The NCAA started allowing NIL deals in 2021 and has since made them easier for athletes to receive | NCAA clipart
Name, image, and likeness deals have become such a mess that President Donald Trump promised earlier this month to soon issue an executive order on the matter, according to CNBC.
NIL deals have turned college sports into a sub-professional NFL or NBA, detracting from the purpose of athletics at educational institutions. Hillsdale should prohibit its athletes from entering into NIL contracts.
The NCAA began allowing NIL deals in the summer of 2021. Athletes enter into NIL deals to promote a product or business using their persona, such as former University of Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers’s Gatorade deal. While some schools require student-athletes to seek authorization to keep them from promoting alcohol or drug products, it is mostly the decision of the athlete, according to ESPN. They may also hire personal professional help for marketing, law, and other aspects of business.
Collegiate sports are necessarily different from their professional counterparts. The aim must be education. While one of their goals is winning, the ultimate goal is learning. Colleges need sports because they shape the minds, souls, and bodies of their players, teaching them invaluable skills such as perseverance and teamwork while fostering camaraderie within the student body.
For athletes in professional sports, the goal is to win. There is no other target, and winning leads to more recognition and more contracts. This is everything, and all time, talents, and resources are devoted to this business model. Learning and education are not the purpose of professional sports, but NIL contracts are making college sports look increasingly pro.
Some of these deals total millions of dollars. University of Texas quarterback Arch Manning has an estimated NIL deal of $6.8 million, University of Miami quarterback Carson Beck has an estimated NIL deal of $4.3 million, and Ohio State University wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has an estimated $4.2 million in NIL for the 2025-26 academic year, according to Sports Illustrated. By comparison, the average NFL salary for the 2025 season was $5.2 million, according to Sports Illustrated.
Hillsdale College’s sports are necessary to the education Hillsdale offers because only so much can be learned in a classroom. You can read about how to be a good leader, but you can live it and learn it on a field or a court. Someone can tell you the importance of determination and endurance, but you only truly learn this in the last leg of the race. These experiences do not replace the classroom but enhance it.
Allowing Hillsdale student-athletes to participate in NIL contracts would corrupt the nature of Hillsdale’s athletics. It would cause a conflict for the student-athletes over what their job is — is it being a student and benefiting the school through their athletic achievements, or is it representing the blue and white while being paid by institutions outside the college? NIL would shift the focus of sports from education to a professional model.
Do not professionalize Hillsdale’s athletics. Let them retain their liberal arts purpose.
