Story - Quinlan - NIL Expertise
Portrait of Noah Henderson
Meet the Loyola NIL expert who’s standing up for student-athletes
Professor Noah Henderson helps influence policy to protect students’ revenue
Noah Henderson, director of the Sports Management Program at the Quinlan School of Business, says he went through a full evolution during his time as a student-athlete at St. Joseph’s University. As a member of the golf team, Henderson felt slighted that his team did not get the same treatment or benefits as the men’s basketball team.
But as he studied the economics of collegiate sports, Henderson had a change of heart. “I soon became thankful for their labor, and how it subsidized my ability to play a nonrevenue sport in college,” he says.
Looking into it further, Henderson soon recognized the magnitude of the issue. Not only were high dollar sports like basketball and football subsidizing other athletes, but he also realized the basic inequity of the system as a whole. “I saw a staggering infographic that showed how much money a player on the Louisville men’s basketball team would be entitled to if he had the same revenue-sharing rights as an NBA player.” The amount was $1.72 million. “I then went from being someone who was thankful for the basketball team to an active advocate for student-athlete payment.”
Henderson is at the forefront of those navigating the new and complex business landscape, working to ensure that student-athletes are paid fairly, securing their financial security, advocating publicly for their welfare, and working hard to institute laws and policy changes to help collegiate athletes.
In 2021, the NCAA loosened its strict regulations on revenues going to student-athletes under a new policy that allowed them to monetize their name, image and likeness, called NIL for short. The new rules have created the means for student-athletes to earn payment for the billions of dollars in value they create for universities and associated businesses each year.
Henderson was an important advocate for student-athletes as the state of Illinois was codifying its own NIL rules, and he pushed for additions to the regulations that will help student-athletes protect their rights and prosper. Henderson worked to ensure that schools would be compelled to offer financial literacy education to student-athletes, so they can manage their finances prudently in college and beyond. “Since 98% of college athletes don't go pro, having a nest egg and financial support to chase a passion—like coaching at the high school level after graduation—helps athletes maintain their identities and find fulfillment,” Henderson says. He also saw to it that a student-athlete’s voice and jersey number were considered part and parcel of their NIL identities and could not be used by other entities for promotions without permission.
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Read the storyThe new NIL rules in the NCAA mean student-athletes can promote their own brands and earn money from sponsorships, endorsements, and the monetization of their social media presence on platforms like YouTube and Instagram in ways that were previously prohibited. Prior to the rule change, student-athletes could lose their right to play collegiate athletics if they so much as represented a car dealership in an advertisement shown on a local television station. Henderson cites the example of Donald De La Haye, a former kicker for the University of Central Florida, who in 2017 was ruled ineligible to play for the football team because he was earning money from YouTube videos he made, telling viewers about his life on the team.
One exemplar of what is now possible in the social media sector is Rayquan Smith, the former Virginia State football player dubbed the “King of NIL.” Earlier this year, Axios reported that since the new NIL rules went into effect, the running back with more than 135,000 followers on TikTok—who kickstarted his NIL presence by cold-contacting companies—had penned more than 80 sponsorship and promotion deals.
A second segment of NIL has emerged since the NCAA’s new rules, which involves groups called collectives, formed to promote collegiate sports teams and funnel funds from boosters and donors to student-athletes. The collectives can also assist student-athletes in sealing NIL deals for themselves. Collectives are separate entities from universities. Henderson has broad experience working with collectives, and notes that often student-athletes will have meet-and-greets, signings, or similar activities with the public that give fans a chance to interact with them as part of their contract with a collective. “Fans have never been closer to student-athletes,” Henderson says. In addition to collectives, a new revenue-sharing plan is part of a settlement agreement between the NCAA and its athletic leagues. It will mean that as of July 2025, a university will be at liberty to pay directly up to $22 million in aggregate to its student-athletes each year.
Henderson says that despite the new NIL opportunities, there is much to be done to further protect student-athletes. The process college athletes go through to find agents has become a Wild West. Agents need no credentials to work in the field, and some predatory agents charge 25% or more of the revenue student-athletes receive for their services, amounts that are way out of line with standard fees in professional sports. “It is one of the biggest issues in NIL today,” says Henderson. “Unlike pro sports, which require agent accreditation by the respective players' unions, the patchwork of state NIL laws really allow anyone to be an NIL agent.”
Henderson says this has led to some nightmare stories involving incompetent agents. “Even more dangerous are competent agents who violate their fiduciary duty of acting in their athlete's best interest to place athletes into bad deals or undervalue their worth.” One immediate change Henderson recommends is the creation of a database of collegiate-level agents.
Another topic that Henderson says needs to be part of the broader conversation around student-athlete wellbeing is the sometimes painful transition from campus life to life after graduation. “It can be very difficult, and many athletes may face mental health challenges when they go from being the big man on campus to someone working at a desk job,” he says.
In addition to his work at Loyola, Henderson finds time to write regularly for Sports Illustrated’s NIL Daily, covering NIL and sports business news. In the classroom, he is preparing students for careers in sports management. The Quinlan bachelor’s program in sport management is a comprehensive curriculum featuring course work in finance, facility management, and marketing, so students can hit the ground running after graduation. Henderson’s expertise provides students an inside look at how the NIL world works. It’s a complete package of instruction preparing students for a dynamic industry. “I’m happy to be getting students in on the ground floor of this new and emerging aspect of the marketplace.”
The new NIL rules in the NCAA mean student-athletes can promote their own brands and earn money from sponsorships, endorsements, and the monetization of their social media presence on platforms like YouTube and Instagram in ways that were previously prohibited. Prior to the rule change, student-athletes could lose their right to play collegiate athletics if they so much as represented a car dealership in an advertisement shown on a local television station. Henderson cites the example of Donald De La Haye, a former kicker for the University of Central Florida, who in 2017 was ruled ineligible to play for the football team because he was earning money from YouTube videos he made, telling viewers about his life on the team.
One exemplar of what is now possible in the social media sector is Rayquan Smith, the former Virginia State football player dubbed the “King of NIL.” Earlier this year, Axios reported that since the new NIL rules went into effect, the running back with more than 135,000 followers on TikTok—who kickstarted his NIL presence by cold-contacting companies—had penned more than 80 sponsorship and promotion deals.
A second segment of NIL has emerged since the NCAA’s new rules, which involves groups called collectives, formed to promote collegiate sports teams and funnel funds from boosters and donors to student-athletes. The collectives can also assist student-athletes in sealing NIL deals for themselves. Collectives are separate entities from universities. Henderson has broad experience working with collectives, and notes that often student-athletes will have meet-and-greets, signings, or similar activities with the public that give fans a chance to interact with them as part of their contract with a collective. “Fans have never been closer to student-athletes,” Henderson says. In addition to collectives, a new revenue-sharing plan is part of a settlement agreement between the NCAA and its athletic leagues. It will mean that as of July 2025, a university will be at liberty to pay directly up to $22 million in aggregate to its student-athletes each year.
Henderson says that despite the new NIL opportunities, there is much to be done to further protect student-athletes. The process college athletes go through to find agents has become a Wild West. Agents need no credentials to work in the field, and some predatory agents charge 25% or more of the revenue student-athletes receive for their services, amounts that are way out of line with standard fees in professional sports. “It is one of the biggest issues in NIL today,” says Henderson. “Unlike pro sports, which require agent accreditation by the respective players' unions, the patchwork of state NIL laws really allow anyone to be an NIL agent.”
Henderson says this has led to some nightmare stories involving incompetent agents. “Even more dangerous are competent agents who violate their fiduciary duty of acting in their athlete's best interest to place athletes into bad deals or undervalue their worth.” One immediate change Henderson recommends is the creation of a database of collegiate-level agents.
Another topic that Henderson says needs to be part of the broader conversation around student-athlete wellbeing is the sometimes painful transition from campus life to life after graduation. “It can be very difficult, and many athletes may face mental health challenges when they go from being the big man on campus to someone working at a desk job,” he says.
In addition to his work at Loyola, Henderson finds time to write regularly for Sports Illustrated’s NIL Daily, covering NIL and sports business news. In the classroom, he is preparing students for careers in sports management. The Quinlan bachelor’s program in sport management is a comprehensive curriculum featuring course work in finance, facility management, and marketing, so students can hit the ground running after graduation. Henderson’s expertise provides students an inside look at how the NIL world works. It’s a complete package of instruction preparing students for a dynamic industry. “I’m happy to be getting students in on the ground floor of this new and emerging aspect of the marketplace.”