Alison Brown



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News Story

Not All Student Athletes Benefit from NIL

By Ali Brown, Stella Klaus, Michael McGrew and Jolie Goldstein

Sophomore Alec Cesare tees off at a recent golf tournament. This is Cesare’s first year golfing at Indiana University after a tough decision. Photo courtesy of Alec Cesare.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5, 2024) – The air was finally beginning to warm up after a rough transition into spring and the campus almost felt deserted, with no students making their way to classes. After the spring semester had wrapped up at Ball State University and students went home for the summer, Alec Cesare suddenly found himself no longer enrolled in his school or his sport. His first collegiate golf season was not what he had hoped it would be, so Cesare decided it was time for a change. He knew he wanted to stay in the state, but still the challenge of finding a new school was daunting. After an abundance of research, visits and practices Cesare finally decided on his next destination: Indiana University.

Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) started at the very beginning of collegiate athletics with a boat race between Harvard and Yale that was sponsored by a railroad executive to promote train travel to lake Winnipesaukee in 1852. At the beginning with no governing body regulating college athletics and not very many rules, payments of many different kinds to college athletes happened. 

The rise in popularity of football created lots of revenue. They would offer compensation to talented athletes which led to athletes jumping around to different colleges depending on which ones would pay them more. The sport of Football became increasingly more popular and dangerous, so Theodore Roosevelt met with colleges to review rules and from that meeting the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was created to make the sport safer. 

Once it was created the NCAA advised against compensating college athletes. However, they found that this was still happening since football was a highly profitable sport. In 1948 the NCAA decided to do more than advise against it; they adopted a code that reiterated their opposition to payment of student athletes. Through the years the NCAA molded and formed new rules about scholarships and how much they can give athletes for being on their team. The rules of NIL are still being challenged to this day.

Alec Cesare attempts a chip shot to continue match play. Cesare finished in the top three at this match. Photo courtesy of Alec Cesare.

One of the biggest complaints about the structure of NIL is the vast difference in income between smaller, less-viewed sports and the larger, more popular sports. Alec Cesare, a sophomore golf player, has experienced this firsthand.

“We spend the same amount of hours practicing, competing and representing the university,” Cesare said. “I think we deserve the same opportunities even though we don’t bring in as much revenue as they do.” 

Financially this gap makes sense, the larger sports attract more views and in turn generate more revenue. However, smaller-sport athletes, like Cesare and his teammates, don’t benefit from this, and are expected to spend most of their free time dedicated to their sport without any compensation. 

While smaller sports may never get the same amount of money through NIL as sports like Football, NIL still impacted Cesare’s decision when he was transferring schools. He did not get NIL money at Ball State, but at a bigger school there are more opportunities.

“I knew if I went bigger there would be higher chances to get more money,” Cesare said. “The difference between mid-major D1 schools and Power 4 schools is crazy, especially when it comes to money.” 

Even with the large difference in sums of money, Cesare still voiced his complaints about the large deficit of money from sport to sport.

  “There is a lot of hypocrisy, a lack of clarity and a lack of consistency in a lot of what we’re seeing in these proposed settlements,” Dr. Galen Clavio, Director of the National Sports Journalism Center, said.

Dr. Clavio speaks about NIL to a C250 class. Clavio is a sports media professor at IU and an expert on the topic of NIL. Photo taken by Emma Pearce.

The lack of consistency is the same thing that many athletes are frustrated with. This difference in revenue between larger and smaller sports is creating a divide amongst athletes. 

“You’re never going to have a job where your coworker gets paid more and you don’t think you deserve to get paid more than them,” Jeremy Gray, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications, said. 

There are many different attitudes between experts on how NIL should work and how much athletes should get paid, that is why it is such an ongoing topic that has changed a lot through the years. However, smaller sports don’t make as much NIL money as more popular sports because they don’t get as much TV time, they get less advertising (billboards, posters, merchandise, etc.), they can’t ask brands for sponsorships because of the lack of TV time and they don’t get as much emotional support compared to other sports.

NIL continues to be a popular topic of discussion in collegiate athletics, and that is not going to stop anytime soon. Smaller sports will continue to make far less revenue than more popular sports, despite efforts from smaller sport athletes. Although there are many different facets of NIL that can be dissected, the deficit of funding between large and small sports is one of the most important to discuss to ensure all athletes are being treated fairly under NIL regulations. 

People on the streets of Bloomington share their opinions on NIL. Due to the recent supreme court case NCAA v. Alston NIL has been a growing topic with new opinions arising.

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Public Relations Story

Apple Announces The Release Of Impressive New Product: The Apple Watch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts
Sofie Yurewicz
Katie Stein
Alison Brown

CUPERTINO, California (Sept. 9, 2014) — On Tuesday, September 9th, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the release of the brand new Apple Watch. The product is the first of its kind and will be available to users later this year. Tim Cook’s introduction of the new product left the audience speechless as they gave him a standing ovation.

Cook was thrilled to share the innovative watch in front of hundreds of Apple users- he could barely hold in his enthusiasm considering his proud laugh and fist pumps. Apple’s new development is very customizable to the user, allowing them to track workouts, quickly communicate from the device, and use third-party apps with their innovative features. The three versions of the watch will allow the customer to choose the perfect fit for them. 

Man using his Apple Watch to track his workout on the bike.
A pedestrian uses the Apple Watch to track their workouts. The activity tracker is one of the most notable functions of the new watch and will allow people to record their physical progress.

 One of the most prominent facets of the new product is the fitness and workout component. These two features help watch wearers track their workouts in addition to customizing specific personalized goals.  The watch contains sensors that are activated with the movement of the user’s wrist.

During the Apple Watch introduction, a video was shown featuring Jay Blahnik in which he said, “It can track a wider variety of activities because it’s able to collect more types of data. It uses an accelerometer to measure your total body movement. It has a custom sensor that can measure intensity by tracking your heart rate, and it uses the GPS and WiFi in your iPhone to track how far you’ve moved.”  In addition, the watch can measure total burned calories, how long users have stood up, and all physical activity users have completed.  Blahnik then said, “Over time, Apple Watch actually gets to know you the way a good personal trainer would. It’s designed to deliver intelligent reminders to keep you motivated and on track. And it can suggest goals that are personal, realistic, and most importantly, achievable, which gives you a far better chance of succeeding.”  The Apple Watch is both intimate and unique allowing users to use new, innovative software that promotes fitness and a healthy lifestyle like never before.  The watch has several unprecedented features that can benefit watch users day to day life as well as having impressive accuracy and efficient communication.

Student displays her apple watch while completing her homework.
A student wears her Apple Watch while studying to keep track of time and communicate with peers. Apple Watch users are able to receive and respond to text messages from their watch, allowing them to communicate with people from anywhere at any time.

The watch has multiple attributes that give users the ability to contact others in countless ways in a matter of seconds.  “You can get someone’s attention with a gentle tap.” Tim Cook said, “You can send a quick sketch, or you can even share something as personal as your own heartbeat.”  The Apple Watch is helpful for fast and efficient communication as well as quick interactions on apps.

The watch also notifies users when they receive a notification by making a small vibration that they can feel on their wrist.   The watch contains extra functions that make the device easy to use and navigate considering its small size.  With a multi-purpose crown for zooming and scrolling, a taptic engine with audio and speakers, and infrared LEDs that work alongside the digital crown and engine, the watch can be reactive and responsive for direct and precise transmission.  With these features, watch wearers can call contacts from their watch, send messages, and share emojis and expressions with friends right from their wrist.  The product is unique with ingenious capabilities. “It is so simple and elegant. It’s something only Apple could do.” said Cook.  Users are able to improve their lifestyle and benefit from the watch using methods never seen before.

Lastly, the watch can directly work with third-party apps to enhance the product’s features for users.  With the invention of Watchkit, third-party developers can create additional ways in which users can profit from the product.  During the demonstration of the Apple Watch, examples of third parties that have already worked to develop new features for the watch were shared.  Throughout the demonstration, Kevin Lynch previewed an instance with the GPS app and said “Now, while you’re walking, Apple Watch will give you taptic feedback on each turn. So you’ll know whether it’s time to turn left or to turn right. And those feelings are different for each direction. So you can actually know without even looking at your watch, which way to go. It’s like having this invisible guide with you.”  Lynch further discussed additional apps that were in the process of formatting watch-specific components which include American Airlines, Starwood Hotels, City Mapper, Pinterest, BMW, MLB, Honeywell, Lutron, Nike, and more.  These current brands along with the potential, other developers have to create features using Watchkit, will change the way consumers live.

The customizable and intimate watch is offered in three different styles including the traditional Apple Watch made from stainless steel, the Apple Watch Sport with an aluminum case, and lastly, the Apple Watch Edition made from 18-carat gold.  The three watch designs all can be personalized to best fit the user and their preferences.  The watch is offered with various watch bands that can each be used for different activities, purposes, and styles.  The watch can be purchased starting at only $349 and will be on the market within a year.


Tim Cook describes the functional purpose of the digital crown on the device and how it is there so you can scroll and get to thing son the product without blocking the small screen.


Kevin Lynch  demonstrates how to use the product while also showing its incredible features- customizable reminders, the stock market, music, weather, etc. 

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