NIL gender pay gap is real, but doesn’t have to be the norm
EVEN IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW women’s college gymnastics, there’s a good chance you know the name Olivia Dunne. She competes for Louisiana State University, posts social media content to nearly 8 million TikTok followers, and attracts incredibly lucrative NIL endorsement deals. This summer, Dunne revealed that she’s been paid more than $500,000 for a single sponsored post.
That kind of money generates lots of attention. It also changes the conversation around women’s sports and how sponsors value female athletes. All good. Also, Dunne is not alone in building an impressive portfolio of NIL deals. Women’s basketball boasts a number of high earners, including Paige Bueckers, Flau’jae Johnson, Jada Williams, Hailey Van Lith, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. They’re not at Dunne’s level, but they signal progress, too.
It’s important to recognize, even celebrate, the significance of big paydays for big-name athletes in women’s college sports. It’s also important to look more closely at the more typical experiences and expectations of college athletes. For the majority of athletes eager to build personal brands and pursue NIL deals, the marketplace is often confusing, frustrating and time-consuming. It’s also a space where a lack of transparency threatens to diminish the potential earnings of female athletes.
Research by a recent University of Michigan graduate concluded that women expect half as much NIL compensation as men. This held true even within the same sport and level of competition. Lauren MacKeigan, who conducted the research as part of her senior thesis, said the different expectations for men and women didn’t surprise her, but the size of the gap did. That gap is alarming because of what it means for female athletes in the short and long term. It’s easy to foresee another gender pay gap in the making if the vast difference in expectations goes understudied and unaddressed.
“I hope my research raises awareness,” said MacKeigan. “There should be more research. I get it. It’s new. A lot of places are playing catch-up when it comes to NIL. But if there’s not the initial reaction of, ‘Oh, we should be thinking about how we can track equity in this and how well this is working for different athletes?’ then we’re going to be playing catch-up for a long time.”
Consider one catch-up scenario: Female athletes take on twice as many deals to make the same amount of money as male athletes. More time spent fulfilling NIL deals potentially translates to less time spent on training and school. It’s a scenario that should sound familiar to female professional athletes who work second and third jobs to support their sports careers.
School-specific collectives further complicate the situation and widen the opportunity gap. They typically steer money and opportunities to football and men’s basketball players. Opendorse, an NIL platform designed for athletes, fans and brands, found that only 34% of collectives create deals for female athletes.
MacKeigan focused on expectations because athletes are the “sole managers” of their NIL opportunities and typically self-select into different deals through platforms that connect brands and athletes. She created a survey that outlined a prospective deal with a fictional fitness and wellness company and asked athletes how much they would expect in compensation. MacKeigan received 330 responses from athletes who represented 46 conferences (across NCAA D-I, D-II, D-III and NAIA) and 23 sports.
It’s a small sample size, but the results match what NIL experts see and hear from across the college landscape. “Women undervalue themselves in all arenas in life so it doesn’t surprise me that they are asking for less,” said Kristi Dosh, a corporate attorney-turned-entrepreneur whose work now focuses on the business of sports and NIL.
“There aren’t good resources for what your rates should be,” said Dosh. “Most rate calculators are based purely on followers. They don’t take into account your engagement rate or your niche.”
Talking to different brands and social media marketing agencies, Dosh often hears how female athletes outperform male athletes when it comes to engagement. Followers appreciate the way female athletes post lifestyle content and behind-the scenes glimpses.
Dosh also noted that she’s seeing male and female athletes find creative ways to monetize name, image and likeness. More and more, they use NIL to set themselves up for future success, asking for meetings with CEOs and micro internships. For female athletes who face more limited professional opportunities after graduation, that kind of creative, long-term thinking may prove as valuable as cash. But they still need better support and more pay as they navigate the NIL ecosystem.
With that in mind, Dosh recently partnered with former University of Florida gymnast Leah Clapper to help launch a platform called NIL Island. The goal behind the website: create a community where athletes have “a safe and easy place to discuss NIL experiences and struggles.” Clapper wanted to build the kind of community she wished existed when she first went after deals.
Before gender pay gaps become too deeply entrenched in the NIL ecosystem, they need to be addressed. Greater transparency, better platforms and more education about NIL deal-making will help. It’s also critical to continue collecting and analyzing NIL data. MacKeigan said her research efforts were “generative and exploratory.” They were also the first of their kind in the space.
As the NIL marketplace continues to evolve, everyone involved needs to consistently ask and find answers to this question: How can we ensure an equitable NIL experience for all?