Column | The NIL Job-Market: College athletics mutated

The year is 2010. USC running back Reggie Bush has just forfeited his five-year-old Heisman Trophy after his school received sanctions for allowing their student-athletes to receive “gifts.” In Bush’s case, those gifts were a home for his parents and a load of money.

In 2024, times have changed, and the landscape and laws of college athletics are almost unrecognizable to athletes like Bush. Over a decade later, Bush received his trophy from the Heisman Committee and can now attend the yearly ceremony with his fellow winners. 

The reason for this change? Student-athletes gained a “right to publicity” that traditional celebrities have always loved to invoke. In 2021, the United States Supreme Court struck down the NCAA’s long-time practice of banning athletes from profiting off their name, image or likeness — colloquially known as “NIL.” 

Athletes cannot get paid directly by the school they represent and therefore make NIL money from collective funds put together by boosters or brand deals — either acquired themselves or set up by the university.

Some of the nation’s biggest stars are estimated to make $5 million. Good for them! As a college student, I would love to have that kind of bread at my disposal. The trick here is that while the NCAA used to pretend college athletics was a bunch of amateurs duking it out, under NIL, these competitors are effectively employees in a full-blown job market. And there are a lot of help-wanted signs.

As a fan who lives vicariously through Pitt’s best athletes, I am amped that our school’s biggest stars get what they deserve. But, I can’t fully celebrate Pitt football’s 4-0 record and redshirt first-year quarterback Eli Holstein’s success. If Holstein keeps succeeding, what will his NIL earnings look like? On3.com projected Holstein’s NIL valuation jumped from $302,000 to $446,000 in one day. If Holstein attends the Heisman ceremony, let alone wins the award like Bush did 19 years ago, could Pitt even afford to keep him around?

Even if Pitt won the national title — let a boy dream — would the prospect of a second bring Holstein back? Or would Holstein’s NIL valuation jump so high only a few select schools could afford the young quarterback’s services? That conflict of interest is not fun to think about.

Las Vegas senior quarterback Matthew Sluka has led his team to an undefeated record, top-25 ranking and potentially a college football playoff appearance. But Sluka announced he would play in no more games this year and maintain his redshirt.

“I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” Sluka said on X. “It became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future.” It can be imagined that Sluka’s money was not right and he would not play underpaid, and I can’t blame him.

The reality of college athletics today is much like today’s job market — the people who do the work well realize what they are worth. Schools have always sold player-specific merchandise, used players’ names, images and likenesses in promotional content and profited off ticket sales. Now, student-athletes get their fair share.

But this job market is not pretend. It seems each student-athlete’s goal is to keep climbing the ladder, the same way common folk are always hunting for a promotion, a raise, increased security or even just a cooler title.

With NIL, sports don’t feel like magic anymore — they feel real, maybe as real as they always should have. For fans, sports feel like they’re inside a snow globe. Fans scream and feel impactful as if they’re tapping the glass shaking the flurries. Whenever the game ends, the snow settles and everything goes back to normal. 

But with NIL, the horrors of the real world have seeped in. Terrifying ideas such as financing, advertising and contracts aren’t just factors off the field but now on it. But empathy is easy. My peers and classmates are paid what they are owed. So, call it a wash. I still love college sports, and I’ll still pick up the snow globe. But to me and everyone else living in a world with NIL, college athletics will never look the same.