NIL Club 2025: A Year of Building, Trust, and Real Momentum

As 2026 gets underway, we wanted to take a moment to look back on what 2025 meant for NIL Club, for the athletes who use the platform every day, and for the brands choosing to connect with them in more authentic ways.

Last year wasn't about chasing headlines. It was about building real infrastructure, listening closely to athletes, and proving that NIL can work at scale without losing trust, compliance, or authenticity. What follows is a look back at the progress we made together and why it matters as we continue into 2026.

One of the most important milestones of 2025 came in August, when we launched the Brand Deals feature inside the NIL Club app. The goal was straightforward. We wanted to make it easier for athletes to discover real brand opportunities, opt in on their own terms, and create content that fit naturally into their lives.

The response exceeded even our internal expectations.

Within just three months of launch, more than 50,000 student-athletes completed at least one NIL partnership through Brand Deals. That level of adoption confirmed what we strongly believed: athletes are ready for tools that give them access, clarity, and control without forcing them to cold-pitch brands or rely on outside intermediaries.

As Brand Deals gained traction, so did their performance. By September 2025, NIL Club campaigns had already driven more than 100,000 verified conversions. Since then, that number has grown to over 3 million verified conversions overall, reinforcing our focus on performance-based marketing rather than vanity metrics.

For brands, this meant clearer reporting and real outcomes. For athletes, it meant knowing their content wasn't just being seen, but actually working.

Across the platform, student-athlete content consistently delivered higher engagement rates than traditional influencers, reflecting the trust and relatability athletes bring to their audiences. These weren't polished ad reads. They were real moments shared by people their peers already follow and believe in.

Trust is easy to talk about and harder to earn. In November 2025, that trust was validated when NIL Club was named the most trusted NIL platform among NCAA athletes in SurveyNow's 2025 National Athlete App Trust Index.

This recognition mattered to us because it came directly from athletes. It reflected our commitment to transparency, athlete privacy, and a compliance-first approach that protects eligibility while still unlocking opportunity.

In 2025, NIL Club continued to grow in both size and reach. By the end of the year, the platform supported more than 650,000 student-athletes across over 20,000 teams, spanning college and high school programs.

Together, athletes on NIL Club now represent a combined social footprint of 1.5 billion followers. That reach isn't concentrated in a few accounts. It's distributed across campuses, sports, and communities, creating authentic exposure that brands can't replicate through single-influencer deals alone.

July marked another important step forward when we expanded NIL Club resources for high school students. We introduced new Help Center content and state-by-state compliance guidance to help younger athletes and students understand how NIL works where they live.

In compliant states, NIL Club now supports high school students not only in sports, but also in activities like band, robotics, and other programs. This expansion allows students to begin building their personal brands responsibly and early, while staying aligned with state laws and school policies.

Throughout 2025, we were proud to onboard and work with major brand partners, including SoFi, Revolut, Amazon, LoveShackFancy, Acorns, Gatorade, Ulta Beauty, and others. These brands didn't come to NIL Club looking for scripted endorsements. They came looking for authentic connections with Gen Z.

Campaigns like our work with Subway demonstrated what's possible when brands trust athletes to create in their own voice. Hundreds of athletes participated, sharing real moments from their daily routines and generating strong engagement through volume, authenticity, and relatability.

As NIL continues to evolve, compliance remains non-negotiable. Every brand deal on NIL Club is reviewed by YOKE, along with schools and legal experts, to ensure adherence to NCAA guidelines and state laws.

This approach allows athletes to participate confidently and brands to activate campaigns, knowing that eligibility and regulations are being respected at every step.

Behind the scenes, we also spent 2025 improving how the app works day-to-day. We enhanced tools for team invites, content posting, and direct brand connections across both iOS and Android. These updates were designed to make managing NIL opportunities simpler and more intuitive for athletes.

That focus on usability is reflected in athlete feedback. By the end of the year, NIL Club earned a 4.7-star rating on the App Store and 4.6 stars on Google Play, a testament to the community's daily use of the platform.

NIL Club was built to offer a scalable, transparent alternative to traditional collectives, and 2025 showed how that model can support the broader NIL ecosystem. By empowering athletes across revenue and non-revenue sports and across programs of all sizes, we helped widen access to opportunities that were once limited to a few.

Brands benefited from authentic reach at scale. Athletes benefited from access and clarity. And the NIL market continued to grow in a healthier, more sustainable direction.

We closed 2025 with strong momentum, and that energy is carrying into 2026. New brand partners are joining the platform. More athletes are discovering opportunities every week. And the foundation is firmly in place for continued growth and democratization of NIL.

To the athletes, brands, and partners who helped shape last year, thank you. We're excited about what's ahead and grateful to be building it together.