Your NIL, start to finish.

How NIL deals actually happen

Forget the headlines about seven-figure quarterbacks. The average third-party deal in 2026 is about $6,200, most deals pay under $1,000, and 84% are one-time. Four out of five NIL dollars go to football and men's basketball, which means every other athlete is dealing in the small, local market that nobody builds tools for.

Deals come from four places:

• Brands. Casting calls and sponsor programs, usually through a marketplace or an agency. National, competitive, slow.
• Local businesses. The dealership, the barbershop, the cheesesteak shop near school. No marketing budget, real value in an athlete with a few thousand nearby followers. The fastest first deal there is.
• Your school's marketplace. Many colleges run a branded directory where vetted businesses can find their athletes.
• Collectives and revenue share. Since the House settlement, Division I schools can pay athletes directly, up to about $21.58 million per school in 2026-27. That money is the school's to allocate and report; it is not a third-party NIL deal.

What athletes say afterward is the useful part. In a 2026 survey, 58% wished they had understood negotiation before their first deal, 44% wished they knew how to say no professionally, and 47% wished they had done fewer deals. Athletes ranked "simple requirements" above "fair compensation" when describing their best deal, and 65% would rather have one ongoing partnership than a string of one-offs.

What you're worth

Athletes with 1,000 to 500,000 followers typically charge $150 to $5,000 for a post. Where you land in that range depends on five things: engagement rate (a gymnast with 10,000 active fans often out-earns a quarterback with 100,000 silent ones), sport, level, market size, and what the deal asks for. A single story is not a feed post; a two-hour appearance is not a signing; six months of usage rights is not "in perpetuity".

Price each deliverable, not the deal. A useful rate card has a range for a feed post, a story, a short video, an appearance and a signing, and it moves as your numbers move. In Leave this is the Your rate screen, built from your public record and public rate data. It is information, not a promise, and the low end of any range is still yours to refuse.

The rules, by level

NIL rules are a patchwork: your state, your level, your school and, in college, the NCAA and the College Sports Commission all get a say. The deadlines are the part that gets athletes in trouble, so start there.

High school

As of 2026, 41 states allow high school athletes to sign NIL deals; Alabama, Indiana, Mississippi and Wyoming prohibit it. Nearly every state that allows it shares four conditions: nothing can depend on how you play, where you enroll or whether you stay; no school, team or association marks in the ad; restricted categories are off limits (adult content, gambling, alcohol, tobacco and vaping, prescription drugs, weapons); and the school has to be told.

Pennsylvania is a good example of how specific it gets. The PIAA gives you 72 hours to tell your principal or athletic director, bans PIAA and school references in the ad, uses a three-strikes penalty that ends at permanent ineligibility, and only lets a licensed athlete agent or a Pennsylvania attorney represent you. Read your own state's rule, and your school's policy on top of it.

College

The NCAA requires disclosure of deals worth $600 or more within 30 days; most schools want it sooner and want it before you sign. At Division I, third-party deals of $600 or more also go through NIL Go, the clearinghouse the College Sports Commission runs with Deloitte, within 5 business days. NIL Go checks that a deal has a valid business purpose and pays fair market value; since January 2026 it has cleared 16,874 deals worth $228 million and denied 1,288 worth $75 million. Roughly 41% resolve within 24 hours. A denied deal can be restructured and resubmitted.

International athletes

On an F-1 visa, only passive income such as royalties and licensing is safe. Appearances, content and signings performed inside the United States are treated as work. Talk to your school's international office before agreeing to anything.

Taxes on a 1099

NIL money arrives with nothing withheld. It is self-employment income: 15.3% self-employment tax applies before any federal or state income tax, quarterly estimated payments may be required once you owe more than $1,000, and the money you earn in 2026 shows up on the 2028-29 FAFSA. Half of athletes earning $5,000 or more reported a tax surprise.

The habit that prevents it is boring: set aside 25 to 30% of every payment the day it lands, keep every 1099 in one folder, and talk to a tax professional before April. Leave's Get paid screen holds a set-aside back automatically and files 1099s into the Tax folder. It is not tax advice; it is a place to keep the money you will owe.

Reading the contract

Every NIL agreement has six parts: deliverables, term, usage rights, payment schedule, exclusivity and termination. Four clauses do most of the damage.

• Usage rights "in perpetuity". Forever. A brand can keep using your face after the deal, after college, after your career. Counter with a term and a channel: twelve months, social only.
• Exclusivity. No other brand in the category for the whole term. A smoothie deal with "beverage and nutrition" exclusivity blocks sports drinks, protein and supplements for a year. Read how the category is defined.
• Morality clauses with repayment. Broad language lets the brand decide what counts, and some require you to pay money back.
• Performance-based pay. Money tied to stats, wins, enrollment or staying is pay-for-play, and it is prohibited at every level.

Upload any contract to Leave and each part is labelled in plain language, with the flags called out and new offers checked against your existing exclusivity before you say yes.

Agents and fees

On playing contracts, players' unions cap agent fees at 3 to 5%. On marketing, NIL and appearance deals there is no cap, so 10 to 20% for the life of the deal is common, and some agents ask that of collective and revenue-share money too. The pushback is coming: Florida proposed a 5% cap on college athlete agent fees, the federal Protect College Sports Act of 2026 would register agents and cap fees at 5%, the FTC opened an inquiry into agent conduct at 20 Division I schools in January 2026, and 42 states already require agents to register.

Leave is not an agent and never will be. It organizes information for your own use: the deals, the rate, the rules, the deadlines, the clauses. It does not negotiate, represent or sign for you, and it takes 0% of any deal. You decide, you send.

How Leave fits

• 1
  The deals. NIL opportunities show up as threads in your Web: brand casting calls, local businesses posting through Leave for Brands, school marketplace listings. Every thread carries a rate range and a rules check for your state, level and age.
• 2
  Your rate. Per-deliverable ranges built from your public record and public rate data, with your own past deals lined up against them. Say "Hey Leave, what do I charge for a story?"
• 3
  The paperwork. Every contract explained, the four red flags called out, and a one-tap disclosure packet for your school or NIL Go with a countdown to the deadline.
• 4
  The money. Get paid through Leave, keep 100%, with a tax set-aside and your 1099s filed. Under 18, a parent or guardian sets up payouts as your Talent Teammate.

Leave is $99 a month after a 30-day free trial, works inside ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and comes with an iOS and Android app. Accounts are 18+; athletes 13 to 17 use Leave through an account a parent or guardian creates.

Questions athletes ask

Be your own agent. Leave.