By Caroline Crawford, Jordan Campbell and Chase Dodson

Bloomington Indiana, ( November, 5th, 2024)

 The polished waxed floors squeak with the sound of shoes running up and down the court. The horizontal lines come together to create boundaries that make up the game of basketball. With people cheering in the stands, the players line up for their routine entrance. As the crowd sees their favorite players they get even louder and scream with anticipation for the game that’s to come. As the energy in the room intensifies, the game begins. 

With athletes seeming so untouchable, the topic at hand is wondering how easy it seems to be a college athlete and have your entire college tuition taken care of, a problem many college students worry about throughout their academic careers. With athletes being at the top of the social hierarchy, it seems to be the easiest job in the world, getting to do something they truly love and were born to do, while getting applauded and worshiped for it. Although the life of a college athlete seems glamorous and effortless, It’s actually quite the opposite with the discussion of how college athletes actually feel mentally and physically, while dedicating their life to playing their sport. Athletes’ troubles and challenges often go unseen, especially with the debate of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).

The hard work and dedication that every player consistently brings to each game is immense and deserves to be shown off and profitable, most would think. The game of basketball is seen as lots of effort and time, although the sport is rewarding, the discussion of how the game affects the players mentally is not a topic that the media usually covers. According to IU’s women’s basketball manager Aj Harmon “It’s a lot of time and commitment, and a major struggle being the time the players spend away from their families” said Harmon. The players spend most of their time conditioning, practicing and getting ready for games. It’s a full time job to be a college athlete, so that means the players have no way of getting a real paying job as their time as an athlete. Without sponsors and advertisements, the players are making no money from all their hard work and dedication. The labor they do becomes unseen without getting a paycheck at the end of the day.  The players give up their social life, including phone calls with parents, social gatherings, even something simple like down time. The struggle of trying to stay afloat is real for athlete’s while trying their best to play well.

Mental health varies from player to player, but the pressure is almost constant. The need to be the best and always give their all becomes a never ending cycle of mental defeat. While working hard on the court and outside of it, the players have no real compensation for their hard work. The amount of work they put in with no reward leaves the players burnt out and tired. With the risk of injuries and pressure to be the best during every game, college athletes ask themselves “what’s the point?” While being a full time student, the stressors of personal identity and self doubt come to the surface. Stated by D2 Freshman basketball player at Wayne State College, Darshan Thomas “Many of us sacrifice our time and our bodies while on the court, it takes a toll on me mentally to constantly think about my performance and not my school work so the team and school can be good”. Putting the skill from each player aside, the main part of being a team is each individual putting their talent together to create one big talent. Representing a school is an honor and each player must give it their all each game. The stress of being good for something other than yourself is tiring and leads to burning out. The anxieties of being injured or performing badly is immense when playing for a high division like D2. Without NIL, and not being compensated for effort, time and stress, the players can reach a point where they feel like their time and effort is not being appreciated or valued enough to it’s fullest potential. 

According to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education for the Media School, Dr Clavio “you do not get the same rights as the other people that are college students, despite the long-standing public relations approach by the NCAA, which tries to argue that college athletes are simply students who happen to be engaged in athletics”. While full time college students get the right to profit off their name image and likeness, College athletes unfortunately do not. Although a college student who is engaged with athletics or with a particular field of study, they are seen as two different students. College athletics, specifically basketball, bring in a big sum of money through ticket sales, merch and much more. Ignoring what each individual brings to the table, the players don’t even make money off the games as a whole, which people pay to see them play. With the liabilities of injuries and the serious impact on mental health that comes along with the game of basketball, the players are doing all the work while getting no reward. Punishing athlete’s for being extraordinarily good at something, is wrong and unfair for those who fight through and overcome mental and physical challenges while playing their sport.

People of Kirkwood discuss how student athlete’s are impacted mentally through NIL, without getting compensated for their hard work and dedication.

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By Saige Arnold, Karen Flores and Andrea Minuto

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5, 2024) — The struggle of balancing athletics and academics has always been a challenge for student athletes, but the inclusion of NIL rights has significantly added a new layer of complexity. As they navigate the opportunities and difficulty of earning money from their personal brand, many find themselves struggling to execute the benefits of NIL while being a student athlete. 

In July 2021, name, image and likeness laws went into effect benefitting college athletes to get paid through their NIL. This allows the athletes to accept money for their popularity which can be seen in many different ways. The athletes are able to do commercial endorsements, appearances and social media posts, hosting camps and more. However, these tasks are already too much to put on a student athlete.

Student athlete, William Jansen, a junior diver at Indiana University, seeks to grow his NIL and use his image to his advantage and for the opportunity to make some money. Jansen expresses that he does not have the time to lean into his NIL opportunities. “There are some days when like I won’t come to practice at all just to focus on school, and then I’m about to miss school on Thursday and Friday for a meet.”  With practices and meets being incorporated into Jansen’s academic schedule, it can be hard to find the incentive and interest in implementing it. 

Dr. Galen Clavio, Associate Professor in the Media School at Indiana University answers questions at a press conference on October 15th, 2024. Dr. Clavio explains that social media plays a huge part in the world, allowing people to make a living off of their name on social media. When it came to NIL in the sports world, there were often times where college athletes names were being used by the university or even other companies like NCAA video games that were benefiting off of these athletes name, image and likeness. After many court cases, the NCAA was no

longer allowed to keep student athletes from using their name, image and likeness to make their own money. Although these students now have the access to their NIL, it doesn’t exactly mean they’re able to focus on it. Dr. Clavio explains that the schedules young adult student athletes have don’t always allow them to use NIL, “To me its a false dichotomy in a lot of ways and its part of a larger problem with the way we think about athletes at the college level in many cases, which is that they need saved or that they need all of this special structure around them, when in reality a lot of the reasons for this is because of the insane scheduling that we place on them in the first place.” With student athletes trying to manage such a time-crunched schedule, all of the NIL deals they could be taking, they don’t always have time for.

Marina Fuduric, a freshman tennis player at Indiana University, experiences the same challenges. With being a first-year college student and athlete, she struggles to find the right balance, on top of growing her NIL. She currently does not have a large following on social media, but works to grow her account. Working with what she has, she tries to reach out to people and brands, but since she does not have a large following and certain brands have follower requirements, she gets denied. She has to find other ways to grow her platform and to have brands be excited or willing to work with her. “I’m trying to figure out different ways to get more followers and I might have to make content or something in the future,” Fuduric said. This is prevalent in new student athletes because this is not necessarily taught or implemented within their sports. Student athletes have to go out on their own to find these experiences, having no guide on securing deals. It is significantly more challenging if the sport is not popular on a college level, making it harder to seek opportunities. 

Fuduric talks about her experiences balancing playing tennis with her academics. Allotting free time on top of her sport, education and personal life. When she talks about this, she said that if you want to study, maintain yourself and find time to hang with friends, you will have to be efficient with your time. But it is not easy for Fuduric, especially when trying to get the hang of being a first-year student. Accountability is a huge thing that Fuduric has to do.

Because of the benefits that come with NIL, it is important to Fuduric and her future plans. She wants to rely solely on her NIL as an income to help support herself. As she settles and comfortable with being a student athlete at Indiana University, she sees herself growing her platforms and finding ways to get deals. She wants to learn how to grow her NIL and motivates herself to endure the obstacles that come with it.

NIL is crucial to student athletes, as it leads to greater opportunities for them in the future.

Students at Indiana University answered questions involving their opinions on name, image and likeness. Having strong ideas on what NIL can do for student athletes, if they take full advantage of it.

By Makenna Piatkowski, Ryan Banks and Matthew Mason

BLOOMINGTON, IN (Nov. 5, 2024)

The buzzer sounds and hockey players storm the ice to celebrate with teammates. Indiana University is officially bringing home some hardware as the club hockey team wins the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) National Championship. A team with so much talent finally wins it all, and they didn’t even pay the players to do it.

An athlete’s name, image and likeness (NIL) allows for college players to be paid for anything attached to their brand, such as personal merchandise, camps and clinics or any type of affiliate roles. Before NIL was put into effect, athletes were prohibited from profiting off of their personal brand, and could even face punishments if it occurred. One example of this is Reggie Bush, who had his Heisman Trophy taken away (it has since been returned in the wake of athletes getting paid) after he was illegally compensated. Collegiate athletes are now allowed to hire outside expertise to advise them in deals surrounding NIL, and most college athletes are benefiting from this law change. The biggest advocates for NIL argue that athletes that spend countless hours in practices and games should be compensated fairly for their time and inability to acquire a job outside of school and sport. 

Many have spoken up about NIL and the effect it has had on student athletes, including Indiana University Media School professor, Galen Clavio. Clavio uses his many years of experience as a broadcaster and reporter in the sports industry to speak on various topics, both in his own classes and in guest speeches to students in other media classes. In a press conference held in a C250 Story Lab class, students were able to ask questions about NIL and what the future holds.

“What keeps the boat in the water is the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations coming from the alumnus who feel positive emotions towards their university.”

However, some people have some issues with how NIL works. NIL deals only benefit those in high level collegiate sports, and tends to ignore other sports, like the 40 club sports at Indiana University. When asked about how new collegiate funding ideas would affect smaller sports, Clavio noted that a lot of lower level sports could see major cuts.

“The NCAA has been throwing everything they can at trying to get some kind of antitrust exemption or some kind of carve out from the government because if they don’t get that…it’s going to be a fundamental reorganization of a lot of what we see in college athletics where you could see a lot of college athletic programs kind of convert back down to what we would consider to be ‘Club Status’.”

Due to the underfunding of collegiate club sports, athletes like Peter Faust, a club lacrosse player at IU, have had to sacrifice personal time and money to the sports that are played. 

“Club sports run pretty similarly but lacrosse in particular is rather expensive to be a part of. Each member of the team owes dues each semester and that only covers field time and travel. The uniforms and their equipment are further expenses out of their pockets.”

Without funding from the university, athletes that want to continue to play the sport they love continue to cost them. Although the high level sports seem like an unattainable schedule, Andrew Gus, IU Club Hockey Forward Coach, does not think that they are all that different. 

“We practice 4 days a week and have to travel on weekends. We have given up on some big things in college because we had to travel that weekend, but it’s all worth it. It would be nice to see the school compensate for that.”

Gus also acknowledges the discrepancy between the recognition that some sports get over others and what the university chooses to prioritize, in terms of media coverage. 

“Look at the football team right now, it is awesome. But the hockey team won the national championship last season and not as many people know about that. The school could have helped with spreading that news.”

NIL has greatly affected the culture when it comes to collegiate sports, in both positive and negative ways. However, it is notable that club sports and the lower level division sports may face many challenges due to this new era in college athletics.

People on the street speak their mind about whether NIL is fair for club level sports and consider the effects that a lack of funding could have. Multiple perspectives were administered during the afternoon interviews.

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By: Maddi Sponsel, Sophia Galvanek, Gavin Worrel

Name. Image. Likeness. 3 words that have engulfed the college sports world in the past 4 years. The once thought of dream idea for college athletes to be compensated for their identity has come true and has provided unique impacts for smaller sports but funding could soon become a problem.

Grace Urbanski is a student photo intern with the Cuban Center and is majoring in sports media at Indiana University. She also is the director of the Little 500 network and a media school ambassador. Grace covers all 24 sports at Indiana University as part of her job and can say for certain that more popular sports like football receive way more sponsorships compared to less revenue-generating sports like field hockey. Grace thinks that NIL is a phenomenal opportunity for athletes to be rewarded for their efforts and time invested in sports. She constantly sees that NIL allows athletes to showcase their personalities, how they play on the field, and community engagement, which is extremely beneficial for them.

Grace also talks about how teammates often repost each other’s NIL deals on social media, showing a supportive environment. She also highlights that the Little 500 network, which is not an NCAA Division 1 team, has a stronger team bond as they participate for the love of the game rather than the financial gain aspect. “This lack of sponsorship opportunities in Little 500 makes their team bonds more genuine and unified,” says Grace Urbanski. She also states that non NCAA division teams are still working just as hard if not harder. 

Ara Cowper is a social media intern in the Championships and Alliances department. She was a former student athlete at Indiana University where she was on the rowing team and also an intern at the Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology where she worked with the social media team. She remembers during her junior year that NIL became more of a significant thing in terms of having to have training with each team and talked about how you want to represent yourself. They explained to her that this is how she could get deals. Ara states that during her senior year, “It became a much bigger conversation”, more stories and more publicity came out for college athletes.

Ara also mentions that out of 70-80 rowers, only she and one other teammate had NIL deals. Ara explains because rowing is a newer sport and there aren’t many rowers that NIL did not really affect her but she found it really cool to see it grow and her experiences that she had that involved a couple deals. Ara Cowper discusses her NIL deals, including one with Bloomington Bagel Company and her participation in the IU NIL store. She was also part of the third cohort of the Meta-NIL Empower group, a program focused on branding, career development, and NIL strategies. She explains how her understanding of NIL and social media strategy evolved, allowing her to better navigate and leverage NIL deals. For these applications, Ara says “you have to turn in your social media profiles and talk about why you would be good for the deal”. After getting rejected twice, she was finally accepted in her last year of college. Ara also went through many mental and physical struggles as she got injured plenty of times in rowing, and thinks it’s really important to emphasize and talk about these things. To get through these struggles, she got a guinea pig and this became her niche because people would come up to her and say “you’re the rower with the guinea pig”. Ara also emphasizes “college athletics never stay the same”, It is always changing and she found it interesting to see how all this played out because at the beginning there were not a lot of rules around it. 

Galen Clavio is an Associate Professor in the Media School at Indiana University, where he serves as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and the Director of the Sports Media program. Clavio discussed the Supreme Court’s decision on NIL 4 years ago, which marked a turning point for the NCAA. With these changes occurring in college athletics relating to name, image, and likeness rights, more proposed settlements can redefine financial structures for athletes. He says that this is all influenced by “ongoing legal challenges and shifting cultural dynamics in college sports”. But with this comes challenges. The NCAA is struggling to maintain financial control over college athletics. With growing external pressures to compensate athletes directly that matches their market value. Clavio also adds that legal challenges may also hurt their attempts to regulate payments to players, this complicates future settlements.

Clavio addresses that similar to past unsuccessful attempts to impose restrictions, the NCAA “efforts to limit athlete compensation face legal challenges” because the courts always rule against limiting earnings in college sports. He also talks about how many athletic departments are required to find significant funds for NIL payments, which is proposed at $22 million per year. This strains budgets that are already struggling to keep up. Clavio says this leads to potential cuts in other sports making it tough to make decisions about where to allocate these resources and ensuring it is all balanced between various sports programs while also complying with NIL regulations. Clavio also goes into detail about how bigger schools can offer more financial resources for NIL than others. This creates disadvantages for smaller programs that can not compete financially, creating a decline in their athletic competitiveness.

Interview video of people on the street in Bloomington, Indiana about NIL. People were interviewed about their thoughts on equal access to NIL and how budgets could be effect.

By Sophia Trout, Sukari Williams and Molly Wrightsman

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5, 2024)

“BALLS UP” yelled Josephine’s teammate. As she looked up, it seemed as if she watched the ball hit the floor in slow motion. She looked around to see disappointment on her teammate’s faces as that was the point that just lost their entire season. The look on their faces portrayed the way she had felt all season, disappointed.

Josephine Mulligan had just transferred to Indiana Northwest University after playing three years of volleyball at Keiser University. After she transferred, she realized that the promises she was guaranteed were just broken promises. Josephine was not taken care of physically or mentally.

“Being a college athlete has definitely taken a toll on my mental health,” Mulligan said. “My first college had great counselors who helped me through my anxieties and struggles learning how to live away from home. My second college did not have that and it took a huge toll on me to the point where I had to leave.” As a college athlete, outside audiences do not often associate these athletes with having mental health struggles nor do they realize the intense amount of pressure they are put under everyday.

In June of 2021, college sports changed tremendously. In prior years, getting money as a college athlete would cause these athletes to lose their eligibility. However, after the Supreme Court ruled against NCAA v. Alston, all of this changed. College athletes are now able to earn money based on Name, Image, and Likeness, also referred to as NIL.  “The idea was that athletes don’t have intrinsic value and the NCAA and its members believed that so strongly that they thought the whole thing would go away by not providing that level of support, ” said Dr. Galen Clavio, an NIL expert at Indiana University, during a press conference. “The opposite has occurred.” Many athletes have taken advantage of NIL and are using it as an opportunity to succeed in the media world.

The NCAA is still figuring out the rules and regulations surrounding NIL. “You have to present yourself as an individual,” Clavio said. You cannot wear the logo of your school when in an NIL situation, unless the school has partnered with you. This is just one of the many rules the NCAA has created thus far.

Athletes before NIL were worrying about playing time and trying to go professional as that would be the only way they could make money playing a sport. However, NIL has now created additional pressures on these athletes which could potentially have detrimental effects. “There are a lot of outside expectations that people may have of you,” Brady Simmons, a football player at IU, said during an interview. “There are a lot of internal pressures like wanting to please your family and impress your coaches.”

College athletes already are putting pressure on themselves to perform well- is NIL only going to make this issue worse?

Not only is extreme pressure applied to perform well on the court or field, but also on social media platforms. Since the pandemic in 2020, mental health in college athletes has continuously and rapidly decreased. According to the National Athletic Trainer’s Association, adding NIL pressure can be too much for athletes and put their mental health at risk. NIL does have its pros, including helping athletes financially, however, putting too much pressure on an athlete to secure NIL deals can lead to burn out (Sitzler et al., 2023).

NIL is not only affecting mental health, but can also cause friction between teammates. “I definitely think NIL can affect relationships if teammates are not getting the same opportunities, but I also think that comes with every job in life,” Mulligan said. Some sporting programs are a close knit community where NIL may not affect teammates’ bonds. “At the end of the day when you have a place like this, a good support system, and a good group of people that you surround yourself with everyday, money is kind of the last thing on your mind,” Simmons said. Every school’s sporting community is different, so NIL can influence teams differently.

Each athlete has a different experience with NIL. Many only hear the good things, so it is important to understand the risks that come along with NIL. For Josephine Mulligan, when she was struggling with her mental health, due to added pressure, her school unfortunately did not provide the resources to help her get through it. Now that NIL is rapidly growing, each school must have counselors for athletes so they do not get put in the same situation as Mulligan. If NIL is used correctly, it can be a great tool for athletes to have, but if not, it can put their lives at risk and potentially ruin their love for the game.

Student’s on Indiana University’s campus tell their thoughts and opinions about how NIL is affecting college athletes. NIL has added extra pressure to athletes to perform not only well in their sport, but also on social media.

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The Hidden Cost of NIL: Stagnant Growth in Varsity Sports

By Oliver Carr, Aparna Krishnan, Liam Greene

BLOOMINGTON, IN (Nov. 5th, 2024)

As the sun begins to set over the Sembower Recreational Sports Complex, the golden sunlight highlights the mounting pressure that begins to take its toll on the Indiana University Lacrosse team. In the midst of a chaotic, lung-busting and end-to-end game, the undefeated Michigan State Spartans begin to assemble what looks like the game-winning attack. In that moment, IU buckles down and makes a crucial defensive stop, and as IU are urged on by a rowdy, and record breaking crowd of 300, they rush to counter-attack.  With three seconds remaining on the clock, that crowd of 300 go crazy as IU scores to knock off the undefeated Spartans.

It’s a sporting moment in time, a moment that deserves so much more. More than the 300 diehard fans who stand in lieu of proper seating. It deserves more than to be played at the Sembower Recreational Sports Field, a nice field, but it’s a venue typically reserved for intramural sports. It’s a moment deserving of lights, cameras and reporters clamoring for interviews with the winning goalscorer. It’s a statement win, deserving of a NCAA Division Ⅰ program. Unfortunately, Division I programs aren’t formed from those moments of sporting magic, or the spirit of the players, it requires a variety of factors, chiefly among them student interest, and a whole lot of money.

While the lacrosse team doesn’t control IU’s athletic department finances, according to Logan LeGrett, a junior midfielder for IU Lacrosse, thinks they can certainly hold up their end of the deal, “Lacrosse is in a good spot to be elevated,” LeGrett said. “The team is good, and we’d be playing in the best conference.” One of the biggest roadblocks for any sport looking to elevate the need for brand new facilities.  LeGrett recognized this and believed it to be a non-issue, “There’s not much specific to lacrosse that you need to add.” LeGrett said. “We can just use the soccer field, we play at odd times already, so we wouldn’t really cause them any problems.” Playing at the Bill Armstrong Stadium is a common dream among players and supporters alike, according to LeGrett, “Playing at the soccer stadium would be awesome, much nicer for us and the fans, nice field, nice facility.

So all that stands in the way of lacrosse’s ascension to NCAA Division I is money. Money that is now more scarce in the wake of the 2021 U.S Supreme Court decision about collegiate athlete’s name, image and likeness rights. (NIL) That money seems to be moving away from athletic departments, and into the hands of athletes. The vast majority of revenue comes from success in football and basketball, and athletic departments will need to pay to stay competitive. Galen Clavio, director of the National Sports Journalism Institute believes this to be a grim side effect of NIL,   “The unfortunate truth is that most athletic departments now have to pay this $22 million a year in NIL money, and they have no additional revenue streams: all of the money is already spoken for,” Clavio said, “Which is probably going to result in a lot of cuts in athletic departments in what are perceived as non-essential areas.”

That’s not all, NIL is even causing those already spoken for revenue streams to start to dry up. Before NIL, donors, often referred to as boosters, would donate their money directly to the athletic departments.  Those same boosters that once lined the pockets of athletic departments are now being funneled into NIL collectives, organizations that are ensuring that the prominent players make their money. Jeremy Gray, senior associate athletic director for strategic communications at Indiana University has witnessed this problem first hand. “The athletics departments feel a little hard done,” Gray said. “Their money is starting to dry up.” 

What the future holds for collegiate sports in a world post NIL remains to be seen, but it’s already showing to have far reaching effects. For lacrosse, it’s made their outlook significantly dimmer in the new NIL landscape, but they’ll keep fighting to take their sport into the limelight of Division I. So for now, they’ll keep knocking off schools who seem to have much more to offer to their respective clubs, marauding around the country on their own dime and playing the sport they love. They’ll do it not for the money, but for the simple love of the feeling moments like scoring a last second winner bring to them.

Many people falsely claim that its destroying the integrity of college sports, and many blindly think its doing only good. In reality,  NIL is an extremely complex issue, that has both positives and negatives.

By Kol Popkin, Carter Moran and Erika Watt

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5, 2024)

Kai Connor massages his temples as he looks over the list of multiple colleges that have reached out to him for the third time. The countless years of memories on track teams throughout his life playing in his head. Alabama, IU, Purdue, Columbia, and more had invited him for unofficial visits offering him differing athletic scholarships and promises. Ideas of money, publicity, and deals swarmed his mind, the dim lighting of his room starting a slight headache. Connor knew prospects of making money off of himself in college could be a genuine factor in picking his future.

His fingers tapping the desk as he took in every coach and teammate’s opinion that’s been said to him. Through all the confusion of the picking and choosing recruitment process, the only thing that provided clarity was remembering his love for running. The dedication and passion he’d put in to get where he is today further leading his motivation to continue past high school. With his competitive nature and love for track, he finally knew what college he wanted to pick and why. 

In 2021, the NCAA changed its rules to allow college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. Taking away these restrictions after so many years of them being in place left many athletes and professionals in the field questioning whether this will change the motivation of athletes. Will effort levels decrease or increase if the ability to make money is available to them? Are athletes performing for the wrong reasons? We talked to multiple athletic experts on their understanding and thoughts on this.

Junior track and cross country runner at University of Alabama, Kai Connor, shared his own NIL experience and gave us his take on how making money affects college athletes. He has had involvement in deals with brands such as Reebok, CVS, and HeyDude. With the many opinions surrounding enjoyment, motivation, and pressure with NIL, we asked him how he thinks deals have affected the way athletes enjoy they’re sport. Connor said, “Not too many downsides when it comes to making money because that’s how it always should’ve been. You always should’ve been able to promote yourself on your own and reach out to companies. In sports you can only have a certain amount of scholarships, but now with NIL you can put more kids on full scholarships which is helpful. Taking away financial stress definitely increases being able to enjoy your sport.” While it could be believed that having the ability to make money at a younger age would add more pressure, Connor highlights how helpful NIL can be with financial burdens for college students. The recruitment process is also very controversial given schools that can offer more money would get the best players. However, players’ reasoning for picking colleges and motivation for their sport cab be a lot more complex than that. We see that in Connor’s situation. Knowing Alabama just finished 4th in the nation last year in track and is a top 10 program in cross country, Connor came to be pushed athletically. He said, “I wanted to be challenged, you know I didn’t want to be like the best guy coming in. It definitely makes you compete harder.” He further points out that his reasoning for picking such a competitive program was related to passion and work. 

As well as track, NIL deals are very popular in football. We interviewed IU Bloomington’s backup quarterback Tyler Cherry. He described how since he’s only a freshman, his personal experience is limited. However, he still has a lot to say around the controversy of college athletes making additional money. When asked if he thinks NIL deals will impact the future of college athletics he said, “I think NIL deals are the entire future of college athletics. I think that’ll affect a lot of recruiting situations if the schools are close, like whoever offers more money might end up getting the recruit to come to their school.” Cherry believes, like many others do, starting to make money at that age will affect the process surrounding applying and choosing schools for high school seniors. However, his beliefs for college athletes such as himself differ. While he believes NIL has completely changed the game of football, when he was asked if he feels NIL opportunities have affected his motivation to compete he said no. “I approach it the same, just want to do my best and if you’re playing good you can get some opportunities. I think some athletes may be more focused on NIL, but it doesn’t really affect the way you train. Like in high school, it’s just football that you love to do and want to do. But in addition to that, you can make good money and get opportunities off the field.” This simple statement describes how love for a sport can outweigh money-making aspects. 

Many professionals working in the athletic area believe regardless of the motivation behind someone’s work, they have the right to be able to make money off of themselves. This is the case with Galen Clavio, professor at Indiana University and NIL expert. He said, “Everybody in this room as an adult has rights of publicity. You have the right to profit off of your name, what you look like, and how your likeness is utilized within any form of media or advertising or business.” It could be said that the age of college athletes is too immature to be able to make a certain amount of money. That they’re too impressionable and may prioritize the potential deals that could be made instead of their passion for the sport. However, does that make it okay for other people to decide if they can or can’t brand themselves? Clavio believes this is a right that already exists and is not granted, “This is not a case of new rights being granted to college athletes. It is instead the removal of restrictions that were being imposed by college athletic departments upon college athletes. Essentially telling those people you do not get the same rights as the other people that are college students.” Athletes like Tyler Cherry and Kai Connor uphold this notion that the passion for a sport exceeds the prospect of making money in college. This freshman football player and junior track competitor provide the same insights that getting deals is just an additional prospect to the hard work, dedication, and commitment put into college athletics. In addition to the fact that according to Clavio, this restricted right should be given regardless of the motivation. These professionals point to incentive and effort not being an issue within NIL.

Interviewees express their opinions on NIL. They explain why or why not they like NIL, along with how they think it affects a college athlete’s motivation for their sport.

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By Jon-Duke Rogers, Sterling Thomas and Kaela Winfield

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (November 5, 2024)

You’ve just won the D1 women’s hockey national championship—the first time in your school’s history that a women’s team has achieved this. It’s the highlight of your life. You’ve trained since you were five years old, often as the only girl on a team of boys. You’ve driven twenty hours just to be seen by a female scout, as scouts rarely come to watch girls play. Finally, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. While this moment signifies a victory for you and your team, it also exposes a gap in how women’s sports are treated. The men’s team had also won, and for them there was a parade; for them, there was a statue. That is the truth Taylor Kinkade had to share with us.

Women’s sports are at an all-time high in terms of interest as athletes like Caitlin Clarke pioneer and usher in a new era. However, that is not the issue at hand; the issue is Indiana University’s unwillingness to be pioneers themselves. Despite offering 24 D1 sports, a noticeable gap still exists: men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s hockey, and men’s volleyball are missing. Ironically, each of these sports is more widely represented across Indiana colleges than water polo, which IU does offer as a D1 sport. The main issues that arise when these sports are offered only as club sports are the lack of mental health care, funding, and educational support.

Richie Fleming, a senior on IU’s club lacrosse team, echoes the same attitudes as almost all of the club athletes we talked to; they do not attend Indiana University because it has a great program for the sport they are interested in or because they want to go pro. They play club sports because that is their passion.

When asked if not having NIL opportunities affected his motivation or commitment to his sport in any way, Fleming stated, “No, if I were getting paid I would be happier to do it, but I play lacrosse because I enjoy it, not for any compensation.” He continued to explain that there isn’t really a point in playing a club sport if you don’t enjoy it, as there isn’t much hope for a professional career or anything else.

Fleming believes that the NIL ruling has not really impacted the club sport environment at IU, claiming it’s always been an uphill battle. It is the clubs’ responsibility during the season to handle everything themselves: raising money, covering fees, and managing expenses, without support from the university. “We get it done, whether that means having to practice in the rain or beg people to donate—we always find a way,” Fleming states.

The funding of club sports is a key aspect of their mistreatment. The IU Club Sports Association gives each sport a small stipend, and in the case of the lacrosse team, it only covers around two months of practice; for the men’s hockey team, it covers five ice skating sessions. The school claims this money is the perfect amount, yet it doesn’t even last the preseason for each sport, often because they have to rent practice spaces.

Fleming believes that IU could be more flexible with funding for the teams while also providing them access to better facilities. “There aren’t many indoor practice facilities, so they are required to take what they can get. Sometimes practices go from midnight to 1:30 A.M. The staff that runs these events is also unreliable, sometimes causing games to have to be relocated or just canceled altogether, which is bad because it’s other club sports that are paying to travel here, and then we just have to say sorry and hope we can reschedule and they can get some of their money back.”

Ryan Berke, a sophomore at IU, played professional hockey for a year after high school. He loved it, but in the end, he knew he’d have to go to college. IU’s Kelley School of Business is one of the best in the country, so there was no hesitation—he knew that’s where he wanted to go. He was crushed when he found out there was no D1 hockey team at IU. He decided to join the club team and has since become one of the most active members and a key player in most games.

“We play at a local ice rink; it’s not small but also not large, yet we almost always sell out. That’s the craziest part—the issue isn’t that there is no interest; it’s that higher-ups just choose to act like no one cares and that we are just another one of the hundreds of clubs at IU,” Berke explained.

The issue of hockey at IU is often a topic of discussion. Research shows that IU sells nine different styles of officially licensed hockey jerseys, each costing a minimum of $100, yet there is no official IU team, and the club team receives none of that revenue. Jerseys are a challenge in themselves; the club team has to design and produce their own to sell them for profit. Each design, however, must be pre-approved and inspected by IU athletics, along with a fee paid to the IU Club Sports Association for the use of IU symbols.

Both Berke and Fleming were asked about their experience as club sport athletes at IU. Overall, they are not given the same access to support as IU athletes: they receive no special accommodations, no extra food, no special tutors, and, worse, they are told that it’s up to the professors’ discretion if they are allowed to miss class. They are required to fill out a form similar to IU athletes to inform teachers of missed classes. However, unlike IU athletes, professors are allowed to deny the form and mark them as absent and unexcused.

“That’s another thing that just isn’t fair. I know plenty of athletes, and the amount of special care they get is insane. I often end up tutoring the other guys, and we have big study sessions because, of course, school comes first. It’s just not fair that we can do everything right, and then it’s in the hands of the teacher,” Berke says.

Taylor Kinkade is a D1 women’s hockey player at Adrian College in Michigan. Despite the school’s Division 3 status, the hockey teams compete at the highest level. Recently, she and her team won the National Championship and were honored with a ring ceremony. However, their celebration pales in comparison to that of their male counterparts, who were recognized with a ring ceremony, a rock statue, and a parade. According to Kinkade, this unfair treatment is nothing new, as she says, “Growing up, I’m used to being the only woman. This time, it just hurt a lot more because it wasn’t a matter of ‘They are just better than you’; it was a matter of ‘We just care more about them for doing the same thing.’” Kinkade shared her experience as a woman in a male-dominated sport, highlighting several differences. For example, the women’s team has a two-stick limit, while the men’s team has an unlimited stick policy. Additionally, she noted that the women had to drive 18 hours to compete in a tournament, whereas the boys flew to their tournament last year.

Kinkade believes that right now is the perfect time for women’s sports to be awarded for their dedication to their sport, as all eyes are on them. She and her team did what people deemed impossible and wanted to keep the momentum going. Recently, in August 2023, the Professional Women’s Hockey League was founded. As the first professional women’s hockey league, its creation has sparked the conversation of making women’s hockey a bigger deal at larger universities.

“Bigger schools decide that having women in sports is too hard, so they shut it down at the root. We can’t have the ‘Why is there not a women’s hockey or lacrosse team’ conversation if there is never a hockey or lacrosse team to begin with,” Kinkade stated.

By demoting D1 sports to club sports at IU, not only does it impact the athletes directly by not offering them the proper support, whether financially or mentally, but it also impacts women’s sports more heavily as a whole. By choosing to remove themselves from the conversations surrounding those sports entirely, IU is not only leaving their students at a disadvantage—they are choosing to stay behind in an era of massive change.

It is the job of Indiana University to treat all sports as equal and to offer all D1 sports in order to create a safe and equal environment for all athletes, regardless of gender. It starts at the root, and in order to be on the same playing field and have women’s equality in sports, we first have to have equality in what sports are represented at IU.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WpNGwarepQ

In mid-October, everyday students on Indiana University’s campus were asked how they personally viewed the life college athletes. The students shared their perspectives on the challenges, expectations, and lifestyles they believe college athletes experience at IU.

By Caitlin Murphy, Skylar Sutton and Jaycie Cress

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5. 2024)

Crowds are gathered at Indiana Memorial Stadium, thousands of people are decked out in red and white face paint, and striped overalls. The stands have filled exponentially over the course of the football team’s undefeated 9-0 winning streak. Fans ranging from students and staff to alumni and fans from around the country fill in the stands in anticipation of seeing a good football game. Each person in these stands are expecting more from the football players than they have in years past. Because of this unexpected, undefeated winning streak, Indiana has become more popular in the sports industry and its athletes are gathering more prosperity and popularity than they have in the past.

Big Noon, Barstool and College Game Day arrive at Indiana University all in the same season, shocking college football fans from all over the country. Giving IU more recognition in the football world on social media, moving unsuspecting people to root for them and their strong efforts of working well as a team to have a good season. Raising the question: How are these athletes getting recognized for their accomplishments?

College athletes, for many years, were accustomed to getting scholarships to play their sport at specific schools that wanted them. The talent the recruiters saw was put in place to give the athletes money to play the sport for the school; making them better athletes. However, just a few years ago, the NCAA put out a new approach on how athletes should be able to handle their money.

In a transformative shift for college athletics, the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreement, set on July 1st, 2021, has revolutionized how college athletes monetize their personal brands, how it has shifted the strategy of recruitment, and how it has raised questions regarding the fairness of the sports. As the universities and NCAA adapt to this new reality, the landscape of college athletics is rapidly changing.

Just a few weeks ago Dr. Galen Clavio, director of the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University, conducted a “news conference” in the C250 lecture hall to provide information about NIL to hundreds of students. Clavio answered multiple questions from students who gained insight from an industry professional that provided the basics the students were grateful to hear. “IU is selling out games, not because they have a popular NIL base, or overly known players, it is simply because they have a good team,” Clavio said to the students.

While NIL is well regarded for most colleges and their athletes, not all are seen the same on the basis of distribution of money and the use put to the promotions of the athletes. Giving them more leeway into doing what they want with the money they get from NIL, providing a fan base of people who like the sponsorships they do or the commercials they are in, and leading people to buying tickets to their games. This pushes the focus of college athletics into a popularity contest with the promotions they can get from the money provided from playing for that particular school, rather than by just playing. Isaiah Jones, a redshirt sophomore linebacker at IU said, “[NIL] has made college athletics as close to professional sports as possible, because now players are getting played to play.” He explains how he chose Indiana from the beginning when the transfer portal wasn’t directly affecting him and most players. However, Jones explained, “The NIL will affect where players want to play, the portal, and how coaches recruit.”

NIL has changed the way sports are played and viewed, shifting the landscape to something bigger and broader than just playing sports. Looking toward the future, while this is seen in more well-known colleges, the NIL is expanding and is subject to change as it grows within the realm of sports. Yet, this hasn’t been seen at smaller private schools such as Princeton, where the players do not get the same benefits for doing the same sports as the athletes at schools with NIL. But, there is still time for the NCAA’s decision to make its way over to them. Overall we have seen how this shift in the landscape of college athletics has prospered with the influx of deals and sponsorships and how this will continue to grow as different sports that were once underrated become more popular.

On October 20, 2024, Indiana University students shared their opinion on the NIL ruling. Past and present students were asked about what they know about NIL in general and how they think it will affect college athletes in the future. 

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• By Grace Selesky, Zachary Thompson, Nick Milentis

BLOOMIINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5, 2024) –Breathing in the cold air, heart racing, game face on with a stick in hand, ready to break the tie and make the last shot on goal. The roars of the exciting game can be heard from outside the energized stadium. Sophia Hoover tightens up her grip holding her hockey stick, and makes a move. Her nerves are piercing through her body, as she attempts to beat the clock with fifteen seconds remaining. She makes her way toward the net with the help of her teammates, and goes for the shot. 

A brief silence breaks throughout the entire arena as the buzzer blares, awaiting to see if Hoover’s shot was a success. The entire crowd and team jump to their feet, erupting in celebration for the team, they celebrate Hoover’s shot, breaking the tie for the game.  After the game, Hoover took to social media to celebrate her team’s big win. As a current freshman at St. Catherine’s University, she has seen how social media plays a big role with athletes Name, Image, and likeness deals and profits. “For me as a woman in a collegiate sport the main difference between men and women’s sports isn’t competition or skill, it’s the way we get treated outside the game. In today’s society we solely run our lives through social media”, said Hoover. She is not someone who currently receives profit off of her sport, Hoover knows a lot about the gender gap that is currently at place with men and women’s sports. “Women’s sports get little to no recognition for the work in the game, therefore, no matter the results no one knows. You will see numerous accounts and posts catering to men’s sports giving them all the focus win or lose”, Hoover said. 

Name, Image, Likeness, more famously known as NIL, grants high school and college athlete the opportunity and rights to be able to profit off of their own personal image. NIL allows these athletes to be able to profit off of endorsement deals, merchandising sales, advertisements, and social media sponsorships and partnerships. Although Hoover is not part of the percentage that gains profit from NIL deals yet in her career, she sees how big of an impact it has made on other athletes, changing the way we view athletes today than ever before, with most of this attention coming from social media.

Social media has also played a huge role in the likeness of athletes and different sports getting recognized more easily on a daily basis. This can be a breaking point for many athletes of today, as keeping up with their social media can be tremendously beneficial for their image as an athlete. The media is a simple and quick way of finding your favorite player on the team on social media to keep updated with them and their sport. This seems like a factor that would make the gender gap more equal, but with the more renown men’s sports having more viewership, the reality of this is going to put these sports at an advantage for their personal NIL.

NIL has also recently began to be taught in high schools and colleges. With the way the media and society is changing, it has become a vital part to teaching and learning today. Recently, Dr. Galen Clavio spoke to a Story Lab 1 class and discussed his thoughts about NIL. As we know, college sports are becoming more popular as they are publicized, and using the athletes image to help promote the school gives the opportunity to reach larger demographics and a wider audience. Dr. Clavio, along with his many other roles here, is a Sports Media Professor, and has seen and heard an immense amount of different NIL deals, including with the gender gap. Even with the most popular women’s sports, they are still not even with the men’s version of the same sport. Clavio said, “There is clearly a ground swell of spectator interest in women’s sports from where we were 10 years ago, even 5 years ago. I think that was probably always going to occur as media became more decentralized.” Media is growing everyday, and although the gender gap has gotten better, we sometimes do not even realize how most of us view men’s sports publicity more than women’s.

Indiana University Athletics have recently gotten a much wider audience as of this year, with the football team currently being undefeated. This has led to leaving the other fall sports being left in the dark, even the other men’s sports. Jose Torres, a player on the school’s rugby team, has not gotten much recognition as deserved. Torres knows and understands the gap, even being in a men’s sport. “It all ties into that intensity factor. I’m sure football athletes are paid higher here than basketball athletes and it’s just because they bring more heads to the stadium,” Torres said. Although Torres understands fully why the football team has such a big audience currently, he wishes the other sports, that could be doing just as well, could be seen in such a spotlight, compared to the other men’s and especially women’s sports.

Social media has had the biggest impact on athletes and sports as we know today, the use of social media has increased their athletic accomplishments. Although this helps many athletes every year, the gender gap still involved within this leaves women’s sports in the shadow a lot of the time. NIL deals are much more than just a brand deal, they bring a whole new image to athletes and their career.

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