YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A major change to the nationwide system to compensate college athletes went into effect this semester.
It put the Name, Image and Likeness programs directly into the hands of universities – and eliminated the third-party collectives that were formerly in charge.
At Youngstown State University, changes were made to the way things are done – but not much else. The YSU NIL program is still competitive with the other schools it plays in football and basketball.
Name, Image and Likeness compensation went into effect in 2021, with the program run by an entity not affiliated with the school.
At YSU, the Penguin Collective – a group of local business leaders – took the helm.
The changes this year are the result of a lawsuit to secure payment for student-athletes before NIL. After the House vs. NCAA suit was settled in the spring – which provided back pay to athletes back to 2016, among other things – universities were put in charge of sharing NIL money with their athletes.
The ruling subverted the traditional NCAA dictate of maintaining amateur status for student-athletes which the previous system upheld.
Payment Cap
The annual NIL cap at each university is now $20.5 million, which is far above anything that YSU will approach, according to Tyler Burk, who was put in charge of YSU’s NIL program this summer.
Only schools the magnitude of Ohio State University are in that ballpark, he says.
Youngstown State is a mid-major university, and its original NIL entity – the Penguin Collective – was a leader in raising money for schools in that category. From its start, the collective’s basketball fund was a national leader in terms of the amount raised.
Under the new dominion, YSU’s NIL program hasn’t skipped a beat.
The Penguin Collective raised well over $500,000 last school year, and YSU’s new NIL program expects to beat that number this year.
“We’re on pace to go higher,” Burk says, although he did not have hard numbers available.
Youngstown State is tightly competitive with its peer schools in the Horizon League and the Missouri Valley Conference, where its basketball and football teams, respectively, play.
In compliance with the rules, all money raised for NIL is still external in its source. No university money at any school can be used for it.
At YSU, NIL supporters are still mainly corporations and smaller businesses in the area.
Burk suggests that one reason for the elevated success might be that deal making is easier under the new system.
“Before, we weren’t allowed to do deals with student-athletes, so those third-party collectives were formed,” Burk says. “Now when we need something, our student athletes are just right here. They don’t need to drive somewhere else. We’re able to just internalize all the operations.”
Each NCAA team at YSU has its own NIL account.
For men, the school offers football, basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, swimming and track. For women, it offers basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and volleyball.
To learn more about the university’s student-athletes and their personal NIL fees and services, go to ysusports.com and click Inside Athletics. The NIL marketplace is operated through the university’s partnership with Opendorse, an industry leader in marketing student athletes.
Deals can take any form, from fans “staking” players’ success, to purchases of gear, to companies offering cash or goods.
High-profile players are occasionally used in commercials for larger companies, including Farmers National Bank and Gault Heating and Cooling.
One Connection
Small companies are also active in the NIL program.
Trávon Eley, who owns Tra’s Gourmet Sandwiches, has used YSU athletes to market his company for a few years.
For the 2025-26 season, he is teaming with Derrick Anderson, a Boardman native who transferred to YSU this semester and will play on the basketball team.
Eley, who is also a Boardman native, and Anderson will appear together in a commercial and other marketing efforts soon. The two were friends in high school.
“We’re both Boardman graduates who took different avenues of success,” Eley says.
Tra’s Gourmet Foods operates two food trucks and has become a staple at Valley festivals, events and breweries. It also runs the concession stand at Canfield High School for basketball and other sporting events.
His NIL ads run on social media, television and on billboards.
“People notice it,” he says. “We get it out there. And it helps [other YSU players] get NIL opportunities too.”
Anderson’s collegiate basketball career took him to several locations, including Butler County Community College in Pennsylvania, Snow College in Utah, Gannon University in Erie, and Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio.
The point guard got an extra year of eligibility and jumped at the opportunity to play for the Penguins.
He was happy to return to his hometown but added that each school’s NIL program is a factor when players look to transfer.
“A lot of guys are looking for the money as well as getting the basketball situation that benefits them the most,” Anderson says.
NIL deals, he says, usually revolve around money but can also include things like free meals, clothing and gear.
Pictured at top: Derrick Anderson and Trávon Eley will appear together in marketing efforts for Eley’s business, Tra’s Gourmet. Anderson is a basketball player for YSU.