Women’s basketball stars’ name, likeness and image brands carrying over into the WNBA

Caitlin Clark Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers are part of the new generation of women s basketball stars who have been able to profit off their name in college and build brands that have helped them excel off the court in the WNBA All three players had national star power before stepping foot in the pros Clark and Reese have made the All-Star Battle in each of their first two seasons and are two of the most of popular players in the league Bueckers was voted a starter in her first All-Star Match this weekend The next group up in college that is led by Hannah Hidalgo Flau jae Johnson Olivia Miles and JuJu Watkins has already benefitted from the name likeness and image According to On Johnson s NIL valuation is million NIL man it is beautiful Johnson declared This year in March Madness I had about five commercials running and you know it was so cool watching the challenge then seeing myself come on It s just a great opportunity Johnson is a guard at LSU one of the top schools for NIL in a variety of sports from football to women s gymnastics to women s basketball Johnson who also has a music career has gained from the exposure the school has given her doing national media campaigns with Experian and Powerade Hildago who will be entering her junior year at Notre Dame is happy that players can in the end profit off their own images as opposed to the school getting it all It s a blessing Schools for decades have been able to make money off of college players names So for now for attendee athletes to be able to make money off of how they carry themselves you know we re a brand ourselves she explained I m a brand myself and so be able to make money off of my name is honestly truly a blessing and just taking advantage of it is the biggest thing Johnson Hidalgo and Miles who helped the U S qualify for the World Cup next year by winning gold at the AmeriCup earlier this month all explained that they don t let the NIL deals they have get in the way of their sport They credit having a strong assistance system around them as well as people who handle the deals for them I really dedicate one or two times a week to kind of get all my stuff done Miles commented My agent is very good at scheduling that but greater part of my money comes from the collective deal so for that I really don t have to do much which is nice But any other of the other side deals my agent will send a videographer out to help me or have her edit stuff or whatever it may be Getting deals and earning money hasn t just helped the players financially Chosen have given back to their communities including Johnson I just want to be one of those people that uses NIL the right way she revealed This year I did a campaign with Experian and we relieved million in debt right for families in Louisiana and then every challenge we won we added to the pot Johnson disclosed it was really touching and emotional when she would receive videos on Instagram from people she helped I m really using my platform for impact for real So I think that s the best part of NIL and just making it better for the young girls that s coming behind us she commented The Associated Press women in the workforce and state leadership coverage receives financial encouragement from Pivotal Ventures AP is solely responsible for all content Find AP s standards for working with philanthropies a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP org AP WNBA https apnews com hub wnba-basketball Source