"NIL deal" gets thrown around as shorthand for almost any payment to an athlete, but the term has a specific meaning: an agreement where a business pays an athlete to use their name, image, or likeness — a social post, an appearance, an endorsement, a piece of content — in exchange for money or something of value. It is not a salary, not a scholarship, and, for most deals on the market, not paid by a school. It is a business paying a person for the commercial use of who they are.
This guide covers what a real NIL deal looks like today, who is eligible, how the money actually moves, and how to get your first one.
Where NIL rules come from
It helps to know that NIL is not one rulebook. Three separate layers govern it, and mixing them up is the single most common mistake:
College athletes are governed by the NCAA's interim NIL policy, adopted June 30, 2021 and effective July 1, 2021, which lifted the NCAA's decades-old ban on athlete compensation and told athletes to follow their state's law and their school's policy — NCAA news release. That policy followed the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous 2021 ruling in *NCAA v. Alston*, which found NCAA limits on education-related athlete compensation violated antitrust law.
A second, newer layer sits on top of third-party NIL for Division I athletes: the *House v. NCAA* settlement, which received final court approval on June 6, 2025 and lets Division I schools share revenue directly with their athletes, starting at roughly $20.5 million per school in the first year — ESPN coverage. That revenue-share money comes from the school. It is separate from — and does not replace — a third-party NIL deal, which is what this article and this platform are about: a business paying an athlete directly, still subject to a "valid business purpose" review process schools use to keep boosters from disguising pay-for-play as an endorsement.
High school athletes are not covered by the NCAA at all. The NCAA only reaches a recruit once they are bound for a member school — general high school NIL eligibility is governed entirely by state law and each state's high school athletic association, and it varies a lot state to state. See our state NIL guides before assuming a rule from one state applies in another — some states allow it broadly, some allow it with real restrictions, and a few still bar it outright.
Everyone else — musicians, local content creators, non-athlete influencers — isn't bound by NCAA or state-athletic-association rules at all. The only limits are ordinary contract law and, for minors, your state's rules on minors signing contracts.
What counts as an NIL deal
In practice, most NIL deals fall into a handful of categories:
- Social media content — a paid post, story, or video promoting a product or business.
- In-person appearances — a meet-and-greet, a grand opening, a youth camp or clinic.
- Endorsements — your name and image used in a business's own marketing (a flyer, a website, an ad).
- Autograph or memorabilia signings.
- Licensed merchandise — your name or image on a product the business sells.
Deals can be a flat one-time fee, paid per deliverable, or structured with milestones (draft submitted, content approved, campaign live) that release payment in stages as the work is done.
Who can sign one
If you're a college athlete: yes, subject to your school's policy and the state-law/NCAA framework above. If you're in high school: check your state's rules first — this is the one area where doing a deal the wrong way can put your athletic eligibility at risk, not just your money. If you're under 18, most platforms — including this one — require a parent or guardian to co-sign before the deal can start, regardless of what your state allows a minor to sign alone. That protects the athlete and gives the business an enforceable agreement, since a contract signed only by a minor is often voidable by that minor.
If you're not an athlete at all — a musician, artist, or creator with a local following — none of the NCAA or state-athletic-association rules apply to you. You just need a clear agreement and, if you're a minor, the same guardian sign-off.
How the money actually moves
A typical deal on Star of the Sea NIL runs like this:
- A business finds a profile through map-first local discovery or an athlete lists their availability and rates.
- One side sends a proposal: what the deliverable is, what it pays, and the timeline.
- Both sides agree to terms through an e-signed NIL agreement — see our companion piece on what's actually in an NIL contract. If the athlete is a minor, their guardian receives their own invitation and has to co-sign before the deal goes live.
- The athlete does the work and submits it.
- The business approves it, payment is charged, and it settles into the athlete's account. The platform takes a 15% fee; the athlete keeps 85%.
That last point is worth being deliberate about: get paid for completed, approved work, not a promise. A deal that pays only "after the campaign performs well" or has no defined deliverable is much harder to enforce than one with a specific post, date, and price attached to it.
Taxes and disclosure aren't optional
NIL income is real income. The IRS treats a student-athlete's NIL earnings as self-employment income reportable on Schedule C, subject to self-employment tax, in the same way as any other independent contractor — see our breakdown of what athletes and parents owe. And if a deal involves posting about a product, the FTC requires a clear, conspicuous disclosure of the paid relationship — "ad" or "sponsored," not just a hashtag buried in a caption — FTC's influencer disclosure guide. Both of these are frequently the part first-time NIL earners miss, and both carry real consequences: back taxes and penalties on one side, an FTC enforcement risk (for the business, primarily, but it reflects on the athlete) on the other.
What actually determines your value
Follower count is the number people ask about first, but it isn't the number that matters most. Businesses that book NIL deals — especially local and regional ones — care more about: whether your audience is actually local to them, your engagement rate (comments and shares, not just likes), how well your personal brand fits their business, and whether you're reliable and professional to work with. A athlete with 3,000 genuinely local, engaged followers is often a better fit for a hometown business than one with 300,000 followers scattered across the country.
Getting your first deal
Start with a complete, honest profile — real follower and engagement numbers, a clear bio, and the kind of content you actually make. Then look locally first: businesses in your own community are more likely to say yes to a first-time NIL athlete than a national brand is, and a good local deal is worth more to your track record than a stalled pitch to a brand that never responds. Our companion guide on pitching a local business walks through exactly how to do that outreach.
Create your profile to see what's actually being offered in your market, or browse open opportunities to find your first deal.