NIL Collectives are legal entities formed by fans, supporters and boosters of college sports. NIL Collectives may take a variety of legal forms ranging from tax-exempt, nonprofit corporations, limited liability companies, or for-profit corporations.
NIL collectives function in a number of ways while trying to maximize the earning value of student athletes. They help arrange partnerships between companies and student athletes and also pool funds from boosters and fans to be re-dispersed to athletes.
The collectives are separate and independent from the colleges they are formed to support, so the legal structure and operation of each collective is at the discretion of the collective’s founders. NIL Collectives have a shared mission of helping student athletes navigate potential NIL deals, but each collective will have a different method of accomplishing this. Some may connect companies with athletes; some may enter into NIL deals directly with athletes.