The Impact of NIL on Artistic Sports: Opportunities and Challenges for Collegiate and Olympic Athletes
Sabrina Huston*
Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals have fundamentally changed the landscape for student athletes, opening avenues for financial gain. Football, basketball, and baseball have dominated the NIL market.[1] However, the rise of NIL has also created new opportunities for athletes in less mainstream sports—particularly artistic sports, such as gymnastics and figure skating. Athletes in artistic sports have the opportunity to benefit from their NIL. However, these athletes face unique challenges as they attempt to stand out in a field dominated by athletes in high-profile sports. Although the right to publicity applies to all sports in the Olympics and at universities, artistic athletes who want to monetize on their NIL must stand out to benefit from this legal right.
The Background of NIL
NIL is grounded in the right of publicity. “The right of publicity is an intellectual property right that protects against the misappropriation of a person’s name, likeness, or other indicia of personal identity . . . for commercial benefit.”[2] Athletes specifically benefit from this right.[3] This right does not inherently discriminate among sports. Yet, athletes in game sports typically outpace athletes in artistic sports.
Both the NCAA and the International Olympic Committee have adopted NIL policies. In Alston, the Court held that an NCAA policy against “education-related benefits” for college athletes violated antitrust law.[4] The NCAA could not show a “procompetitive rationale for the restraint” on college athletes from participating in NIL activities.[5] On July 1, 2021, the NCAA interim NIL policy went into effect for college athletes.[6]
In 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) updated Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter and allowed Olympians to “engage in, and benefit from, commercial activities around the Games.”[7] The IOC relies on the Athletes’ Rights and Responsibilities Declaration for this decision.[8] This Declaration aims to “promote the ability and opportunity of athletes to… leverage opportunities to generate income in relation to their sporting career.”[9]
How can Athletes in Artistic Sports Market Themselves to Benefit from their NIL?
At the start of NIL in college, football and basketball held 67% of all NIL compensation.[10] In 2025, of the top twenty athletes with the highest NIL valuations, seventeen are football players, two are basketball players, and one is a gymnast.[11] Sports like football have high viewership and revenue generation, making them a clear favorite for NIL deals.[12] However, “it’s not just the big names who are striking deals. Athletes have announced partnerships with local companies. . . .”[13] Thus, other sports have the potential to break into this benefit.
Artistic sports typically include “sports dependent primarily upon subjective evaluation.”[14] Specifically, these sports are judged on aesthetics.[15] In the Olympics, some sports that rely primarily on subjective evaluation include rhythmic gymnastics and ice dancing.[16] Other sports, such as track and field and distance swimming, are objective sports because they are measured separately “from personal reflections or feelings” and “require measurement in time or space.”[17] However, there are sports that generally include both subjective and objective measurements in competition, such as gymnastics and figure skating.[18] Thus, an artistic sport includes subjective sports and sports that “[l]ie between the objective and the subjective delineation.”[19]
Gymnastics and Figure Skating
Two popular artistic sports to compare NIL deals at the collegiate and Olympic level are gymnastics and figure skating.[20]The world is on fire for gymnastics like never before because of Suni Lee, an Olympian, and Livvy Dunne, a gymnast at Louisiana State University. Dunne is the highest-earning female athlete in the NIL space.[21] Although she is an elite athlete, most people know her as a TikTok star. She has over 5 million Instagram followers and over 8 million followers on TikTok.[22] Her On3 NIL valuation is currently $4.1 million.[23]
Dunne noted that there are women on her team who are “better than [her][,]” yet her social media following makes her a top NIL earner.[24] Dunne is a role model for both current and prospective college gymnasts. She has endorsement deals with American Eagle, Vuori, and Forever 21, and she was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition.[25] Athletes could learn from Livvy Dunne—marketing yourself could be crucial to garner NIL deals.
Sunni Lee is another gymnast who has had numerous, big NIL deals.[26] After winning the Gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she went to Auburn University.[27] “Fortunately for Lee and student-athletes everywhere, the dollar signs that divide an amateur athlete from a professional one are becoming less rigid” due to the allowance of NIL deals for college athletes.[28]
In 2024, Lee ranked fifth on the top ten list for highest female NIL earners.[29] Lee’s partnerships have included “CLIF bar, Amazon, Gatorade, Invisalign and Target.”[30] Even though Lee no longer competes with Auburn, she has shown the mobility for athletes in artistic sports. Gymnasts can now earn NIL deals whether they are in college or at the professional level. In 2025, Lee landed a giant NIL deal with HOKA.[31] “For Lee, this is just another big NIL deal, consolidating the fact that her star power isn’t constrained by gymnastics.”[32]
Figure skating is another artistic sport in the Olympics; however, it is not regulated by the NCAA. U.S. figure skating regulates collegiate figure skating.[33] In figure skating, the go-to method judges skaters based on a technical score and program components score.[34] The components score assesses the artistic aspect.[35] “Skaters earn points based on five criteria: Skating Skills, Transitions, Performance, Composition, and Music Interpretation.”[36]
While at most colleges, figure skating is a club sport, schools such as the University of Miami, Ohio, treat it as a varsity sport.[37] The figure skating team is recognized as a sport on the University’s athletics website.[38] However, figure skaters are not able to receive scholarships since they are not in the NCAA,[39] making the potential for NIL deals that much more valuable.
A Platform that Artistic Athletes can Take Advantage of
The top earners in their artistic sport can use their Olympic status or their Tik Tok following to gain NIL deals. But what can the average (still amazing) athlete in an artistic sport do to get NIL deals?
One platform in particular, Opendorse, could help athletes in artistic sports build a brand. Opendorse assists college and professional athletes with marketing themselves for NIL deals.[40] Athletes create an account, and a brand or fan can send deals to athletes.[41] Then, they can send a deal to a specific athlete on the website.[42] The athlete will receive a notification on their phone.[43] The athlete can choose whether to enter into the deal with the company, reject it, or negotiate the terms on the app.[44] If the athlete agrees to the deal, payment is sent directly to the athlete’s phone.[45]
Athletes such as Lee and Dunne, who are already highly successful in the NIL space due to their talent and online presence, do not need Opendorse. However, successful athletes in their sport who do not have a strong online presence could benefit from a platform like this.
Many professional and Olympic figure skaters have created profiles on Opendorse tomarket themselves in their sport, especially Olympic athletes.[46]
One Olympic figure skater who has been extremely successful in the NIL endorsement space is Nathan Chen.[47] In the 2014 Olympics, Chen won the gold medal in the men’s individual event—he was the clear favorite.[48] Even though he did not medal in the 2018 Games, Chen was a strong presence in the sport leading up to the 2022 Games.[49] In the year leading up to the 2022 Games, Forbes estimated he earned more than $1 million from sponsors.[50] “Chen has long-term deals with 11 partners, many of which overlap with Team USA’s official sponsorships, including Bridgestone, Comcast, Nike, Toyota and Visa.”[51] They also estimate that he has bonuses from the Olympics that are well above this number.[52]
Winter Olympic sports typically struggle more with endorsement deals than the Summer Olympics, but Chen made a brand for himself that companies could not resist.[53] As the “first Olympian to land six quadruple jumps (with four full revolutions)”, Chen has been nicknamed the “Quad King.”[54] This brand has sealed his fate in the NIL space.
Conclusion
Thus, it seems that artistic sports are able to garner NIL deals. However, they may have a more unique path of landing the deals than athletes from other game sports. Since their events are not always televised, they have to market themselves.
Not everyone can be a gold medalist in the Olympics, or a Tik Tok star. However, the other athlete athletes still have the opportunity to create a brand for themselves. For the athlete who has been training as long as Chen but has only landed five quadruple jumps, instead of six, or for the one who has 500,000 followers instead of 8 million Tik Tok followers like Dunne, there is still an opportunity for an endorsement deal. Artistic athletes should use a platform like Opendorse or build themselves a personal brand to show how their sports are just as valuable as game sports.
* J.D. Candidate, University of Tennessee Law, Class of 2025.
[1] For the purposes of this article, these sports can be referred to as game sports since the athletes are playing a sport that requires a game score.
[2] Int’l Trademark Ass’n, https://www.inta.org/topics/right-of-publicity/ (last visited Apr. 14, 2025).
[3] See generally John T. Holden, et al., A Short Treatise on College-Athlete Name, Image, and Likeness Rights: How America Regulates College Sports’ New Economic Frontier, 57 Ga. L. Rev. 1, 7 (2022).
[4] NCAA v. Alston, 141 S. Ct. 2141, 2166 (2021).
[5] Id.
[6] Michelle Hosick, NCAA Adopts Interim Name, Image and Likeness Policy, Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n (June 30, 2021, 4:20 PM), https://www.ncaa.org/news/2021/6/30/ncaa-adopts-interim-name-image-and-likeness-policy.aspx. The NCAA NIL policy provides the following guidelines to “college athletes, recruits, their families and member schools”:
Individuals can engage in NIL activities that are consistent with the law of the state where the school is located. Colleges and universities may be a resource for state law questions. College athletes who attend a school in a state without an NIL law can engage in this type of activity without violating NCAA rules related to name, image, and likeness. Individuals can use a professional services provider for NIL activities.
Id. In 2024, an updated policy also came into play. New NIL, Health and Academic Benefits Take Effect for NCAA Student-athletes Thursday, Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n (Aug. 1, 2024, 9:54 AM), https://www.ncaa.org/news/2024/8/1/media-center-new-nil-health-and-academic-benefits-take-effect-for-ncaa-student-athletes-aug-1.aspx.
[7] Illustrative Guidance for Non-Olympic Partners: Commercial Opportunities for Participants, Int’l Olympic Comm. (Sept. 2023), https://www.olympics.com/athlete365/app/uploads/2023/09/2023-09-21-Paris2024-Rule40-Illustrative-Guidance.pdf. For the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, the IOC stated, “[a]ll Participants are permitted to promote their sponsors, and all sponsors are permitted to use Participant Images, during the Games Period. . . .” Commercial Opportunities for Participants During the Olympic Games Paris 2024, Int’l Olympic Comm., https://img.olympics.com/images/image/private/w_auto/primary/uqumvijhspbeljkeavxx (last visited Mar. 12, 2025).
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] The Highest-Paid College Athletes in the NIL Era, Icon Source (Feb. 2, 2022), https://iconsource.com/blog/highest-paid-college-athletes/#:~:text=Athletes%20across%20all%20sports%20have,67%25%20of%20all%20NIL%20compensation.
[11] Nick Cottongim, Top 20 College Athletes with the Highest NIL Valuations, The Fan (Feb. 25, 2025), https://1075thefan.com/playlist/top-20-college-athletes-with-the-highest-nil-valuations/item/18.
[12] Everything You Need to Know About NIL, Icon Source, https://iconsource.com/everything-about-nil/ (last visited Mar. 13, 2025).
[13] Id.; ABC Sees High Viewership with College Football Games, TheDesk.Net (Oct. 4, 2024), https://thedesk.net/2024/10/abc-top-network-college-football-september-2024/.
[14] Elizabeth A. Hanley, A Perennial Dilemma: Artistic Sports in the Olympic Games, J. of Olympic Hist., 39, 39 (2000).
[15] Bojana Galic, 62 Gymnastics Statistics You Should Know, Livestrong, https://www.livestrong.com/article/13764418-gymnastics-statistics/ (last updated Dec. 28, 2023).
[16] See Hanley, supra note 14, at 39.
[17] Id. at 39.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] On3 Women’s NIL Valuations, On3, https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/womens-nil-valuations/ (last updated Mar. 12, 2025, 12:00 AM).
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] It’s Livvy Dunne’s World, Elle (July 25, 2023, 8:00 AM), https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a44578096/olivia-dunne-interview-2023/.
[25] Id.
[26] Christaline Meyers, Suni Lee Would be Richer than Olivia Dunne if She Didn’t Quit NCAA Over Kidney Issue, Essentially Sports, https://www.essentiallysports.com/us-sports-news-olympics-news-gymnastics-news-suni-lee-would-be-richer-than-olivia-dunne-if-she-didnt-quit-ncaa-over-kidney-issue/ (last updated May 15, 2024).
[27] Anna G. Williams, In a League of Her Own: Why Female Student-Athletes are Poised to win Big in the NIL Era with a Properly Crafted Federal Law, 125 W. Va. L. Rev. 371, 372 (2022).
[28] Id. at 373.
[29] On3 Women’s NIL Valuations, supra note 21.
[30] The Biggest NIL Earners in Women’s Sports from 2022, Sports Illustrated (Dec. 22, 2022), https://www.si.com/college/2022/12/22/biggest-nil-deals-womens-sports-cavinder-twins-bueckers-dunne
[31] Undecided Suni Lee Uses Gymnastics to Bag Another Money Deal, Essentially Sports, https://www.essentiallysports.com/us-sports-news-gymnastics-newsundecided-suni-lee-uses-gymnastics-to-bag-another-money-deal/ (last updated Jan. 17, 2025, 3:07 PM).
[32] Id.
[33] https://www.usfigureskating.org/skate/skating-opportunities/collegiate-skating
[34] Scoring System, U.S. Figure Skating (last visited Mar. 12, 2025), https://www.usfigureskating.org/about/scoring-system.
[35] Figure Skating Scoring Systems Explained, Chique Sport, (Mar. 18, 2024), https://chiquesport.com/blogs/guides/figure-skating-scoring-systems#:~:text=IJS%20Program%20Components%20Score&text=Skaters%20earn%20points%20based%20on,speed%2C%20stability%20and%20edge%20control.
[36] Id.
[37] See generally Synchronized Skating, Miami Redhawks (last visited Mar. 12, 2025),
https://miamiredhawks.com/sports/synchronized-skating. The head coach noted that figure skating athletes attention. Paul Daugherty, Keeping their Edge, Miami Univ. (last visited Mar. 12, 2025),
[38] Id.
[39] Id.
[40] Julian Valentin, The Opendorse Story, Opendorse (Apr. 27, 2022), https://biz.opendorse.com/blog/the-opendorsestory/.
[41] Former Huskers Create Opendorse to Help Athletes Market Themselves, Nebraska Pub. Media (Jan. 18, 2023),
[42] Id.
[43] Id.
[44] Id.
[45] Id.
[46] For example, Bradie Tennell, an Olympic figure skating bronze medalist, has an Opendorse profile. See Bradie Tennell: Figure Skating, Opendorse, https://opendorse.com/profile/bradie-tennell (last visited Mar 12, 2025). Jason Brown, also an Olympic Bronze medalist, also has an Opendorse profile.[46] See Jason Brown: Figure Skating, Opendorse, https://opendorse.com/profile/jason-brown (last visited Mar. 12, 2025).
[47] Justin Birnbaum, Here’s How Much Olympic Figure Skating Star Nathan Chen is Making from Endorsements,
Forbes (Feb. 3, 2022, 7:00 PM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2022/02/03/heres-how-much-olympicfigure-skating-star-nathan-chen-is-making-from-endorsements/?sh=411d350f2ae2.
[48] Id.
[49] Id.
[50] Id.
[51] Id.
[52] Id.
[53] Id.
[54] Id.
tennesseelawreview.org 