Columbia University’s tipoff Thursday in its First Four game against the University of Washington in the women’s NCAA Tournament marks the second straight appearance for the Lions in March Madness, coming on the heels of their third straight Ivy League regular-season title. It also offers insight into how NIL can help the Ivies level the playing field with the basketball powers, a least a little.
“We’re a mid-major league, but that doesn’t mean anything to us. We can compete with these Power Five teams,” said senior Cecelia Collins during media availability Wednesday. Not just on the court, but off of it too.
Columbia is one of three Ivy League schools that made the Big Dance this year, along with fellow No. 11 seed Princeton, which lost Wednesday night in the First Four against Iowa State, and No. 10 seed Harvard, which plays Michigan State in the first round Saturday. Unlike their Big Ten and Big 12 first-round opponents, Ivy League programs famously don’t provide athletic scholarships and aren’t opting into the House revenue-sharing settlement. But the schools aren’t forsaking NIL completely.
Moolah Kicks, a five-year old woman-owned and -focused basketball sneaker company, struck a deal to provide all 12 players with the company’s Neovolt Pro V2 shoes and shorts. The squad also inked NIL deals with Hoop Culture, the 17-year-old basketball brand, with each of the dozen players receiving customized merchandise they designed. Hoop Culture is also selling a Columbia-inspired clothing line, with some of the players featuring as models. The gear features New York City themes on T-shirts and hoodies running from $40 to $60. A portion of the sales go to the players as NIL Income.
One interesting wrinkle is that half of Columbia’s roster hails from abroad, featuring players from Australia, England, Estonia, Serbia and Spain. International athletes often can’t take advantage of NIL opportunities, given work restrictions on students from abroad. That means most NIL deals are off limits, since any “active” work such as promotional appearances or marketing on social media would run afoul of federal rules. But the common perception that international players can’t use NIL at all is wrong: Their NIL income just has to be passive income—the T-shirt sales allow the overseas portion of the Lions’ roster to benefit as well.
The downside: While their American teammates were able to do promotions at a Herald Square Foot Locker, the international players weren’t allowed to capitalize on their status.
With assistance from Jacob Feldman.
