Meet the March Madness millionaires: From Duke’s Cooper Flagg to Purdue’s Braden Smith, college athletes are raking in eight-figure NIL deals
Through NIL deals, college athletes can earn their own money from using their image.
- Several NCAA players in the March Madness tournament have NIL deals worth over $1 million. These deals pay college athletes to use their name, image, and likeness and are often sponsored by companies. Fortune compiled a list of a few of the top NIL earners playing in this spring’s tournament.
Playing college sports isn’t just for clout, earning scholarships, or living out a lifelong dream. There’s money to be made now through name-image-likeness (NIL) deals, and some collegiate-level athletes are raking in millions.
These deals allow college athletes to profit from their own personal branding through sponsorships, endorsements, and other marketing tactics like social media. Among the biggest NIL earners are those playing in this year’s March Madness, which pits the top-performing college basketball teams against each other in a weeks-long tournament.
NIL deals have become a controversial topic in college athletics with sports-policy experts saying there are both positives and negatives to them. While athletes are “finally getting compensation for all the work they put into what they are doing,” the deals can also make players “egotistical” or serve as a distraction to playing the sport itself, wrote Jon Willis of the Center on Sport Policy and Conduct.
Revered former University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban was also openly critical of NIL agreements. He said these deals created a “caste system” where athletic success was based on how much college programs pay each player.
“I don’t think that’s the spirit of college athletics,” Saban said during an NIL roundtable in 2024. “I don’t think it’s ever been the spirit of what we want college athletics to be. That’s my major concern: the combination of pay-for-play, free agency, and how that impacts development.”
On the other hand, Vince Thompson, founder and CEO of sports-marketing firm MELT, told TMG Sports “NIL could be the greatest grassroots marketing opportunity in the history of sports.”
Several college athletes playing in this year’s March Madness tournament are earning at least $1 million through NIL deals. Fortune compiled a list of these athletes and their deals. Note this list is not exhaustive as some terms and compensation aren’t disclosed.
1. Cooper Flagg
Cooper Flagg is the star freshman player for Duke University who’s projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Even as a freshman, he already has a slew of NIL deals with companies including New Balance, Cort Furniture, Gatorade, Fanatics, and the NIL store.
His current NIL valuation is a whopping $4.8 million, according to On3, a media tech company that tracks recruiting, transfers, and NIL deals for college and high school players. That places him at No. 2 of On3’s list tracking players with the highest NIL valuations; he’s second only to Arch Manning, the quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, whose NIL valuation is $6.5 million.
Duke is set to play Arizona State University on Thursday, March 27 at 9:39 p.m. EST.
2. Braden Smith
Braden Smith is a junior playing for Purdue University. Amid the March Madness tournament, Smith announced a NIL deal with Stanley, the company that makes cups Gen Zers and millennials are obsessed with.
Smith’s NIL valuation is nearly $2 million, according to On3, and he’s inked other deals with the NIL Store, HeyDude Shoes, and the Purdue NIL Store.
Purdue will play the University of Houston on Friday, March 28 at 10:09 p.m. EST.
3. PJ Haggerty
PJ Haggerty is a sophomore player for the University of Memphis and has been one of the top-earning players in college basketball for a while. He’s currently ranked No. 32 on On3’s top NIL earners list with a valuation of $1.7 million.
Haggerty’s biggest deals have been with the Memphis Redbirds, Bluff City NIL, and The Flying T Club, On3 data shows.
The University of Memphis lost to Colorado State University on Friday, March 21.
4. Kam Jones
Kam Jones is a senior player for Marquette University. Although some of the “precise details of all Jones’ sponsorships are kept hidden,” according to College Sports Network, On3 estimates his NIL valuation at $1.6 million.
One of his disclosed NIL deals is with the Marquette NIL store. He is also on Cameo, a service in which users can pay for personalized videos from their favorite celebrities, according to College Sports Network.
Marquette lost to the University of New Mexico on Friday, March 21.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
