NIL deals reaching new heights after historic Sun Devil football season
TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — After a historic football season, ASU athletics officials say name, image and likeness deals are reaching new levels for the Sun Devils.
NIL gives athletes the legal right to get paid for their name, image, and likeness. According to the department, football players had some deals at the beginning of the season, but there was a significant uptick as the season progressed.
Whether it was a commercial, poster, apparel, or even menu items at a local restaurant, the department noticed a huge increase in exposure, support and opportunities in the back half of the season.
As the team generated more wins, like becoming Big 12 champs and being part of the first-ever CFP quarterfinal, Deputy Athletics Director Lisa Young said players and the entire university have been reaping the Cinderella season’s benefits since.
“When you think about the uptick in NIL, it’s also an uptick in ticket interests, season ticket holders, renewals, people who want to be part of ASU and ASU athletics in general. We see more interest in people who want to go to school here,” she explained.
During the historic season, Young and Executive Director of the Sun Devil Club Scott Nelson noticed this boost to key players like Cam Skattebo, especially after his fantastic performance in the Big 12 Championship and the Peach Bowl.
Knowing name, image, and likeness is in an era where successful teams and players could be offered multi-million dollar deals, they said the department is working hard to ensure Sun Devil athletes have as many resources as possible to handle these situations.
“They’re playing at the highest level collegiately at a D1 level and so ensuring that we support them academically, physically, on and off the field, we want to make sure that with and without NIL, they are people first and foremost,” Young said.
“Our Sun Devil club team has tremendous relationships throughout the Valley. We rely on the community’s relationships day in and day out for our success, and it is these relationships we lean on in these moments of time,” Nelson said.
The Sun Devil Club is a nonprofit that helps fund and support Sun Devil athletics. Nelson said this season brought a boost to sponsorship and support, and it’s put the club in a great position to support Sun Devil Football and more.
“We see an increase in donor counts year over year. From where we were just shy of about 30% growth,” Nelson said. “When you have success in football, it bleeds over to the other programs, and we’re starting to see that in real time where we have football supporters certainly stepping up to meet this moment. But it’s starting to spill over into the other 25 programs as well.”
The department said it’s excited to see the momentum carry over the next eight months and see what other NIL opportunities come along before the next football season.
One of the impacts ASU Athletics has started to see is the demand for season tickets.
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