College athletes have been able to sign brand deals and receive compensation since a 2021 NCAA policy allowed name, image and likeness deals. Since then, rising figures in sports, such as Bronny James and Shedeur Sanders, have been able to grow their brands through million-dollar contracts.
Ensuring college athletes retain control over their brand is one of the reasons Brent Chapman decided to create myNILpay, a newly launched app.
“We are very focused on loving and serving student-athletes. Doing what’s best for them, being leaders in the community and trying to shift the paradigm from adults taking advantage of kids to these student-athletes being in control of this situation,” he told The NIL Deal.
“I think nobody has a platform that allows the student-athletes to be in control of their NIL and is not reliant on big corporations and other people to take care of them but can do it themselves. I think it’s very important to try to give the student-athletes what they deserve and to help them understand and be successful within the space.”
Happy App Launch Day!
We’re LIVE today, which means your favorite student athletes are ready to receive support for their hard work and dedication through myNILpay!
Download our app and start empowering college athletes to get paid today: https://t.co/PVnui76XBw pic.twitter.com/DPVcSgLFkc
— myNILpay (@myNILpay) May 11, 2023
The app allows anyone to send a minimum of $20 to college athletes via the platform. It is tax deductible and works in a similar way to Venmo.
“What I wanted to do is create a platform where all student-athletes had the same equal opportunity to get NIL money,” Chapman said.
Schools will be notified when athletes receive money, he noted. A portion of net profits benefit the student-athlete’s athletic department.
Howard University’s alum organization, The Mecca Society, is partnering with the app to support athletes financially. The NIL collective will now allow them to be compensated for their performance while helping them build their brands.
“By launching the University’s marquee NIL collective, we are going to further enhance our student-athletes’ NIL earning potential, and with the help of myNILpay, our diehard fan base and alumni network now has an effortless platform to support their Bison family,” Eric Grant, The Mecca Society NIL Collective board member, told HBCU Gameday.
“This is only the beginning, but it’s clear that our student-athletes have as bright of a future as any in college athletics. We strongly encourage all Bison fans to support our student-athletes through the myNILpayapp,” he added.
