Abstract

Ever since Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) payments to college athletes have been introduced into college sports, the landscape of college athletics has shifted into a more competitive labor market when it comes to recruiting athletes to the college level. With NIL, its impacts reach further than just the athletic departments but also impact the student body makeup as a whole. The previous literature doesn’t examine this relationship but mainly focuses on applications and athletic performance as well as NILs impact on recruiting. Using multiple different economic models to examine labor market relationships, recruit effort, and the Flutie effect, my study links NIL to differences in the application processes. I also review previous literature that examines NILs impact on recruiting as well as team performance and the Flutie effect to understand how applications fit into each of the categories. My research looks into the impacts of Name, Image, and Likeness on the application totals and yield for incoming classes for schools with Division I football programs between 2018 and 2023. To do this, I use multiple regression techniques to determine the effects of different NIL payments while holding academic and performance variables constant as well as allowing for those effects to be different for power 5 schools. Using multiple regression techniques, my results show that NIL has little impact on application totals and yield while some predictors such as conference affiliation and ACT scores are more impactful.

Advisor

Long, Melanie

Department

Business Economics

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2026 Ryan H. Kramer