thing, but differences won’t be seen unless the coach adapts them to how the team plays.
Bracey has established five core values that drive her team to success: love, service, discipline, resiliency and communication.
In November, Bracey’s team suffered a double-digit loss to Wisconsin. After the game, Bracey explained that one of the team’s core values, “resiliency,” would be the key as the team works on bouncing back after the loss.
“Resiliency, we didn’t ever say that we were gonna get punched in the mouth and then never step back up,” Bracey said. “They’re going to show up tomorrow, hungry, pissed off … we’re going to go back to work, and this is going to make us better. I can promise you that.”
After the Wisconsin loss, the Flames have beat Loyola-Chicago, Ball State University and the University of Maine.
Bracey stuck to her word and has been able to fix these issues while winning games. Coaching matters in the aspect of guidance and discipline. Bracey focused on the team as a whole and always found ways to always improve their performance.
Furthermore, Bracey added that another issue that may arise in the future is that some players will find out how much money their teammates are receiving for playing at the university. This might make players resent one another if they feel that they are being underpaid compared to the performance of their teammates.
“People start finding out how much people are making and all that could cause some issues in the locker room,” Bracey said. “For me, in this team, we have really good people that are here for the right reasons, so I haven’t had any issues, but I think there’s probably programs that are definitely dealing with some fallout.”
Historically, inequitable funding in sports has already been an issue. In 2018, UIC eliminated its gymnastics program because of lack of funding for the sport. This left the students impacted scrambling for scholarships and other opportunities. Changes like these can create issues toward students who were receiving scholarships or even tuition covered. The NIL might accelerate this trend, as we see sports like football and basketball that are driving revenue being prioritized.
Student-athletes are already stressed under a unique combination of academic and athletic responsibilities. Because of the NIL, there is now a new pressure for students to perform.
According to Sports Entrepreneur, students that have a larger social media presence but lower performance statistics land higher on the NIL rankings compared to students that perform better but don’t have a large social media presence. The ranking system itself might lessen morale and create a new hierarchy system for teams.
There might be some impact on team cohesion because of NIL. For example, the amounts that athletes earn can vary widely depending on a variety of factors. If one athlete discovers that they earn significantly less than a teammate, that might cause resentment.
“There’s going to be some negative implications to it,” Bracey said. “I think when you know, people start finding out how much people are making and all that could cause some issues in the locker room.”
Bringing NIL into universities has drawn mixed reactions from both student-athletes and coaches. But so far there have been many positive outcomes.
Women’s basketball player Jessica Corrothers, who transferred to UIC this season from NAIA school Indiana University Northwest, is the team’s leading scorer and received NIL money.
“I would say I’m very grateful to be in that position to be receiving NIL,” she said. “I’ve done a women’s sports panel that I spoke about a month and a half ago. Maybe that gave me another NIL opportunity. So I’m really grateful that it has become a thing, and think that it’s a great opportunity for all athletes.”
Corrothers said that she has felt very welcomed coming to play here at UIC and that she has made many friendships because of it.
Importantly, her experience highlights why mental health support is vital for student athletes. NIL competitiveness may lead to mental issues for student athletes. Corrothers said that she was not feeling like herself in freshman year.
“I kind of wasn’t really there mentally,” she said. “So it was a struggle for me, because since I wasn’t there mentally, my basketball, the basketball aspect of things, wasn’t great.”
However, due to the NIL opportunity to play at UIC, things have improved significantly.
“There’s a lot more resources, and the transition was very nice, with all the help from the staff and our coaches,” Corrothers said.
Schools like UIC offer mental health resources for all students. UIC offers a team therapist that meets specifically with student-athletes to talk about their mental health.
Corrother’s experience with mental health resources from school-to-school speaks to the differences between institutions about valuing their players as people, not just for their playing time.
Sportsmanship is another issue that NIL may bring to teams. However, Corrothers said she has been able to avoid these issues in the locker room.
“I wouldn’t say for me, personally, I don’t think that my self-esteem is really effective,” she said. “I try to be a team player and kind of support my teammates when they get those opportunities.”
The introduction of NIL rights has undoubtedly changed the world of college sports. It provided college athletes the opportunity to be financially independent, develop their brand, and grow. Stories like Corrothers’ can show the positive impacts of NIL, how it offered her opportunities she had always dreamed of.
However, the NIL also brings many challenges to college sports. Unequal opportunities, new pressures on athletes to perform, pay disparities, and the implications it can have on the mental health of students.
The future of the NIL will depend not on contracts but on making sure that student-athletes are–above everything else– supported as they grow as people and professionals in a complex and changing world.
FAQ
Q: What does “Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights” refer to? A: Name, Image, and Likeness rights refer to an individual’s right to control the use of their identity commercially and profit from it.
Q: What types of commercial activities can college athletes engage in under NIL? A: For college athletes, NIL rights could involve sponsored posts on social media, partnerships with local or national businesses or organizations, and merchandise.
Q: What key legal decision reinforced the allowance for student athletes to earn money based on their NIL? A:NIL rights were reinforced after the Supreme Court unanimously decided in NCAA v. Alston that the NCAA’s restrictions on student compensation violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. Following this decision, the NCAA voted to allow athletes to receive compensation based on their NIL.
Q: How did NIL change the financial situation for college athletes compared to the past? A: Before the passage of NIL rights, college athletes earned no money outside of their school scholarships. They were responsible for covering costs like housing, transportation, and other academic needs. NIL created a way for athletes, especially those from low-income families, to earn money to support themselves through university.
Q: How can athletes use NIL opportunities to prepare for a professional sports career? A: College athletes are now able to create their own self-image brands through platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. If their presence is large enough, they could potentially earn sponsorship deals, which could benefit them as they seek to develop a professional sports career after college.
Q: What role does social media presence play in an athlete’s NIL valuation? A: Students who have a larger social media presence but lower performance statistics may land higher on the NIL rankings compared to students who perform better but do not have a large social media presence. This ranking system might lessen morale and create a new hierarchy system for teams.
Q: Have states passed legislation to protect student-athletes’ NIL rights? A: Yes, many states passed new legislation to protect student’s NIL rights in universities. For example, Illinois passed the Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act in 2021, which protects NIL rights for college athletes and allows those students to earn compensation from endorsement deals.
Q: Which major Chicago schools are mentioned as having NIL protections in place for their students? A: In Chicago, five major schools mentioned as having protections in place for their student-athletes are the University of Illinois–Chicago, Loyola University, Depaul University, The University of Chicago, and Chicago State University.
Q: How has NIL complicated the recruiting process for coaches? A: UIC Women’s Basketball Coach Ashleen Bracey noted that coaches must be more strategic in recruiting than before. There are now “values attached to certain statistics,” which helps coaches understand who is “in their range”. Coaches need to adapt to these changes, and the success of NIL can rely on the coach’s experience with players and recruiting.
Q: What financial issues might universities face as a result of NIL? A: Money is anticipated to be an issue for many universities. Larger schools, such as The University of Alabama, have higher spending caps for athletes, which could limit opportunities for smaller universities like UIC to offer contracts. The NIL will also influence how much money is budgeted toward each sport, with popular ones being prioritized and others potentially being left behind.
Q: Does NIL benefit all college sports equally? A: No, NIL opportunities primarily focus on certain sports, specifically football and basketball, on a national level. A 2025 study found a higher percentage of wins for the basketball team due to NIL but not for other sports, leading to the conclusion that NIL works best in some sports, mainly basketball.
Q: What potential issues could NIL cause regarding team cohesion and locker room dynamics? A: Disparities in pay among teammates could cause resentment and issues in the locker room. If one athlete discovers they earn significantly less than a teammate, it might cause resentment. UIC Coach Ashleen Bracey acknowledged that some programs are dealing with “some fallout” as people start finding out how much their teammates are making.
Q: What implications might NIL have for the mental health of student-athletes? A: Student-athletes already deal with a unique combination of academic and athletic responsibilities. The introduction of NIL adds a new pressure for students to perform online coupled with increased competitiveness, which could result in detrimental effects on their mental health. However, some schools, like UIC, offer mental health resources, including team therapists, to help student-athletes.