Bronny James is the most marketable young athlete, according to Name, Image, Likeness valuations.
The son of NBA great Lebron James and a student at the prestigious Sierra Canyon High School, Bronny currently stands as the most valuable amateur athlete in the nation, On3 NIL reported.
Finurah previously reported that Bronny has had a net worth of $10 million while his father is best known for being the first actively playing NBA athlete to become a billionaire.
Bronny Making His Own Name in the Game
Bronny, in his own right, is a talented athlete, having played on several AAU teams before signing up with Sierra Canyon High.
He is also a bit of a social influencer with more than six million followers on Instagram as of March 2023. On his platform, Bronny promotes social justice and mental health awareness.
The NIL ranking, which gets reported annually, determines the projected annual value of high school and college athletes, measuring student-athletes by their Brand Value Index and Roster Value Index.
An athlete’s Brand Value or licensing and national sponsorships and Roster Value, the calculation of an athlete’s respective value to their team, gets evaluated by On3 NIL Valuation and calculated using a dynamic data points system that focuses on three primary categories: Performance, Influence and Exposure.
USA Today reported that Bronny has a valuation of $7.2 million.
Compared to the other top-10 student-athletes, Bronny’s No. 1 position is nearly twice as valuable as star college quarterback Arch Manning, whose NIL score is $3.7 million.
Most of the athletes named on the top list are college students on a football team, with the only exceptions being high schooler Hansel Emmanuel, No. 10, $1.4 million; San Ysidro CG Mikey Williams, No. 4, $3.3 million and LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, No. 3, at $3.4 million.
Bronny’s high valuation is not much of a shocker.
As Finurah previously reported, PSD, a leading premium underwear brand, reached an endorsement deal with the star high school player while he was a junior.
The 18-year-old player also became the first high schooler to ever have been sponsored by Beats by Dre.
The annual NIL earnings for a student-athlete can range from $1,000 to $10,000. This is still far behind pro athletes, who are paid between $50,000 and $400,000 for the same group usage licenses, AthleticDirectorU reported.
NIL Controversy
The issue of whether student-athletes should be paid is a complex and contentious one, with arguments on both sides. Currently, in the United States, student-athletes are not paid for their participation in college sports, but they are typically provided with scholarships that cover tuition, fees, room and board and other related expenses.
One of the main reasons student-athletes are not paid is due to the amateurism principle, which has been the foundation of college sports for many years. This principle holds that college athletes should not be compensated for their participation in sports, as they are amateurs who are primarily there to pursue an education and represent their schools.
There are also legal and regulatory barriers that make it difficult to pay student-athletes, as doing so would potentially violate NCAA rules and regulations, as well as state and federal labor laws.
However, there is a growing movement to allow student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, which would allow them to monetize their personal brands through endorsement deals, sponsorships and other means.
This movement has gained momentum in recent years, and several states have passed laws allowing student-athletes to profit from their NIL, while the NCAA also has begun to explore this issue and develop new policies to allow for greater compensation for student-athletes.
