William Monroe and his research

Author: William Monroe | Major: Finance | Semester: Fall 2023

Throughout my time growing up, I have always been an avid college sports fan, especially when it comes to Razorback sports. I always cherished the times I was able to come up to Fayetteville and watch a Razorback baseball, basketball, or football game. My topic was about Name, Image, and Likeness in college athletics, which summed up, allows student-athletes to get paid for their abilities. When my mentor and I first met, we discussed a few possible topics, but when she brought that topic up, I knew it was what I wanted to do.

When I joined Walton as a Freshman, I had heard of Dr. Molly Rapert and how well-respected and well-liked she was throughout the business school. So, when she came to my classroom to present a study abroad program, CIMBA, I knew I had to go. After having an amazing time, she reached out to some of her CIMBA students to see if we needed a thesis advisor, and I instantly said yes. It has been great to have someone who knowledgeable and well- connected helping me with my research topics.

When I first began learning and researching about NIL, I knew I had a fair amount of knowledge, but by the conclusion of my research, I was blown away by the topic. Overall, I was surprised to see just how many changes have occurred since its inception. First off, college athletes can now be compensated for their abilities and likeness on and off the field, which is very similar to professional sports. It was interesting to see that the NCAA does not have very much control over it, if any at all, allowing players to sign multi-million-dollar deals, and with the introduction of the transfer portal, basically leaving smaller schools to chase large NIL deals at Power 5 institutions. Finally, I was surprised to see that the majority of consumers did not think very highly of NIL, when student-athletes, who often interact with regular college students, and administrators thought that it was great for college athletics.

I faced a few hurdles when I was trying to get in contact with student-athletes and administrators, but once I found a couple, more doors kept opening to talk to other student-athletes and administrators. Dr. Rapert was crucial because she kept constantly feeding me ideas about different ways to approach one of the many topics or giving me suggestions about who I needed to talk to.

While there were not any faculty members who helped me in an advisor role like Dr. Rapert, I had the opportunity to interview administrators and student-athletes from the University of Arkansas as well as other universities. To protect the student-athletes and administrators they had to remain anonymous, and their names could not be used in my thesis. As the final part of my research, I had the opportunity to publish a Qualtrics survey to see consumer opinions on NIL, where I received 240 responses from people from all age groups.

Thank you to the Honors College for providing the money for my research grant.