Can players lose NIL money if they're injured? Here's what collectives say

To an extent there's any uniformity, there are variables to whether an injury docks a player NIL payment -- including where the injury took place. And of course, there's insurance involved

By Richard Johnson Aug 26, 2024 at 9:00 am ET• 4 min read

Injuries are an unfortunate part of life in a violent sport. Fall camp alone saw notable season-ending injuries to two Texas running backs, Texas A&M running back Reuben Owens, Notre Dame left tackle Charles Jagusah, and Rutgers linebacker Mohamed Toure. But in the Name Image and Likeness world with contracts between collectives and athletes, an injury doesn't just hinder your availability on the depth chart. So how do collectives handle players that get hurt, especially when they're out for an entire year? 

As is the case with many cases in the collective world, it runs the gamut. One Power 4 collective official told CBS Sports that their contracts don't have anything in them related to performance, and that they stick strictly to the deliverables such as appearances in the community or social media posts. Another former Power 4 collective official told CBS Sports the most popular plan to handle injuries in the industry is to not have a plan at all, "which continues to shock me." It echoes one NIL agent who said he'd never seen an injury clause in a deal.

The answers speak to the lack of uniformity across the industry and the actual function of collectives. Some are marketing arms. Others function as full representatives of the university whether they're supposed to or not. 

To the extent such language does exist in a contract, there are ways collectives attempt to protect themselves on the front end with vague language. For instance, if an athlete's marketability is "impaired," payment could be stopped. One could argue a lot of things could fall into the bucket of impairment, including injury.