Survey Reveals NIL Money Is An Overwhelming Positive For Athletes

College athletes love making NIL money.

Up until the past couple years, college athletes were banned from making money and earning a living off their name and athleticism. That all changed when NIL rules were passed to allow athletes to make cash off their name, image and likeness. The floodgates were opened and players can now cash in.

One of the issues people against NIL loved to talk about was how it could fracture the locker room. If the QB is making $1 million in NIL money and the offensive line is making peanuts, what will that do to the team's chemistry? Turns out, nobody seems to care.

On3 reported the following on a survey from Bill Carter of Student-Athlete Insights questioning athletes on the issue:


A survey of more than 1,000 student-athletes – including more than 415 Division I football players – found that only 8% of respondents have witnessed NIL causing rifts/tensions or say that it’s a “locker room problem.”
In addition, the survey found that 76% of respondents said they share NIL earnings information with teammates. Furthermore, 78% of those surveyed said teammates have asked them to share information about their NIL earnings.

These NIL results should have been obvious.

This is America. In this great country. You have the right to make money when you're good at something. It's not communist North Korea.

If you're a talented person, you should 100% be able to make some cash. College athletes were banned from that and it was shameful.

Now, they can get rich and it'd be weird if they didn't love it. I'm honestly shocked that even 8% of athletes think it causes problems. It shouldn't cause problems for anyone. You get paid what you're worth. Much like the NFL, an average QB is going to make more money than a star at other positions. That's just what the market dictates.

Also, it wouldn't surprise anyone if some of the highest-paid players were sharing the love. If your offensive line is going to protect you, you need to show your appreciation.

In the NFL, we see QBs buy gifts all the time for the big guys up front. You know similar stuff is happening at the college level. If they're already sharing information, buying a couple dinners or maybe a PS5 would be a drop in the bucket for the biggest names.

While NIL has certainly given college sports a bit of a wild west landscape, overall, young men and women being able to earn money is a great thing. In this country, we celebrate freedom and capitalism. It's great that college athletes can finally partake.

Written by
David Hookstead is a reporter for OutKick covering a variety of topics with a focus on football and culture. He also hosts of the podcast American Joyride that is accessible on Outkick where he interviews American heroes and outlines their unique stories. Before joining OutKick, Hookstead worked for the Daily Caller for seven years covering similar topics. Hookstead is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.