International Student-Athletes Search for Income Opportunities

More and more overseas students are participating in competitive college sports. Additionally, collegiate players are now allowed to earn money through product sponsorships and advertisements as of 2021. Nowadays, a few of the most well-known collegiate players might earn up to $300,000 annually. These agreements are known as Name, Image, and Likeness, or NIL agreements. However, for student athletes who do not hold US citizenship, the circumstances are different. This is because they are not allowed to work because they are in the nation on a student visa. Some foreign students gain notoriety in the United States as a result of their participation on well-known sports teams, such as the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team.

According to a recent research, roughly 12% of the athletes at NCAA Division I institutions are foreign students. Division I is the highest tier in collegiate athletics. That indicates that 14,000 overseas students participated in Division I sports in 2020, according to data. In certain universities, international students make up the majority of the basketball teams. The only restrictions on work in the US are related to the student visa. Therefore, when they go outside of the country, several international student athletes have discovered ways to make NIL money.

Spanish-born Marta Suarez is a basketball player for the University of Tennessee. She took photos for her employer, Influxer, while her team was just visiting the Bahamas. Influxer aims to assist student athletes in monetizing their notoriety. When a student who works with Influxer strikes a contract with a business to endorse a product, the student gets compensated, and Influxer gets rewarded for arranging the arrangement. Suarez and the other students were compensated by Influxer for their time spent taking pictures in the Bahamas. Influxer was founded by Tyler Jaynes. He pointed out that the pupils’ ability to make money is not assured.

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