Male athletes lead the way in NIL activities — 62.7% vs. 37.3% for women, according to NIL platform Opendorse. Football players and men’s basketball players received the highest percentage of deals when looking at the full slate of college sports (from data reported by Opendorse and other NIL platforms INFLCR and Athliance).
A few women’s sports tend to follow those two, especially basketball, volleyball, softball and gymnastics.
The money is largely concentrated in Division I athletics, though DII, DIII and NAIA players have been able to obtain deals.
The more niche the sport, the less likely it is to draw blockbuster deals; think tennis, field hockey, ice hockey and rowing. But there are exceptions, as waterskiing and rifle see average deals of about $1,400 and $6,000, respectively.
