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News December 12, 2024

ASU Quarterback Donates Merch Royalties Back to School NIL Initiatives

The announcement is the latest in a lineup of athlete news that shows the expanding reach of NIL merch partnerships.

By  Hannah Rosenberger

Key Takeaways

• Sam Leavitt’s Move: Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt is donating 100% of his NIL merchandise royalties back to ASU football’s NIL initiatives, supporting his team beyond their on-field performance.

• Growing NIL Market: The NIL market has expanded significantly since the 2021 NCAA policy reversal, with major e-commerce platforms like the NIL Store and Influxer partnering with numerous universities to sell athlete-branded merchandise.

• Impact on NIL Space: Leavitt’s donations highlight the potential for NIL merchandise to play a larger role in the industry, despite collectives currently being the dominant segment. His contributions will go to the Sun Angel Collective, ASU’s official NIL collective.

Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt is giving back to his team – and not just by leading the Sun Devils to their first conference title in nearly 30 years with a Big 12 championship win over the weekend.

Leavitt announced he was donating 100% of the royalties from his officially licensed NIL – or name, image and likeness – merchandise back to ASU football’s NIL initiatives.

The 2021 reversal of a longtime NCAA policy allowed student athletes to begin making money from the commercial use of their name, image and likeness through a variety of avenues, including branded merchandise. The move caused the market for college athlete merch to explode, and it’s only been growing.

The NIL Store, one of the major NIL merch e-commerce conglomerates, has launched partnerships with nearly 30 new universities since the start of the academic year in August. Influxer, another NIL merch partner, has added 45 collegiate partners.

Leavitt has officially licensed merch partnerships with several sports- and NIL-specific retailers; the press release for the announcement specifically referenced Leavitt’s collections on the NIL Store and the Sun Devil Campus Stores, ASU’s merch site, as the source of future givebacks.

Aside from just being a nice thing to do, though, Leavitt’s announcement is a signal of how merch could have a bigger impact on the NIL space than it currently does. Despite the blossoming market, branded merch is far from the largest segment of the NIL industry; that would be collectives.

NIL Collectives are independent organizations that fundraise money for university athletic departments in order to provide attending college athletes with NIL agreement payouts, often in exchange for minor social media appearances, signed items, or event attendance. They also often provide NIL guidance to athletes to facilitate brand deals or partnerships. 

And the Sun Angel Collective – ASU’s official NIL collective – is where Leavitt’s royalty donations are headed through the end of 2025.

With a breakout first season at ASU, leading the team to its first 11-win season and conference title since 1996, there could be heightened demand for merch spotlighting Leavitt’s name and number moving into next year – meaning more money back to his team. His NIL valuation – from all deals, not just merch – hit $600,000 this month. 

 

Granted, the donated royalties will probably be a small drop in the bucket for ASU collective money. Earlier this year, for example, a partnership between the Sun Devil Collective and a local car dealership owned by a key athletics donor provided seven football players with brand new Ford Mustang Mach-Es.

Still, it’s one of many recent moves that show the potential of NIL merchandise to expand its reach in the market to more than just a source of T-shirts and jerseys for fans.

Women’s basketball superstars Juju Watkins of the University of Southern California and Paige Bueckers of UConn unveiled first-of-their-kind branded partnerships this fall – Watkins as the first ever collegiate athlete to have her own Funko Pop figurine, and Bueckers as the first to launch a custom Nike sneaker for sale. Football’s top-ranked 2025 recruit Bryce Underwood announced his commitment switch to Michigan from LSU with news of a Michigan NIL store featuring his jersey (retailing for $50) and autographed trading cards (available for a whopping $1,500).

As questions still loom about a NCAA settlement that could allow universities to pay players directly in the future, schools are scrambling to figure out what the future of college athletics – and NIL – looks like. Active fans who want branded merchandise – and athletes who are invested in the future of their programs – can’t hurt for keeping athletic programs competitive from an NIL standpoint.