This article brings up a very recent approach that one university has taken to allow their athletes to gain income from NIL deals. In this case though the focus is not on specific athletes, rather it’s on the team as a whole. I believe this approach to NIL can give a team great advantages as far as comradery, and overall team motivation, and I hope to learn the goals of their approach specifically.
From the moment it was announced that college athletes would be able to earn money off their name, image, and likeness, everyone knew that the collegiate athletics landscape would change forever. However, it’s hard to imagine anyone predicting that a university’s football program would start wearing QR codes on their helmets leading fans to a donation page to the team’s general fund.
With college football’s stars earning exponentially more in NIL than offensive and defensive linemen, Oklahoma State‘s general fund could be very beneficial for helping recruit players at less star-studded positions. Even at Alabama or Georgia, an offensive lineman isn’t very likely to secure many brand deals, so a team fund that gets distributed to the lesser-known players could be very enticing.
That said, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy insists that this will be more impactful for the fans than anyone else.
In an official statement from Oklahoma State football, Gundy said, “This is a revolutionary step forward to help keep Oklahoma State football ahead of the game.” He continued, “It gives a chance for everyday fans across the world to have a real impact when it comes to supporting the NIL efforts for Cowboy football.”
As stated earlier, the money from this fund would likely go to helping non-skill position players earn money that they wouldn’t be able to get from NIL deals. This should entice more players at these positions to pick Oklahoma State in the future, but that likely won’t be for a few years, and only if this general fund winds up earning those players serious compensation (Hoefling, 2024).
I believe this article has a great deal to show on how NIL deals can be profitable to everyone and not just the ‘star’ athletes on a team. Even though at the end of the article they mention that this will “entice more players…to pick Oklahoma State”, I think that this may have applications that all teams at all universities should adopt (Hoefling, 2024). “Lesser-Known” players are given this opportunity and I find it commendable that at a large university, like Oklahoma State, would give ALL players a chance to get a piece of the pie (Hoefling, 2024). I also find it interesting that the coach Mike Gundy states that this will “be more impactful for the fans than anyone else”, even though this money is going towards athletes (Hoefling, 2024). The thought behind this is that it gives the fans a direct line of impact on these athletes that would otherwise would have wall placed between them. Given that the goal and impact of this simple intervention, QR codes, has created a win-win solution for athletes and fans, how can design create simple interventions that have two fold solutions that help everyone involved?
Source
Hoefling, J. (2024, August 20). Oklahoma State football to wear QR codes on helmets for Team Nil Fund. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/big12/2024/08/20/oklahoma-state-football-helmets-qr-codes-nil-fund/74874757007/
