Nearly three years after the Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA in a landmark case that opened the door for college athletes to enter into name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements, thousands of people have taken advantage of the opportunity to work with big brands. And small. Many students focus on local small businesses or work with brands that focus on their sports, schools, or interests.
For out gay athletes, like former Nebraska gymnast Sam Phillips and TCU basketball player Sedona Prince, that can mean balancing their LGBTQIA+ rights advocacy platforms with sponsored messaging for all types of brands.
Phillips, a team captain from Woodland Hills, California, graduated from Nebraska this spring and plans to use one more year of eligibility to compete next season for Illinois. He recently earned two All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. He founded Nebraska's Athlete Ally chapter, was the only male athlete at the school, and has NIL agreements primarily with small businesses and local businesses.
Prince, a 6-foot-7 forward from Liberty Hill, Texas, played for Texas (2018-19), then Oregon (2019-22) before moving to Fort Worth (2023). He said he has secured more than 30 NIL agreements since the practice was allowed. They include brands like Crocs and Butterfinger, as well as local businesses. She was instrumental in the implementation of NIL, as she added her name to the lawsuit accusing conferences of violating the law by refusing to pay players.
In interviews with ESPN, Phillips and Prince discussed how they navigated NIL agreements as queer student-athletes. Their answers have been edited for length and clarity, but the substance has not changed.
What has been your experience with NIL?
Phillips: I know from the beginning that I love social media and I wanted to grow my page and that gave me the fuel to keep going. It just had to be a shark and I had to be very aggressive with it. So literally from the day the ruling was passed I reached out to brands.
It's really fun to grow in that sense and learn about marketing, learn about brands, brand images and brand awareness and be able to grow my brand and figure out what I want to do in life, the message I want to convey. It's been a lot of fun being creative with different campaigns and partnering with different people.
The prince: I entered a state of college sports that was completely different than it is now. NIL was obviously not allowed. … It's crazy to see how much the landscape has changed over the course of seven years. Being able to be a part of that and being able to be a student activist pushing for that change is the biggest blessing and an incredible honor.
Right now, students receive more than just money. In my opinion, student-athletes get a lot more protection and representation outside of their universities, so that's what I'm pushing for right now. It's amazing to see that there are agreements, things are pushed and conversations are had, but I think that student-athletes should be allowed to have more of a voice and also be more protected.
Athletes on smaller platforms are doing NIL deals with local community brands from small businesses in the community, and that's what I love to see. It's about connecting the fan base with the student-athletes and building a tight-knit community within these small college campus circles.
We were thrust into the new industry when we were 24, into this new workforce. There are no rules, there are no regulations, there is no representation in the administration, so it was kind of a whirlwind.
What is it like being a leader in the NIL community and the LGBTQIA+ sports community?
The prince: I try to do a lot of deals with local, mostly LGBTQ-owned, small businesses. [Those] They are the things that are dearest to my heart and fun to me…what I love to do.
I think they fit well. We have fan bases from every different community, with women's basketball, the LGBTQ community, my budding fans who don't necessarily watch basketball but are part of the queer community; They just want to tune in because they see me as a voice. in that community too, and a leader there. Combine these different people and just watch women's basketball together, enjoy the sport from different sides.
Phillips: [When I came out publicly,] it was ok. [My teammates] everyone loved me, everyone accepted me [but] It is very difficult to be in college athletics. Men's university athletics is a very male-dominated space, there is a lot of talking in the locker room and a lot of time is spent with boys between 18 and 23 years old who are also discovering themselves in the world. … It was tough being the only male athlete at Nebraska.
I definitely relied on a small community of allies. It has its good days but also its bad days, but I think people continue to learn and try harder to break down those barriers.
How do you choose which deals to pursue?
The prince: If they don't respect who I am and what I do off the court, then I don't work with them. But everyone has been respectful.
Being LGBTQ and being an advocate in that community is a big part of who I am, my personality, and what I love to do. Working in that space and making brand deals that align with that and then pushing that cause and fighting for other people who aren't represented in that community is incredible.
I did a vintage photoshoot with a local LGBTQ-owned vintage brand TCU [Wild Thing]. For just a couple hundred dollars, she just wanted to be a part of his little business and help them get it up and running. My first NIL deal was for a company that gets deals with other women's brands. I have always been very passionate about it and I love it. For me it is very important to work with small and large companies.
Phillips: I want to partner with a company that won't shy away from who I am and will help me express myself. Using my platform for my promotion is vitally important to me, so partnering with brands that can allow me to tell my story and share that side of me is very important. That's why I love Clear Cover [insurance]because it's about sharing my story as a queer Black athlete in Nebraska.
I make sure to look at other campaigns they've done, because that's so important. Campaigns are about self-love or revolve around advocacy, that's important. I also look at how they treat me and interact with me. … It's really valuable and important to me not to have words put in my mouth.
One of the first companies I worked with was a black-owned company. …I also partnered with Our Color, which is an ankle tape for athletes, and they have athletic tape and wrap for black and brown athletes. All the time, you see skin-colored tape for white people, but there's no skin-colored tape for black gymnasts and brown gymnasts. I've been trying to dig deeper into that.
It's kind of hard being in Nebraska, fishing for black-owned businesses or gay-owned businesses. In fact, that's something I could try to do a better job at.
It's definitely more like [those businesses] They are taking care of me. Many of these smaller brands have a very personal, face-to-face relationship. The hospitality is only 10 times more. [present].
Have you faced any problems in the NIL space due to your sexuality?
Phillips: I have only had one negative experience. I was on Instagram and there was a Christian sportswear page and they said, “Open call, please reach out if you want to be a brand partner.” So I reached out, I think sharing my story can be very important for those who are in the community and Christians and have trouble navigating that. They basically said, “We don't agree with that lifestyle, we don't want to associate with [you]. That was my first and honestly only negative experience. But that shows the importance of knowing who you're partnering with.
The prince: In 2018, my first year. [in college] I had just come out and was trying to figure out who I was and what my sexuality was. Someone told me, “Don't post about being gay, it looks really bad, people aren't going to work with you in the future, coaches don't like that.” And now I'm working with brands that are in the non-binary space and with mostly LGBTQ-owned businesses. It's so beautiful and amazing to see how far we've come.
