The shift was not incremental; it was seismic. Almost overnight, college athletes—some barely out of high school—were signing endorsement deals with car dealerships, sportswear brands, and even fast-food chains. The moral framing changed too. What once was “improper benefits” became “entrepreneurial opportunity”. NIL has liberated athletes from decades of economic marginalisation. But it has also made college sports more transactional, more unequal, and arguably less about sport itself.

The NIL Revolution

To grasp the impact of NIL, one must understand what it overturned. The NCAA had long maintained that amateurism was essential to preserving the educational mission of college athletics. This was always a fragile claim, undermined by lavish facilities, national broadcasts, and ballooning coaching salaries. But the Supreme Court's decision in NCAA v. Alston (2021) cracked it open. When Justice Kavanaugh noted that the NCAA was not above antitrust law, the floodgates opened.

Now, athletes can monetise their personal brand while remaining eligible to compete. The result: a new class of teenaged influencers and athlete-entrepreneurs. High school recruits announce college commitments alongside endorsement announcements. Some players at top-tier programs earn six-figure sums before ever taking the field. The boundary between amateur and professional has blurred, perhaps irreversibly.

Winners and Losers

At first glance, NIL seems like a leveller: athletes finally receive a slice of the pie. Yet the benefits are uneven. Star quarterbacks, gymnasts with massive TikTok followings, and athletes at marquee schools are cashing in. Others, particularly in lower-profile sports or less media-savvy markets, see little change. The market rewards visibility, not talent alone.

Meanwhile, a new ecosystem of agents, collectives, and NIL consultants has emerged. Some are legitimate; others, less so. The NCAA's inability to enforce consistent NIL guidelines across states and conferences has led to chaos. It’s not hard to imagine young athletes being exploited, not by their schools this time, but by the very market that was supposed to liberate them.

The New Recruiting Arms Race

NIL has also become a proxy war in recruiting. Wealthier programs now use NIL collectives—essentially booster-funded slush funds—to lure top talent. Ostensibly, these are third-party entities, but in practice, they function as extensions of the athletic department. The result is a further stratification of college sports: the rich get richer, and mid-major programmes struggle to compete.

In effect, recruiting is no longer just about facilities or coaching staff—it’s about the size of the NIL war chest. The amateur ideal is gone; we are now watching a semi-professional league with no salary cap, no union, and no central governance.

The Soul of the Game

All this raises a deeper question: what is college sport for? Is it a developmental league for future professionals, a branding tool for universities, or a spectacle to be monetised like any other entertainment? NIL forces us to confront this ambiguity.

There is beauty in watching unpaid athletes compete with grit and passion. But when money enters the equation—when touchdowns come with sponsorships and interviews are followed by product pitches—that purity can erode. Not because athletes shouldn’t be paid, but because the system was never designed to balance commerce and character at this scale.

Conclusion: From Ideal to Industry

NIL is neither a panacea nor a poison. It is a necessary correction in a system that long exploited young athletes. But its implementation has been haphazard, driven by market forces rather than thoughtful reform. What comes next could be transformative or corrosive.

Will college sports evolve into a de facto minor league with contracts, transfers, and performance clauses? Or can a new equilibrium be found—one that respects athletes’ rights without reducing the game to a transactional show?

Either way, the myth of amateurism is dead. College sports, like the society it reflects, has chosen the market.