UNC taking NIL to another level?

On a February afternoon at the University of North Carolina, a group of seven students on the diving team sat barefoot on the floor of the college’s muggy natatorium. They were staring expectantly at a petite blond woman in a black sweater perched on a concrete block.

Vickie Segar was there, with the blessing of the university’s athletic department, to pitch them on turning their TikTok and Instagram accounts into cash cows.

“Let’s talk about the money in the creator economy,” said Ms. Segar, after explaining that she was a graduate of the university who had run a top influencer marketing agency for a dozen years. “Does anybody follow Alix Earle?”


The students said yes, amid several chuckles, because asking a college student that question in 2025 is like asking if a millennial has ever heard of Beyoncé.

How much money, she continued, did they think that Ms. Earle, a TikTok megastar who rose to fame with confessional-style videos about beauty and college life, makes for promoting a brand across several posts on Instagram Stories? “$100,000?” one student guessed. “$70,000,” another tossed out.

Ms. Segar, whose firm has worked with Ms. Earle on brand deals, paused. She drew out her response: “$450,000 per Instagram Story.”

Inside The Mad Dash to Turn Division I Athletes Into Influencers

 

They’re on the Varsity Influencer Team
A new effort at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is aimed at turning its student-athletes into well-remunerated social media stars. Other schools are following suit.

 

College football is not going to be recognizable in a few years.

 

It's the new world, one which guys like me don't recognize but the one future generations will consider completely normal. I'm including both NIL and the portal. Not everyone in my generation, most of us here, agrees with it or accepts it. I understand and respect everyone's positions. I choose to adapt and continue to follow my favorite college sports as I always have. I always have been capable of compartmentalizing, so it's not that difficult for me to filter out the noise about NIL and the portal. I go by the old adage, different strokes for different folks.

And Tim, if you think about it vs. even 5 or so years ago, the college football we've known our entire lives is hardly recognizable now. I agree with you that it will change even more in the future. I have no idea how, but someone famous once said change is inevitable.

 

I don’t mind the athletes being paid, but the transfer portal will kill it for me when I no longer recognize the names on the Alabama roster.