The NIL era is officially upon us. On Friday, Stewart Mandel of The Athletic dropped a bombshell report involving a five-star recruit from the 2023 class.
According to The Athletic, a 2023 recruit has signed an agreement with a school’s NIL collective that could pay him more than $8 million over four years.
The recruit will be paid $350,000 almost immediately. This deal will then be followed up by monthly payouts that equal more than $2 million per year.
Though it’s not confirmed at this time, the initial belief is that this is the largest individual NIL deal signed by a non-professional athlete.
From last night: A 2023 recruit signed an NIL agreement yesterday that could pay him more than $8 million (!) over four years.
I got a peek at the contract. Here’s how a school’s NIL collective is inducing recruits without putting it in writing. https://t.co/5VjdA6MlOc
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) March 12, 2022
The founder of the NIL marketing platform Opendorse, Blake Lawrence, believes this deal could be an outlier. However, he did mention that some deals are more lucrative than fans think.
“Whatever casual sports fans or coaches think student-athletes are earning from collectives, they’re (undershooting) by 10X. While $2 million (a year) is wild, $200,000 isn’t, but most people are thinking they’re getting $20,000,” Lawrence told The Athletic.
It’s unclear which athlete signed this deal at this time. A name could eventually surface at a later date.
NIL deals cannot be “pay-for-play” when it comes to signing recruits. It’s worth noting this deal doesn’t violate that rule because it doesn’t require an enrollment to a specific school.
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