NiJaree Canady’s $1M NIL deal: Is Texas Tech a money maker?
LUBBOCK, Texas (BVM) – NiJaree Canady’s $1 million NIL deal from Texas Tech’s collective, The Matador Club, is the highest-ever name, image and likeness deal for a college softball player. This historic NIL offer significantly surpasses the previous national record of $175,000, according to The Athletic, citing a source familiar with negotiations.
As the reigning USA Softball National Player of the Year, Canady’s decision to transfer from Stanford to Texas Tech is puzzling. Softball powerhouses such as Oklahoma and Texas were possible destinations, while Texas Tech hasn’t even made the NCAA tournament since 2019. To make sense of this, many believe the Red Raiders lured Canady with the highest financial bid.
Here’s Canady’s $1,050,024 annual NIL deal from Texas Tech’s collective put into perspective.
Texas Tech’s NIL
Texas Tech athletes reported $7,870,700 in earnings from NIL deals between July 1, 2021-June 30, 2023. Football led the way, of course, but softball players reported just $235,997 (3% of the $7.9 million), per information obtained by The Dallas Morning News through a public records request.
Hopefully, Canady’s NIL deal doesn’t stir up envy in the locker room. The Matador Club aims to pay every Red Raiders student-athlete someday, but the organization needs more donor support.
To be clear, The Matador Club is Texas Tech Athletics’ official NIL collective. The organization raises money through donors and directs the money toward the school’s athletes. NIL wasn’t intended to help colleges recruit athletes, but cases like Canady’s are challenging that notion.
Hypothetically, if former Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes wanted to donate millions of dollars to The Matador Club to help his alma mater attract top players with NIL, he could do so.
Texas Tech’s NIL collective generates an estimated $7 million a year in funding (to be distributed across all sports) – ranking the Red Raiders at No. 37 nationwide, according to NIL-ncaa.com.
Power 5 schools average $9.8 million in NIL funding annually. Texas’s NIL collective is expected to generate about $22.3 million, while OU’s is about $14.8 million.
Texas Tech’s NCAA financial report
Generally, money-making sports such as football and men’s basketball attract the most lucrative deals from NIL collectives, per CBS Sports. In turn, Canady’s $1 million annual NIL deal appears ridiculous since Texas Tech softball isn’t even profitable.
In fiscal year 2023, Texas Tech athletics posted a record $146.8 million in total operating revenue, which included $1.4 million from softball. However, softball’s expenses totaled $2.5 million. As a result, while Texas Tech athletics profited $10.4 million, softball experienced a $1.1 million deficit.
But college softball is generally not a profitable sport. Sooners softball posted a $3.8 million deficit – despite winning their third consecutive championship title at the end of the FY2023 reporting year. Similarly, Longhorns softball faced a $2.3 million shortfall, and the list goes on.
It’s difficult to determine whether Canady’s NIL deal is the most lucrative in Texas Tech athletics history. But for perspective, CBS Sports estimates that the market range for a quarterback in the transfer portal is between $500,000 and $800,000.
One million dollars could be a “small” price for the nation’s best softball player, as Canady could lead the Red Raiders to their best season in history.
Texas Tech is already preparing for the hype surrounding the 2025 season. The school is offering season tickets for the first time, and fans can join the waitlist by paying a $20 non-refundable fee. In FY2023, Red Raiders softball brought in $91,000 in ticket sales, whereas football generated $11.7 million from tickets.
