How NIL is Changing College Sports
4/9/2025 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Most NIL earnings go to a few standout athletes at major universities like UCLA and Berkeley.
CalMatters’ first-ever look into college athlete earnings in California reveals wide disparities in NIL deals. While some stars like Jaylon Tyson made hundreds of thousands, most athletes—especially women—earned little or nothing. As lawsuits loom that could further change the game, the future of athlete compensation remains uncertain.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal
How NIL is Changing College Sports
4/9/2025 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
CalMatters’ first-ever look into college athlete earnings in California reveals wide disparities in NIL deals. While some stars like Jaylon Tyson made hundreds of thousands, most athletes—especially women—earned little or nothing. As lawsuits loom that could further change the game, the future of athlete compensation remains uncertain.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch SoCal Matters
SoCal Matters is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipFormer UC Berkeley basketball guard Jaylon Tyson netted about $390,000 from private donors, while UCLA gymnast and Olympic gold medal winner Jordan Chiles earned $3,000 from the AI writing company Grammarly.
These payments were part of name, image, and likeness deals, or NIL for short.
Such deals were unheard of four years ago, but in 2021, California became the first state to pass a law allowing athletes to make NIL deals, prompting similar changes nationwide.
For companies, NIL deals are akin to paying any other celebrity or professional athlete to promote a product.
University alumni and sports fans can't give directly to a student athlete, at least not yet, but they can make NIL deals.
California student athletes must report any compensation from NIL deals.
CalMatters requested data from every California university with Division I teams, where the potential for profit is typically the highest.
In this first-ever look at what many California athletes actually made, CalMatters found that except for a few star players, most female college athletes made very little.
UCLA and UC Berkeley athletes collectively earned over double what other UC and California State University campus athletes made.
The data is often incomplete, and it's becoming more common for students to transfer multiple times, often in search for better NIL deals.
Much of what college athletes earn depends on a sport's popularity, a player's gender, and their star power in the university's fan base.
Records show, for example, that UCLA gymnasts earned over $2 million in the last three school years, while UCLA women's water polo players earned just $152 in the same time frame, despite winning the national championship last year.
Soon, college athletes may make even more.
A class action lawsuit may allow schools to pay college athletes directly while still classifying them as students, not employees.
If a settlement occurs, students could see payouts as early as this fall.
For CalMatters, I'm Adam Echelman, with reporting by Erica Yee.
- News and Public Affairs
Top journalists deliver compelling original analysis of the hour's headlines.
- News and Public Affairs
FRONTLINE is investigative journalism that questions, explains and changes our world.
Support for PBS provided by:
SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal