Why Canadians can’t make as much money as Americans in NCAA

Hundreds of thousands of student-athletes have profited from their name, image and likeness (NIL) since the NCAA first allowed them to do so on July 1, 2021.

As college athletics have become like the Wild West, with large donor collectives recruiting talent to their favourite universities with promises of hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement deals, the balance of power has shifted across the NCAA.

However, one group has been left out of the process entirely: international students.

Despite making up nearly 12.8 per cent of all Division 1 NCAA athletes and 14 per cent of basketball players, foreign student-athletes are mostly unable to profit from NIL. That includes Canadians, who represent far and away the most NCAA athletes from any country outside the United States. 

“With NIL deals in America, I’m on a student visa,” reigning Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year, Toronto’s Zach Edey, told Sportsnet.ca. “So, I’m not really allowed to do a lot of those deals over there: I can’t film a commercial or do anything. Only thing I can really get is my jersey sales when I'm in America.”

That’s because nearly all international student-athletes are on F-1 (student) visas, which do not allow them to engage in employment outside of “on-campus” work or other specific programs geared toward career development such as an internship. They are unable to participate in “active” engagements while on American soil, including most of the traditional influencer-based NIL activations such as posting on social media or filming a commercial. Foreign student-athletes are allowed to profit off “passive” engagements, such as jersey sales or EA Sports video game licencing in America, but these tend to be a very small percentage of NIL profits for most athletes. 

This means that as international athletes continue to bring hundreds of millions of dollars into their universities through sports, they are seeing a tiny percentage of the profit — and an unequal share compared to their American counterparts. 

“It is super frustrating,” University of Miami women’s basketball player Lemyah Hylton, from Mississauga, Ont., said about the need to be on Canadian soil to conduct NIL deals. “I've had opportunities to have certain deals and, like, just with the complications of when I would get paid or when I would be able to post, it might not measure up with the timing of the company.”

“We've had to turn down a number of deals because of that,” said Daniel Green of Green Sports Management, which helps Canadian athletes such as Shayeann Day-Wilson and Charles Bediako navigate the muddy waters of NIL. “Just from the standpoint of: ‘Hey, we're open to doing a deal but we can't do these deliverables until she heads back home.’ Or: ‘Hey. I know you want her to participate and show up to this location … but we can't do that because physically she can't show up.

“And usually brands want turnarounds pretty quickly. So, yes, [international students are] at a disadvantage when it comes to their American counterparts because, obviously, there are no restrictions on what [Americans] can do. … I think [international students] are losing out significantly with the current rule structure that is in place."

The other issue is that most brands and collectives don’t fully understand what foreign student athletes can and can’t get away with in regards to NIL due to unclear legislation from the NCAA. That’s why last November, attorneys at immigration law firm BAL held roundtable discussions with administrators at several NCAA schools and released findings concluding that schools want guidance defining what NIL activities are permissible for F-1 foreign student athletes, that international students are vulnerable to potential visa violations in the current system, and that the playing field is uneven as foreign student-athletes are excluded from personal and team-wide NIL deals. 

“Most brands are not privy to what the rules of NIL are,” Green said. “So, they defer a lot to us as agents or they would defer to the student-athlete or the NIL advisor at the university to provide more guidance. But at the end of the day, their job is not to keep these student-athletes eligible. Their job is to do partnerships.”

“I feel like we just miss out on a lot more opportunities, especially when it's like in our face and our other American teammates get it,” Hylton adds. “It’s like a kick in the face. … It's just a lot harder for us because we also have to do a lot more outreach so that companies can understand how it works for internationals and all that. So, it's just a way longer process and it's just way harder.”

Despite rampant speculation that star Canadian athletes such as Purdue’s Edey or the University of Connecticut’s Aaliyah Edwards, who hails from Kingston, Ont., might be making millions in endorsement deals, they are making a fraction of what they are worth due to these rules. In fact, Edwards told me in December that she had never attempted to work on NIL deals during her four years at UConn because she was always too busy with national team obligations while on Canadian soil. 

“It kind of sucks to not be able to benefit like some of my teammates, but I still share in some of their glory that they are able to capitalize on,” Edwards said. “I'm hoping that in the future we can kind of make some changes, even if I'm not able to participate in it, but for those upcoming, the next generation, because I think it is important to kind of give back into your athletes the amount of time and effort that they give into the sport.”

Edwards recently became the first Canadian to sign an NIL deal with Adidas, but a spokeswoman told The Associated Press that the company is "being respectful of the NIL rules and Aaliyah will only participate in Canada during her NIL Adidas Canada deal." It’s not a coincidence that Edwards later announced that she would be foregoing her final year of NCAA eligibility to declare for the 2024 WNBA Draft, where she will be on a work visa rather than a student visa, allowing her to profit from the deal without limitations.

It stands in stark contrast to teammate Paige Bueckers, who is estimated to be worth more than half a million dollars in NIL deals, and who chose to return to UConn for another season rather than declaring for the 2024 WNBA Draft — where she would be a top-five pick — likely in part due to the financial security she is provided through NIL. 

The best Canadian men have a few more options to make money, but those are dwindling too. Scarborough, Ont., native Leonard Miller eschewed the NCAA in favour of the G League Ignite in 2022, where he earned a $500,000 salary before being selected 33rd overall in the 2023 NBA Draft. Unfortunately, that option has recently been eliminated, as the NBA announced that the G League Ignite would be shutting down operations after this season due in part to “the changing basketball landscape, including the NCAA's Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) policy and the advent of collectives.”

Two top-ranked Canadians Efeosa Oliogu and Jalik Dunkley-Distant recently joined the Overtime Elite, where they could make over $100,000, should they choose to go the professional route and forgo their college eligibility. 

The only loophole in the current system aside from avoiding the NCAA entirely is to have your school play games in Canada, something Edey’s Purdue and Edwards’ UConn each did earlier this season. While on Canadian soil, Edey was able to complete a deal with Daps, a New York-based company that allows fans to bid on game-worn jerseys or signed memorabilia, saying “Now that I am getting paid, thinking back on it, it was ridiculous that we weren't getting paid.”

Other programs like the University of Miami’s women’s basketball team, which rosters four Canadians, are trying to follow suit, pressuring their athletic departments for a trip to Canada next season, so the Canadians would be able to conduct NIL deals.

But short of that, international students are left wanting. And until the NCAA puts enough pressure on the federal government to change the outdated rules surrounding F-1 visas — which went into place long before the idea of NIL was conceived — Canadians and other international students will continue to be at a disadvantage.

There might be larger problems in the NIL-induced Wild West of NCAA athletics. But for international students, getting their fair share of the profits feels like a good place to start.