Nevaeh DeSouza, a former gymnast at the University of California Berkeley, who is shown above performing a balance beam routine was excited about the opportunity to make money following the NCAA's adoption of its new name, image and likness policy in July of 2021 that allowed for college student athletes to be compensated for the first time. As a gymast she knew that college was the end of her career as thats just how it goes in the sport but after training for often four hours a day since she was 2-years old she was proud to finally be compensated from the sport she has dedicated so much of her life to. While NIL promised so many exciting opportunites it also brought with it some of the ugly sides of female athletics; from creeps online to lifestyle judgements from faceless profiles. DeSouza like many others tries to ignore those comments instead looking at the positives of showing that women's sports such as gymnastics can be real money makers.

College sports has now arguably entered into one of its most influential eras following the passage of NIL, as now college athletes have an exposure rivalying that of professional athletes and celeberties. After years of talk about compensating college athletes, the NCAA finally gave in under pressure from state governments and on July 1, 2021 college athletes obtained the ability to profit from endorsements. The ruling allows for student athletes to now profit off the use of their name, image and likeness, in compliance with state laws. Since its implementation NIL has taken over the media landscape, from major TV ads featuring top college athletes, to stories on its impact by mainstream news outlets such as the New York Times. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as social media is where NIL has really taken off with top earners amassing million-dollar networths almost exclusively through this form of exposure.

USC Quarterback Caleb Williams in new televised advertisement for Wendy's

The initial push for this change was geared mainly on major football stars, notably Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel, who were college town heroes with an inordinate level of fandom at the collegiate level, yet had no ability to profit off the fanbase they brought in. The modern market still reflects this as a large majority of the top earners are male athletes, primarily football and basketball stars. The top earner currently is up and coming basketball star Bronny James with a net worth of 5.9 million, followed by breakout Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders who is currently valued at 4.8 million.

Click to enlarge (Source: Opendorse 2023 NIL report)

The third highest earner is a female athlete -- LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne, one of only two women to be in the top ten of earners and who represents the small fraction of female athletes who have been able to profit from NIL at as high a level as their male counterparts.

Dunne has become a household name over the last couple of years due to her popularity online, and has amassed a 3.2 million dollar net worth through NIL deals. While she has managed to do what many haven't, it hasn't been without controversy and not over her gymnastics skills of course. Most notably in November of 2022 the New York Times ran a piece New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: Sex Sells which heavily focuses on Dunne and females within the NIL space who have “leaned into their looks” as a part of their marketing strategy. Famed Stanford basketball coach Tara VanDerveer weighed in on the issue in the piece agreeing with the author that this is a "step back" for women’s sports in some ways.

unne posing here for Sports Illustrated one of her many NIL collaborations

Many including Dunne herself felt the article was overly critical. She took to social media to defend herself after being blindsided by the slant of the article, which she felt was an overt attack on her brand. She responded; “People need to understand that I’ve worked years for everything I’ve earned. I’ve spent years building an audience, and brands pay me for what they believe is worth the reach of the demographic that I offer.”

Despite the many advancements made in women’s sports over the last decade, sexism still exists broadly in the sporting world and NIL is certainly no exception. It is apparent on all levels, in the form of the discrepancies in NIL deals and earnings for female athletes to the lack of resources in the space for female athletes. University of Southern California athlete Simone Jackson talked about the differences she saw in her own family of athletes, "I want to say it almost seems like it's a bit more of like an ease when it comes to like your typical football player and like the kinds of effort that women have to put themselves out there continuously as an option versus, I don't want to say falling into people's laps for when it comes to their side, but that's what it reminds me of. And it's like, it's so funny because I'm literally sitting like right next to my brother like, what? Like that was almost too easy for you." NIL collectives have become a critical component of the NIL space with data from Opendorse's platform backing this as deals done through collectives accounted for 79.9% of the compensation in the market during the period from July 2022 to June 2023. This puts female athletes at a major disadvantage as the data shows that NIL collectives cater to male athletes with data from Opendorse’s 2023 NIL report showing that 66% of collective deals are with male athletes while only 34% are with female athletes.

But landing deals is only the first obstacle female athletes have to overcome. Once a deal is secured many female athletes have found that the expectation of female athletes is often greater to make deals that are aesthetically curated and work with what a brand needs. University of California Los Angeles soccer player Ayo Oke talked about the work female athletes are expected to put in when it comes to brand deals, "I've seen so many of my male friends just take a photo with the product in like their pajamas on the street and like call that a brand deal post and post on Instagram and they will get their whatever reimbursement for that while I'm having to like make a video on Capcut and come up with some cute idea and do a voiceover and photos and all this extra stuff while they're just like doing the bare minimum."

Arguably the biggest hurdle for female athletes is the challenges they face marketing themselves as a female and the stigmas that can be attached by doing so. This NYT article only further proves this point and another one – more often than not when female athletes get real media attention it’s not about their athletic achievements or success but instead focused on their looks. Jackson continues on about how female athletes are expected to be everything yet not too much its very difficult to manage "Because it's enough for males, all they have to do is be good and it'll find them, right? But we have to be good, have to be pretty, and have to like have some type of juggling magic trick. And then we have to pursue the deal. Like it's not just going to fall into our lap. "

PSD campaign comparison

Terian Williams and Nevaeh DeSouza are two student atheltes who both had NIL partnerships with popular brand PSD Underwear this part year. With simialr background as NCAA Divsion 1 athletes competing in the Pac 12 conference who have been heavily involved in NIL. While they were both very excited to work with PSD their different mindsets going into the deal and their final product show the influence societal expectations have on female athletes compared to their male counterparts.

1 / 6

2 / 6

❮ ❯

While Williams main concerns for his campaign were that the brand's values aligned with his and that he wasn't too flashy in his photos. DeSouza had very different concerns as with any clothing brand she had concerns about coming across to sexual or revealing so she made sure to chose the boyshort underwear and the top with the most coverage. She didn't stop there though deciding to recruit her sister to be in the photos with her which many of her friends joked was funny but a good idea to make it a more casual, family friendly campaign.

Hear More About there Athete's Experiences Navigating NIL

Simone Jackson

Nevy S

Ayo Oke