Lets talk NIL (June 2025)
Being relalistic
In case people do not know NIL stands for 'name, image, and likeness" and it has been in the news a great deal lately.
The courts have decided schools must pay student athletes to use their name, image or likeness to benefit the school, sports, or other ways. As a result money is now available to those athletes above and beyond their scholarships. But what does that mean for the college golfer and how it should be considered when being recruited?
To begin with, we have to remember that college golf is a non-revenue sport. As we already know football and basketball are the showcase sports in college, especially D-I schools.The amount of alumni support for those sports is always much greater and those athletes are more visible and valuable to the school and to a potential contributor or supporter. As you can see, that's where the money will be.
If we were to guess, in each recruiting glass of junior golfers, only a very few highly ranked players will see any NIL money. Oh sure, there will be maybe a half dozen that make headlines but because golf is small, very few schools will have any NIL money for the golf teams. There will exceptions because there is a deep pocket donor that is supportive, but not many.
So bottom line, whether you are top ranked or not, do not use the possibility of NIL money as a deciding factor, it's not going to make you play better, get better grades, or set you up for life. As you remember we talked about the items that make you a "best fit" for the school and team. Because there is not going to be hardly any NIL money in golf to begin with, that's a reason right there. Go where you can play, the team will make you better and don't believe the rumors.
For a great talk, pay attention to the AJGA website for when they post the video discussion about the NIL.