D3 NIL Collectives Aren't Dead
They're just narrowing their focus & niching down
👋 Welcome to Recruit to the Real World, the go-to source for reliable D3 college recruiting & admissions information.
Today, we’re addressing a topic on the minds of a lot of recruits: NIL
In Part One of our end-of-year 2024 D3 NIL recap, we dig in to the current state of D3 collectives to see how they’re adapting to changes in the NIL landscape.
Plus - the leading D3 conference for NIL deal compensation
Enjoy!
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Need a Refresher on D3 NIL?
Check out our 2023 D3 NIL Recap where we interviewed D3 athletic directors, talked with the first D3 NIL collective, and recapped how D3 NIL got started.
2024 D3 NIL Update - Part 1
There have been plenty of developments since our last D3 NIL update:
More D3 schools joining the NIL space
The first female-focused D3 NIL Collective
The first single-team focused D3 NIL Collective
Tons of D3 NIL Deals & new services popping up
With that said, the two primary models that D3 schools are using for NIL remained the same:
Supporting the establishment of a school-related collective that sponsors D3 NIL deals (Note: Collectives are a separate legal entity from the school)
Utilizing an NIL marketplace for athletes (via services like Opendorse)
We will cover D3 NIL Collectives today and update you on the second option in Part 2 next week (1/22).
Before we dive in, here’s a quick D3 NIL fact:
The Top D3 Conference for NIL?
Did you know, the Southern Athletic Association is the top D3 conference for NIL Compensation on Opendorse? The SAA is ranked #23 amongst ALL conferences in both the NCAA & NAIA 🤯
The SAA is the only D3 in the Top #25 and lands just behind D1 conferences like the Ivy League and CAA. Not bad for a bunch of D3 Athletes ;)
Now, time to discuss how D3 NIL Collectives are adapting in the marketplace.
D3 NIL Collectives are Niching Down
Last year we covered the creation of the first D3 NIL collective - The Knight’s Table, which supports Southern Virginia University Athletics.
As of the end of 2024, there are now three D3 NIL Collectives we’re aware of:
The 1926 Collective (Centre College) *New*
Two Rivers Trust (Marietta College) *New*
The Knight’s Table Collective (Southern Virginia University)
The biggest change we’re seeing is that these new entrants are not focused on supporting the entire athletics department, but rather female athletes and one team, respectively.
Why are they niching down you ask?
The most common answer we heard: “Donor Fatigue”
Since a lot of D3 schools are located in small towns, neither the local businesses or individual donors can give enough annually to support the entire athletics department.
Matt Brown, founder & publisher of the Extra Points Newsletter added this:
“Based on my conversations with D3 leaders over the last year, I don’t get the impression that NIL, broadly, is a big priority. It isn't motivating to most of the players, it isn't motivating to an already limited and over-stretched donor base, and it isn't what actually shapes meaningful recruitment decisions. There are always exceptions, but the interest in NIL in D3 TYPICALLY is coming more from software companies and the college sports industry, not from athletes or parents.”
Given what we’ve seen, we think that the narrower scope of the 1926 Collective & Two Rivers Trust could be the future of D3 NIL Collectives.
Here’s what they’ve done well so far…
The 1926 Collective
This group was founded in September 2023, so it’s not technically new, but it is novel in the space as the first female-focused collective in NCAA Division III. The story behind the name and the sleek 1926 script branding carries deep meaning as well:
“Named in homage to the year Centre College became a coed institution, our collective is committed to empowering these talented athletes by providing them with unparalleled opportunities to harness their individual identities, stories, and talents.” (via 1926 Collective website)
We reached out to the 1926 Collective team for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publishing. Here’s what we were able to determine on our own about their activities thus far:
By our review they have facilitated ~15 athlete deals for female athletes with at least 7 unique local businesses and charities. In many ways this is the type of NIL that many expected D3 athletes would pursue when it became legal - hyper local and focused on promotion to the community & fellow students.
Their latest deal announcement (a one-day promotional sales deal with a local Papa Johns for three athletes) was posted on their website on 11/15/24 and their IG is current so it appears they are still very much active.
As 1926 continues to grow, we’ll be curious to see if they can land successively larger partnerships outside of the Danville, KY area that surrounds Centre. If so, it could be a very promising model for other D3’s to follow.
In the meantime, Centre’s female athletes can also leverage the school’s partnership with Influxer to sell branded apparel with their name & jersey number.
We’ll have more info on branded apparel in Part 2 of our D3 NIL update next week.
Website: https://the1926collective.com/
Two Rivers Trust
The Two Rivers Trust was founded in April 2024 by a passionate group of volunteers to create long-term relationships and a lasting impact with Marietta College alumni, supporters, and the Mid-Ohio Valley community/local businesses, while providing name, image, likeness opportunities to current and future Marietta College Men's Basketball student athletes.
Their overall goal is to help our student athletes strengthen relationships with alumni, supporters, and in the community to help provide unique opportunities to set them up to be successful after graduation.
We reached out the Two Rivers Trust team and they could only confirm that they had been successful in helping athletes sign deals, but did not disclose deal count or dollar amounts.
They did however share photos from a recent outing they facilitated for the team to visit the Boys & Girls club of Washington County. The players spent the afternoon interacting and teaching the game of basketball with young Pioneers fans.
Website: tworiverstrustnil.com
The Knight’s Table Collective
KTC by the Numbers
Number of D3 Athlete NIL Deals: 6 (⬆️ 6 from 2023)
Total D3 Athlete Compensation: Between $300-1500 (⬆️ at least $300 from 2023)
To gauge how D3 NIL collectives are changing, we followed-up on our conversation from last year with the Knight’s Table General Manager, Conner Schenk.
Here’s what he had to say about 2024 and how the Southern Virginia supporting Collective is shifting gears into 2025.
What is the estimated number of deals signed in 2024 and the estimated monetary value of all deals so far?
Six deals in the range of $50-250.
Did you sponsor any team deals like you set out to do in 2024?
We are very close to closing a team-wide deal for the Women's Basketball team. The deal makeup is a monetary payment to each player and a 3-month supply of the [company’s] product.
Are you still using Basepath? Feedback on their setup so far, would you still recommend it to other schools?
We changed business models to more of a Media Network for Southern Virginia. So at the moment, we are not using Basepath functions. I would [still] recommend it to other schools.
To be clear - are you recommending that other schools not use a collective model? Did you change the structure of your organization and are you now something else like an LLC?
Not necessarily, I think the collective model will stay in place but the revenue generation needs to be adjusted. Donor fatigue is setting in and collectives need to get more creative with how they’re bringing in revenue. We are still an LLC.
What advice would you give to other D3 Schools/AD's/Collectives that are confused about NIL?
Take advantage of NIL, marketing, media exposure the athletes give the university. With all of the changes to the D-1 landscape, I believe there will be a huge influx of athletes headed to D-3 programs.
What are your NIL related goals for 2025?
Secure 3 team wide deals, secure 2 presenting sponsors for The Knights Table Media network.
Thanks Conner!
Website: https://www.knightstablecollective.com/
Our Takeaways
At present, D3 NIL Collectives aren’t exactly thriving - but they are alive.
Going forward we would expect D3 schools to be most supportive of focused collectives - like the 1926 Collective for Centre’s female athletes or the Two Rivers Trust for the Marietta Men’s Basketball team - rather than broad collectives that try to support an entire D3 athletics department.
The Knight’s Table Collective’s continued evolution demonstrates how challenging it is to support the needs of an entire athletic department at the D3 level. Perhaps this is something that can be done at P4 D1 schools, but it will likely never materialize for D3’s.
Another possibility are services like NIL Club to raise money for specific teams via fan subscriptions (UMHB Football and Centre Men’s Basketball are using this). While this is an interesting concept, these are not technically collectives so we’ll cover them later in the year or in our 2025 Annual Update.
Next week, we shift our focus to the NIL marketplace approach (via Opendorse and other service providers) for D3 schools - including updates from a few schools we spoke to last year. Stay tuned!
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Interesting observations on NIL collectives (though it would be good to have the numbers Opendorse is using to rank those conferences). When I went to look at the NIL Club, there are literally dozens if not hundreds of D3 teams across a multitude of sports raising anywhere from tens to thousands of dollars a month for their team members. UMHB alone has nearly 20 clubs (some of which have yet to raise any funds). I had not heard of this approach, which is apparently set up by the student-athletes themselves - thank you!