Mental Health Crisis Looms As College Athletes Chase NIL Fame In “Attention Economy”

While much attention has been focused on the financial benefits of NIL monetization, little conversation has been had about the inherent stress of trying to find an NIL deal and the impact on the athletes themselves.

College athletes (and many high school athletes) have been told over and over that the key to their success is finding people, companies and others who will pay for the athletes to endorse their products and brands. It’s a time-honored transaction-I say nice things about your product, and you pay me because your customers will be influenced by my endorsement.

But it isn’t as easy as it looks.

An overwhelming majority of college athletes want to become a part of the “attention economy”, defined as those trying to break through the deluge of information. They view themselves as “performers” and “brands”, not just an athlete.

The toll on athlete mental health is real

What is rarely discussed is the toll this may be taking on the mental health of college athletes. Chasing clicks and likes has become the defacto currency to monetize their NIL; if they aren’t gaining traction with their social media feeds, it can lead to disappointment.

Most athletes are already very high achievers and expect a lot from themselves. When they open their phones, they are bombarded by people who seem to have it all-perfect lives, perfect families, perfect travel photos, etc. How do they live up to those standards?

“This economy, which sees our focus as a finite resource to be captured and monetized, has fundamentally altered how we connect, demanding a closer examination beyond its buzzword status,” wrote Curt Steinhorst, an executive at Venus Aerospace, a company focused on warp-speed technology.

The Life of a College Athlete is filled with pressure

College athletes already have days packed with classes (a full-time load is required) along with a substantial commitment to team practices and activities (often more than 40 hours per week); along with other demands including family, etc. Add to it the stress of working to develop your brand and/or your social media presence and it’s easy to become overwhelmed.

The shift in our society from a “goods and services” focus to an “attention economy” in the last few years has accelerated the pressures on athletes to figure out ways to make money. Additional pressure piles on when athletes and their families presume the floodgates will open because an athlete is “good on social media”. Is there something wrong with them if they don’t have immediate success, they might wonder? Or, paradoxically, is there something wrong with the coach, the program and the institution if it doesn’t create the perfect environment for each athlete to be successful?

An athlete’s inner circle is crucial to good mental health

As more of an athlete’s inner circle opines on an athlete’s performance or “value”, it can take a toll on mental health.

Content is created every minute to distract and engage American society. What limits our uptake are two things: time constraints, and our ability to digest the content in front of us. The confluence of those two things is the true sweet spot but, It is a long, hard slog to catch that moment (ask any journalist or teacher the next time you meet one). It’s easy for family members to forget this.

Professional athletes have publicly addressed the challenges of maintaining good mental health. Professional tennis players Naomi Osaka and James Blake have spoken frequently about placing limits on their participation in sports media interviews and their consumption of social media. College athletes need to consider a similar strategy.

Fans and followers who gamble are a serious problem

Gambling creates another layer of mental health complications, as athletes absorb the vicious attacks leveled against them by social media followers who are mad the athlete did not “beat the spread”. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been very outspoken on this topic, calling it “enormously problematic”. “We’re kind of in the top of the first inning on this one,” Baker said. “And I think it’s really important for us to recognize this is going to be a challenging issue. We really need to take seriously the fact that student-athletes are surrounded by a huge percentage of their classmates and schoolmates who bet on sports, which is a problem all by itself,” he told the AP.

The NCAA published an updated gambling study, highlighting that 21% of men’s tennis players and 17% of men’s basketball players in Division I reported online harassment.

In an age when Colorado Buffalos head coach Deion Sanders has had a media crew covering his every move since his arrival in Boulder, every member of the Buffs’ athletic department knows what the “attention economy” means to their bottom line. It drives applications, ticket sales and media revenues as well as social media engagement. Other FBS conferences know that they want what Colorado has.

What price does the individual athlete pay to live up to the outsized expectations of their family, their team and even themselves in this new attention economy?

In the evolving landscape of college athletics, prioritizing mental health alongside physical performance is essential to ensure athletes thrive not just as competitors, but as well-rounded individuals. Reminding athletes that they are more than the clicks on their latest post might be a good place to start.