What does a women's sports sponsorship mean for NIL opportunities at Nebraska?

Sarah Weber heard the acronym “NIL” for the first time when she was a freshman in college.

Back then, the Gretna, Nebraska native saw Name, Image and Likeness deals as mostly reserved for sports like football and men’s basketball.

“The NIL opportunities, I think, in women's sports are now becoming more consistent,” Weber said. “I think early on it was more sporadic.”

Weber is a senior on the Nebraska Cornhuskers soccer team. Much of the growth in NIL activities for the soccer team has to do with on-the-field success, she said. Last year’s Huskers finished 17-4-3 before falling in the NCAA quarterfinals to third-ranked Stanford.

That success, along with increasing popularity of women’s college sports across the country, has enabled athletes to grow their brands.

Women’s volleyball and basketball athletes lead the way for commercial NIL deals, while football and men’s basketball players get large sums from collective organizations.

For Weber, her favorite NIL deal so far was a youth soccer camp in Omaha this summer.

“I think that's where it's also super rewarding,” Weber said. “And we're literally just getting NIL opportunities for the things that we do on a daily basis, which is pretty cool. And that makes it super easy for us because, obviously, we love being around the sport. To do an activity that we're so comfortable in, it makes it fun.”

It’s a light-hearted way to utilize her NIL value, Weber said, but social media posts are also a quick and easy money maker.

Companies and female student athletes have been working together more frequently in the last year.

Women playing collegiate sports in the United States increased their NIL revenue by 15% since 2023, according to a July report published by Lincoln-based sports marketing firm Opendorse.

That uptick is just the beginning.

A novel sponsorship

With the 2024-25 sports season already underway, a new sponsorship deal with Husker Athletics will cultivate even more opportunities for women to up their brands.

“Ameritas is going to be a presenting sponsor for all of our women's sports this year,” said Jonthan Bateman, the assistant athletic director for NIL strategy with Husker Athletics. “They're going to be doing some campaigns featuring women's athletes from all of our teams.”

It’s a five-year agreement for an undisclosed amount of money, according to the financial planning company.

President and chief operating officer Sue Wilkinson said its sponsorship aligns with the company’s diversity and inclusion goals.

“The new Ameritas sponsorship symbolizes a strong support for women,” Wilkinson said in a statement. “The sponsorship deal increases chances to develop leadership skills and become role models for youth in our community.”

Surging viewership in women’s sports made the decision timely, a company spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Ameritas wanted to do something all-encompassing, Bateman said.

“This is a really important time in women's sports right now, and they want to highlight that at Nebraska,” Bateman said.

Across the country, events like Volleyball Day in Nebraska and the women’s college basketball national championship game have shattered attendance and television records.

Businesses have responded.

In 2023, the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 Conference signed official women’s sports partnership deals with Ally and Allstate, respectively.

For individual schools, though, Weber said a women’s sports sponsor is uncharted territory.

“I think it is so cool. It takes the university to a totally new level and kind of sets the bar for all the other colleges across the U.S., especially with women's sports,” Weber said.

It strengthens an already churning NIL market for women at Nebraska. Since NIL rules and laws came online in 2021, volleyball and basketball led the way at Nebraska in the women’s NIL market. Athletes playing those sports previously signed with the biggest NIL collective in the state, 1890 Nebraska.

In July, Husker Athletics announced a separate partnership with 1890 Nebraska, making it the official NIL collective of the athletic department. It also gives donors and fans ticketing and VIP perks for donating to the collective.

Since the announcement, 1890 Nebraska has expanded to support softball athletes, according to the 1890 Nebraska website. Chief executive officer of 1890 Nebraska and former Husker football player, Carson Schott said the collective has worked with bowling and aims to branch out more.

“We want to be able to support all sports that are hosted on campus,” Schott said.

The company also wants to bolster support for the sports already in the fold, he added.

“We're still looking for more supporters for softball, women's basketball, those types of things,” Schott said. “So, we're actively pursuing any and all leads in all sports.”

Nationally, NIL collectives pitch in the most for football and men’s basketball while female athletes can expect more commercial deals with private companies and nonprofits.

The top women’s volleyball athletes earn nearly 90 commercial deals per year, according to Opendorse. For women’s basketball players, they can expect about 39 commercial appearances each season.

High level women’s basketball and volleyball players earn more sponsorships than the top football and men’s basketball athletes, which average fewer than 35 commercial advertisements and appearances per year.

At Nebraska, Weber said the new sponsorship with Ameritas is just scratching the surface of companies tapping into the popularity of women’s sports.

“I think the companies are very smart, and they can see that shift coming,” she said.

The Ameritas sponsorship will likely bring more NIL ventures for women athletes at Nebraska, Weber said.

Kicking off the campaign on Aug. 24, Ameritas sponsored Celebrating Women in Sports Night at a Lincoln Saltdogs baseball game.

Weber and several other student athletes met with fans and signed autographs.

The companies investing into women’s sports want to align their brand with those athletes for two major reasons.

For one, Weber said women are generally more attune to social media, making female athletes a sensible choice for advertisers.

“If I have a choice between a male or female athlete for this shoot or something, maybe I'll go with the female, because maybe she looks like she's having more fun, because she probably is,” Weber said. “If she's taking pictures, she probably is.”

Not only are women having more fun with NIL, they also represent brands well, Bateman said.

“Our women's sports are really productive teams as far as wins and losses go, but they're also great people on and off the court, on and off the field,” Bateman said.

Sponsors and athletes are not the only groups to benefit. Uplifting women’s sports through NIL helps the athletic department, too, Bateman said.

“Yes, the athlete is getting paid for their time and for something that they're doing, but it's also helping build the Husker and the University of Nebraska brand, which may get more people to our games,” he said.

The Ameritas sponsorship reflects a vote of confidence into women’s sports achievements at Nebraska, Weber said.

“It's pretty gratifying when you have the support of, yes, your coaches and your teammates and your friends and your family, but then on a bigger scale, now we have a sponsor who cares about us from a different perspective,” Weber said.

The future of revenue sharing

The total amount of money women can make still doesn’t stack up with football and men’s basketball, which each make north of $290,000 on average per year, according to Opendorse.

The top 25 women’s basketball athletes make almost $89,000 a year. In volleyball, that number plummets to $8,500.

But soon, there will be a whole new world hurtling toward college athletics.

A settlement in a lawsuit between college athletes and the NCAA, called the House Settlement, will open the door for athletes to receive direct payments from school’s TV contracts, which many people are calling “revenue sharing.”

The $2.7 billion settlement, which was agreed to in late May, will also compensate some former college athletes. Those payments will go to student athletes who lost money prior to the 2021 NIL provision.

Once revenue sharing becomes reality after the settlement is finalized, it could look any number of ways, Bateman said.

“What does that mean when we're sharing revenue with our athletes?” Bateman asked. “Are we buying their NIL rights, when we're paying them a share of the revenue? And if that's the case, how are we using those NIL rights? Are we using them with our corporate partners and our corporate sponsors?”

Bateman expects revenue sharing to go live in fall of 2025.

At the time the House case was settled in May, reports looked at whether Title IX would apply to the disbursement of revenue sharing. In 1972, Title IX passed to protect women from discrimination at institutions receiving federal aid.

In July, the United State Department of Education told ESPN in a written statement that Title IX would apply to any potential revenue sharing model.

Currently, 1890 Nebraska has signed more than 100 male athletes and about 30 female athletes. Some of that has to do with the lopsided nature of working with football’s 85 scholarship athletes while many other sports only support 15 student athletes.

“When we look at Title IX, obviously, providing equal opportunity for men and women is super important,” Schott said.

Schott said the collective could do a better job of serving several men’s and women’s sports.

In the future with revenue sharing, several questions remain. How much money each sport will receive? Who will handle and deliver the funds?

Through all the haggling between lawyers, Weber said she hopes the NCAA ensures that teams and sports get equal television time and attention.

“Keeping in mind the team as a whole, and the opportunities that maybe they could get, instead of always individual,” she said.

As things stand now, Weber said the Ameritas sponsorship is proof of the power and importance of women’s sports.