Why are the average and the median so far apart?

Because a small number of very large deals drag the average upward. When the average deal is around $1,300 but the typical deal is around $65, the math only works if some deals are worth thousands or hundreds of thousands of times the median.

This pattern shows up everywhere in creator and influencer economics, and NIL is a branch of that economy. A long tail of small deals, a thin head of enormous ones. The average describes the market. The median describes your athlete's likely experience.

When someone quotes you an NIL number, ask which one it is. An average is honest about the total money flowing but misleading about the typical athlete. A median is honest about the typical athlete but invisible in headlines, because "half of deals pay $65 or less" does not sell commercials. Both are true. Only one of them is useful for planning your family's expectations.

What does the top earn compared to everyone else?

The top of the market, the athletes you see in national campaigns, is a tiny slice. These are mostly stars in revenue sports at major programs, often with large social followings built over years. Their deals can be worth more than most salaries, and they are genuinely exceptional.

Everyone else operates in a different economy: local businesses, per-post fees, appearance fees, camp income. A solid NIL year for a non-star athlete might look like a handful of deals totaling a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Real money, worth taking seriously, but not tuition money.

Also keep in mind who reports what. Disclosed deals on marketplaces like Opendorse skew toward what flows through those platforms. Plenty of small local arrangements never get counted anywhere, which is one more reason the true picture for ordinary athletes is modest.

There is one more important stream, separate from third-party deals: since the 2025 House settlement, schools can share revenue directly with athletes, up to a cap of roughly $20.5 million per school per year in the first year. That money concentrates even more heavily than NIL does, flowing mostly to the revenue sports at the biggest programs. It changes the financial picture for a small group of athletes dramatically, and for the majority, not at all.

What drives how much an athlete can earn?

Four factors do most of the work:

• Sport. Football and men's basketball sit at the top of the market, with women's basketball and volleyball rising fast. Olympic and non-revenue sports see smaller, steadier deals.
• School and market. A big-conference school brings national brands and a bigger alumni base. A smaller school brings tighter community ties, which have their own value with local businesses.
• Following and content. An athlete with an engaged audience, even a few thousand local followers, is more valuable to sponsors than a better player with no presence. Content skills are earning skills now.
• Personality and reliability. Businesses rehire athletes who show up on time, deliver what they promised, and represent the brand well. Reputation compounds.

Notice what is not on the list: raw talent alone. Playing well helps, but NIL rewards visibility and trust at least as much as stat lines. If you want the foundational picture of how all of this works, our parent's guide to NIL is the place to start.

Is chasing NIL worth your athlete's time?

Sometimes, and sometimes not. Every hour spent filming content or driving to an appearance is an hour not spent on schoolwork, training, sleep, or being a normal student. For the tiny slice of athletes at the top of the market, that trade is obviously worth it. For everyone else, the math is subtler.

A healthy rule of thumb: NIL activities should fit in the margins of your athlete's week, not compete with the center of it. A deal that requires ten hours of work for $100 is a worse deal than it looks, and a deal that costs a midterm is a bad deal at any price. The best early NIL experiences are the ones that teach something, like working with a local business owner your athlete can learn from, while asking for a few hours at a time.

What should a normal athlete expect?

Set the household expectation here: most athletes who do NIL at all will earn modest, irregular income. Some months bring a deal or two. Many bring none. The median deal of about $65 is a feature to plan around, not a disappointment to explain away.

Framed right, that is not a letdown. It is a first income stream with low stakes and high learning value. The athlete who learns to invoice a business, deliver on a commitment, and set aside money from a $200 deal is building exactly the skills that matter when the numbers get bigger, whether in sports or in whatever comes after.

It also pays to set expectations as a family before the first offer arrives. Talk about what NIL money is for. Is it spending money, savings for a car, help with school costs, or seed money for goals after graduation? Athletes who answer that question early make calmer decisions when real offers show up, because the money already has a job waiting for it.

And do not forget the quieter math: irregular income still has to be tracked, disclosed when it crosses $600 per deal, and taxed. Our guide to whether NIL money is taxable covers the April side of the equation.

Why does small money still deserve structure?

Because the amount was never the point. The point is what your athlete practices while the stakes are low.

A simple structure works: every payment gets split on arrival into spending, saving, and a set-aside for taxes. Goals get attached to the saving portion so the money has a job. This is the same logic behind a well-run allowance, just with income that arrives in lumps instead of weekly. It is also the idea behind GuardNIL, which lets parents pair money with clear expectations so athletes practice real financial habits on real money.

Whether you use a tool or a notebook, the habit is the same: name the money's purpose the day it arrives. Athletes who do that with $65 deals handle bigger money well. Athletes who do not, struggle at every income level. We go deeper on this in the allowance approach to NIL money skills.

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