College quarterback’s NIL compensation approaches $4 million amid new NFT partnership
Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers has launched an NFT campaign with Metabillia that will pay him a total of $1 million, Yahoo Finance has learned.
As a result, the 19-year-old’s total compensation through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals is now approaching $4 million.
The average NIL quarterback sponsorship pays the athlete $2,466 per deal, according to Opendorse. Ewers’ $1 million sponsorship is split into 12 payments of varying amounts well above average on top of a 50% revenue share.
“Our focus is to partner with young and up-and-coming athletes,” Metabilia CEO Joe De Perio told Yahoo Finance. “It’s well documented that Quinn is, if not number one in his business. [NFL] draft class, but pretty up there. I think his match is made for Sunday as well.
College athletes were cleared to earn the NIL on June 30, 2021, when the NCAA made the groundbreaking decision to approve an interim policy that would allow all student-athletes to earn the NIL. Players can get paid for sponsored appearances, social media posts, autographs and even non-fungible tokens (NFT).
There are currently 29 states that have adopted their own NIL rules outside of the NCAA. The industry brought in an estimated $917 million in the first year of NIL, according to Opendorse, and is projected to break the billion mark in 2022.
“A good deal we can finally get paid”
Ewers, who is that expected to return from an injury Saturday against rival Oklahoma, has been a flashy face in the room since leaving high school a year early to attend Ohio State.
Ewers played his first season in Ohio, where NIL laws were not as strict, and signed a $1.4 million deal with GT Sports Marketing. Since transferring to Texas, Ewers signed a six-figure deal to promote Wrangler jeans (KTB), among other partnerships.
Ewers’ NFT launch is centered on exclusivity. Backers pay an initial membership fee, starting as low as $30 and as high as $500, to gain access to future exclusive NFT drops and signed memorabilia.
NFTs have become popular in space. Several industry experts have told Yahoo Finance that NFTs could play a major role in financing the NIL industry.
Like all potentially valuable collectibles, NFTs do not have a fixed price. Although the broader NFT market has tanked amid crypto’s downturn this year, Texas fans can still funnel millions of dollars into Ewers’ NFT knowing that 50% of the proceeds will go back to their star quarterback. Ewers will also receive 50% of the company’s revenue from secondary market activity.
“It’s a way for fans to connect with the athlete,” De Perio said, “and for boosters to buy NFTs on athletes they support.”
And since there is no set value for the service and the NIL space as a whole lacks regulatory oversight, there is no limit to how much Ewers or other athletes can make from a project like this.
Through NFTs, boosters can pay as much as they want to support players. According to the press release from Metabilia, Ewers has already locked in a “six-figure plus” commitment from a prominent donor group to support the project.
“I think it’s awesome,” Ewers told KXAN-TV in Austin last month. “I think it’s really good that players are finally getting paid. You know all this hard work we do with summer training, all this fall camp and film study – I think there’s a lot we can finally get paid for.”
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Josh is a reporter and producer for Yahoo Finance.
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