- Sports Court: NIL Newsletter
- Posts
- Why tennis is struggling in the NIL era
Thank you for your continued support of this newsletter. Please share with anyone who would be interested in this content.
If you are interested in NIL athlete representation, NIL education for your college or high school, and student-athlete personal brand coaching, please contact me: [email protected]
Join the NIL 411 Slack Channel!
Join 1,100+ people to discuss NIL news, concepts, partnerships, and more.
Interested? Reply to this newsletter with your email address and I’ll add you.
USC men’s tennis players. (Photo Credit: USC Athletics)
With 24 NCAA sports competing annually, there are plenty of sports that struggle in the current landscape of college athletics. (Save football and basketball for the most part.)
And even for non-revenue generating sports at certain schools that are very successful and have won numerous conference and national championships, they also sometimes have a difficult path ahead of them.
In this newsletter, I will focus on tennis for two reasons:
I’m a big tennis fan
I feel there is opportunity for college tennis to thrive
Why tennis is unique (good, bad and neutral)
GOOD: Opportunity to earn pro money
Unlike other college sports, collegiate tennis players can earn up to $10,000 in prize money at pro tournaments without sacrificing their college eligibility.
On the flip side: UNC women’s tennis star Reese Brantmeier earned $50,000 from playing in the 2021 U.S. Open as a junior tennis player. However, she forfeited 80% of her earnings in order to maintain her eligibility. (She has filed a class action lawsuit around this topic.)
BAD: Lack of revenue share
Not surprisingly, tennis does not participate in revenue share at most schools. This lack of funding for the athletes is not optimal, as well as making it harder for coaches to recruit top talent to keep their programs competitive.
NEUTRAL: High numbers of international student-athletes
Given that most tennis rosters (men’s and women’s) contain a significant number of international student-athletes (who are not eligible for revenue share and NIL deals in the U.S.), this presents another hurdle to success in the current college sports model.
GOOD: Specialized equipment regardless of school apparel affiliation
While most schools are affiliated with Nike, Under Armour and adidas, tennis players may choose tennis-specific equipment (primarily rackets) without being penalized.
Babolat, Wilson, HEAD and Yonex continue to lead the way for player’s choice of racket.
BAD: Programs are getting cut
With the current college landscape, teams are being eliminated in order to meet revenue share goals.
Ways to remedy
Work with ATP, WTA, and PTPA on programs to generate revenue
One way forward is to partner with the leading tennis associations to offer NIL partnerships and increase revenue for college tennis players.
UTR Sports recently entered the NIL space to offer financial support to collegiate tennis athletes. (Also hoping that the brands mentioned earlier will also begin to work with more tennis athletes from a paid partnership perspective - not just product.)
Build and strengthen relationships with local tennis academies
Another path is to have college tennis players work with junior tennis academies and centers for private lessons, coaching, meet and greets, etc.
While this might not generate sustainable revenue, it does open the door for these college athletes to build relationships with junior tennis players and their families for future reference.
Reply