The Impact of Name, Image, and Likeness Contracts on Student-Athlete College Choice

Abstract

We estimate how “Name, Image, and Likeness” (NIL) contracts affect NCAA football recruiting outcomes. We model recruiting as a multistage process, where schools make scholarship offers to athletes and then athletes choose a school based on their preferences over the offers received. We find that NIL values for athletes at a school are a significant predictor of recruits’ decisions to accept an offer. We test various counterfactual scenarios and conclude that NILs help Elite programs to attract talent with impacts similar to other program characteristics. It is unlikely that NILs alone could help other schools compete with the top programs.

Keywords: NIL, NCAA, college choice model, football recruiting, scholarship offers

JEL Classification: I23, Z28, C50