You've seen the headlines. Quarterbacks with $5M deals. Basketball stars with seven-figure Instagram posts. Then your son comes home and asks if NIL means he should commit to NCAA over CHL.

Here's the honest answer for hockey families: NIL has changed college sports, but it has not changed them equally. What's true for football is mostly not true for hockey. Knowing the difference will save you from making a development decision based on a paycheck that probably will not arrive.

What NIL actually is

Since 2021, NCAA athletes can earn money from their name, image, and likeness. That includes:

  • Endorsement deals with brands
  • Social media partnerships
  • Autograph signings and appearances
  • Camps and lessons
  • Group deals through team-affiliated "collectives"

In 2025, a new piece dropped on top of that. The House v. NCAA settlement allows schools to share revenue directly with athletes, capped at roughly $20.5 million per school per year. How that pool gets divided is up to each school, and at most programs, the vast majority goes to football and men's basketball.

Where the big NIL numbers actually go

The top NIL deals in college sports are concentrated in two sports: football and men's basketball. A starting Power Five quarterback can clear seven figures. A top basketball recruit can sign for hundreds of thousands before they take a snap or shoot a jumper.

College hockey is not in that tier. It is a non-revenue sport at almost every NCAA program. There are no national TV contracts close to football money, and the collectives that exist are smaller and spread thinner.

What hockey players actually earn

Realistic ranges, based on what we see across our client base and the broader market:

  • Average NCAA D1 hockey player: a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per year, usually from local sponsors, camps, or modest collective payments.
  • Solid contributor on a top program: typically four-figure deals, occasionally low five figures.
  • Genuine NCAA hockey star with national profile: high five figures up to around $200K in the very top cases.

A useful way to think about it: NIL for a hockey player is meaningful supplemental income at the top end, and pocket money in the middle. It is not a substitute for a development decision.

The bigger story most families miss

The change that actually moved the CHL-vs-NCAA needle is not NIL. It is the November 2024 rule change that allows former CHL players to play NCAA hockey. For years, the choice was binary: pick CHL and forfeit NCAA, or pick NCAA and stay out of the CHL. That is gone.

What it means in practice: a player can develop in the CHL through their draft years, then move to NCAA hockey afterward, with NIL eligibility intact at that point. Families no longer have to bet the whole decision at age 16.

For more on how to weigh the two paths now, see our guide on CHL vs NCAA.

What to ask a program before committing

If NIL is part of the conversation with an NCAA coach, here is what cuts through the pitch:

  1. Does the program have its own collective, and what is the typical hockey allocation? Marketing language is not a number.
  2. Are revenue-share dollars going to hockey, and how much? Some schools are funneling almost all of it to football and basketball.
  3. What support exists for personal NIL deals? Tax filing, contract review, brand introductions: a real program has staff for this.
  4. What have past hockey players actually earned? Ask for ranges, not anecdotes about one player.

If a program cannot answer those questions specifically, the NIL pitch is theoretical.

Bottom line for parents

Pick the path that develops the player. NIL is a real factor at the margins, especially at the top end of NCAA hockey, but it should not flip a development decision. The families who get this wrong tend to over-index on a number that, for most hockey players, will be smaller than they expected.

Build the brand alongside the game. An active, professional social media presence is what turns a modest NIL ceiling into a real one. That is true whether your son ends up in Ann Arbor, Chestnut Hill, or Boston.

How ISM approaches NIL conversations: We help families read past the marketing pitch and into the actual numbers a program can support. That means honest expectations, smart brand-building from the junior years onward, and contract review when real deals come in. The goal is making NIL a tailwind on a good development decision, never the reason for one.