By Zac Cornell
Haley and Hanna Cavinder, twin basketball stars for Fresno State University, are expected to reach $1 million dollars in endorsement deals by July, according to their agent. The 21-year-old sisters have secured nine deals since July 2021, when the National Collegiate Athletic Association changed the rule to allow college student-athletes to make money on their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
While thousands of college student-athletes have secured NIL deals, experts attribute the Cavinder sisters’ extraordinary success to their huge social media following with a total of 5 million followers: TikTok (3.9 million), Instagram (761,000), YouTube(70,800) and Twitter (16,400).
According to an article in USA Today, the sisters have sponsorship deals with Boost Mobile, fantasy sports app Sleeper, PSD apparel, Champs Sports and Eastbay, Zoa Energy Drink, Bulletproof Coffee, Sofi, and Student Beans.
They also have a deal with the WWE, which has set up a program for college student-athletes to learn branding, media training, and live event appearances. The WWE currently have 15 athletes in their program, which was created after the NCAA changed their rules, and hope to possibly turn some of these students into future professional wrestlers.
Opendorse is an app that is helping college athletes and universities with NIL endorsement opportunities. According to founder Blake Lawrence, the top NIL deals go to football at 45.7%, then women’s basketball at 26.2%, and men’s basketball at 18%. Twenty-two other sports supply the rest of the deals.
The new NCAA rules have created a new world of opportunity and it is great to see the success that some college student-athletes are already achieving.
Inside Sports Journal 