A new report from SponsorUnited shows that LSU star Angel Reese has the most NIL deals of any college basketball player and she can find her way into more.
Reese is fifth among all college athletes with the total amount of deals, at 17. Her sponsorships include companies like McDonald’s, Xfinity, Wingstop, and recently, JanSport, the backpack company.
According to On3, a website that tracks NIL deals and money, Reese’s total NIL valuation is $392,000, and she has a following of 1.1 million people across Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. That goes into making her the ninth highest-paid woman in college sports. The highest is LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne with $3.4 million and the sixth is Reese’s teammate, Flau’jae Johnson, whose valuation is $669,000.
“When I came here on my visit, they had their own NIL program, and that was just something that I have never seen before, where they can help me brand myself, help me with taxes, things you really don’t learn in school,” she said on a recent episode of the Outta Pocket podcast.
Part of Reese’s brand is her nickname, “Bayou Barbie.” Reese has said she likes wearing her lashes, getting her nails done for games, and wearing the color pink. As a way to further this brand, she and her team are attempting to trademark “Bayou Barbie” so she can sell her own merchandise.
Deals and sponsorships related to name, image, and likeness have increased in the last year, especially in women’s basketball. SponsorUnited reported that deals for women’s college basketball athletes grew 186%, the second largest area of growth for new deals behind football. Women’s basketball has the third most NIL deals of any college sport, behind football and men’s basketball.
Reese is in her junior year and is in her first Final Four with LSU in the same season she broke Sylvia Fowles’ double-double record and set an SEC double-double record with 32 in one season. She has no plans on reaching the WNBA anytime soon but wants to continue to build and grow in college.
“The amount of money I can make in college is way more than the amount I can make in the WNBA,” Reese said on “Outta Pocket”.
The WNBA minimum is a bit more than $70,000.
Leave a Reply