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When sprinter Mfoniso M. Andrew ’26 came to Harvard as a recruited athlete on the track team, she was making day-in-the-life vlogs about her college experience. Then, she signed a name, image, and likeness deal with DoorDash, and the vlogs turned into a profitable advertising gig.
“I think that’s when everything popped off,” Andrew said.
Since then, Andrew has signed deals with Amazon, ZipCar, TurboTax, Heartbreak Hill Running Company, coffee company RYZE, and more — earning thousands of dollars in total.
After the National Collegiate Athletic Association first allowed athletes to profit off of NIL deals in 2021, brand deals became a major currency in the world of college sports.
Harvard athletes have made more than 250 NIL deals since then, according to Harvard Athletics spokesperson Imry Halevi.
Some schools were quick to build opportunities for students to directly profit off of their athlete status — supporting athletes’ efforts to build personal brands and working closely with NIL collectives that distribute contributions from donors and brands.
But the Ivy League has taken a more hands-off approach towards its NIL policies. Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris wrote that the league should serve as a “well-rounded experience that will continue to resonate in this evolving and uncertain era of college sports” in an email to coaches and players last month.
Alumni and players have increasingly questioned whether Harvard’s NIL infrastructure is strong enough to recruit and retain athletes — especially after multiple Harvard athletes, including star freshman basketball player Malik Mack, transferred to schools that offer more lucrative NIL opportunities.
In July 2023, the Department of Harvard Athletics announced a partnership with Teamworks Influencer, an app where athletes can report their NIL deals for compliance review and view official team photos.
But DHA administrators still wanted to simplify the process. On Jan. 8, Harvard Athletics announced the launch of the One Crimson NIL Exchange, a marketplace-style platform on the Influencer app that allows businesses to directly connect with student profiles.
However, the platforms have yet to catch on among many of Harvard’s student-athletes. The Crimson interviewed eleven Harvard athletes across seven teams, none of whom had experience using One Crimson or had learned about it in the month since its release.
But — even without Harvard’s help in landing deals — some students have found their own ways to tap into NIL profits.
‘It’s All Been Independent’
Last month, when Harvard debuted the One Crimson NIL Exchange, the DHA wrote in a press release that the platform was designed to “provide new resources for student-athletes to maximize their NIL opportunities through connections with businesses and brands.”
But all athletes who spoke to The Crimson said they had not been trained on using the platform.
Women’s soccer player Gemma L. Maltby ’27 said she did not know much about using Influencer or One Crimson to get NIL deals. Beyond the app, Maltby added that she and many of her teammates are generally unfamiliar with the process of making NIL deals.
Daniel O. Falode ’25, a triple-jumper on Harvard’s track and field team who has pursued multiple NIL deals, said he has yet to use One Crimson.
“It’s all been independent. I haven’t used the One Crimson, so I don’t really have much experience with it,” Falode said. “If I had the opportunity to, I’d love to learn more about how to use that. I just haven’t had the chance to.”
Harvard’s Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance Christian Bray said Harvard Athletics plans to teach athletes about getting NIL deals through One Crimson at their annual required training at the beginning of the academic year, which already discusses compliance and using the Influencer app among other NCAA-mandated policies.
While the DHA was unable to incorporate One Crimson training into the beginning of the year’s session, Bray said they reached out to all teams and trained all coaching staff about the new program.
Still, Maltby said the current independent process that students undergo “seems like a lot of work” without agents or advising.
Halevi, the Harvard Athletics spokesperson, wrote in a statement that “the launch of the One Crimson NIL Exchange was not a one-time event.”
“Through ongoing outreach and education, the platform will continue to grow and expand, as more student-athletes and businesses explore its many benefits, and determine the best way for them to utilize it,” Halevi added.
Navigating NIL
Rather than using One Crimson, many athletes at Harvard continue to independently pursue NIL deals. Some athletes have leveraged their online presence to connect with businesses through social media.
Falode, who has more than 8,000 followers on Instagram and more than 19,000 on TikTok, said that he has found most of his deals from companies that sent him direct messages.
He said he has inked deals with performance beverage company Electrolit, financial startup Stackwell, and Heartbreak Hill, where he makes posts advertising the company’s products.
“Some of the smaller companies will offer you two to three hundred dollars for a post,” Falode said. “But I’ve had a company that's paid me $1,000 for a post on TikTok.”
Like Falode, Andrew — the sprinter — has also signed NIL deals primarily after companies reached out to her. Andrew, who has more than 4,000 Instagram followers and 26,000 on TikTok, said that she tried to partner with companies most applicable to her and her experience.
“I don’t reach out to brands,” Andrew said. “They usually find my name, and I try to stay as authentic to myself as I possibly can.”
Andrew said that she makes between $1,000 and $5,000 on recurring deals and $300 to $400 on single posts.
Maltby, the soccer player, said the students she knows who have profited off their names have cultivated large social media followings and made active efforts to hunt deals.
Skier Clara E. Lake ’27 currently has a deal with outdoor apparel brand Stio, which she obtained after filling out the company’s affiliate influencer application.
Lake said the company provides her with merchandise in exchange for promotional posts on Lake’s Instagram. Lake also includes a code in the posts that gives followers a discount on merchandise, which gives her a small commission on these sales.
“I think one of the reasons I particularly wanted to work with Stio is because I think it aligns with my own kind of personal values,” Lake said. “So I feel like I can represent them well while using their gear.”
Cross country standout K. Graham Blanks ’25— who finished ninth in the Olympics last year and forgoed his last semester of eligibility to sign a professional deal with New Balance — signed with an agent in the fall of 2023, and by the end of that year, had an NIL deal with New Balance.
“It was basically all done by the agency,” Blanks said. “All the negotiations were done by them. All I did was sign the papers.”
Blanks described his experience using an agent as a “no-brainer” due to the individual nature of his sport.
“They obviously negotiate your shoe deal, but they also help you get into meets, they help you plan travel,” Blanks said. “They’re almost like a second coach, except that what they coach is basically every other aspect of the sport other than the training.”
Blanks also said that an agent was able to provide the “institutional knowledge” he lacked in the NIL space, helping him determine what was a fair deal. However, Blanks said that he was not aware of any other Harvard athletes who used agents.
Beyond Harvard’s gates, the NIL market is booming. Total NIL compensation is expected to hit $1.67 billion during the 2024-25 season, according to an annual report from online marketplace Opendorse. As Harvard adapts to the rise of player compensation, some athletes say they’ve accepted taking it slow.
“I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that I probably will not make a crazy amount of money unless I grow my following by a ton this year,” Andrew said. “But, I’m okay with that.”
“I’m okay with being able to at least figure out what works for me,” she added.
—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.
—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.
