In Celebration of Title IX's 50th Anniversary, Adidas Signs 15 Female Student-Athletes to NIL Deals
Photos: adidas
Fifty years ago, Title IX was signed into law, thereby prohibiting sex discrimination in education. This law gave female athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports within schools, thereby receiving larger amounts of federal funding for female leagues.
While we have come a long way in closing the sports gender gap since that day in 1972, disparity between men’s and women’s sports is still a present issue. According to a report released just last year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has spent $1,700 less on women’s group sports participants compared to their male counterparts. That gap was even higher for single participant sports, with male participants receiving $2,229 more than women in the same sport.
In an effort to close the gender pay gap in sports, sports outfitters Nike and adidas have recently taken to creating Name, Image and Likeness deals for female student-athletes in collegiate sports. Nike signed their first student-athlete, UCLA soccer star Reilyn Turner, last year, and the three stripes followed soon after with their signing of Stanford golfer Rose Zhang.
In celebration of Title IX’s 50th anniversary, adidas signed 15 more female student-athletes into NIL deals two weeks ago. Standing alongside WNBA superstar Candace Parker and tennis legend Billie Jean King, these 15 student-athletes announced their signings of adidas NIL contracts to a crowd in New York City on July 26.
This mass signing marks a continued effort by the adidas brand to push for a more level playing field in collegiate sports.
“As a leading global sports brand, we’re focused on creating long-term equity in sport,” says Rupert Campbell, adidas’ North America president. “That means both investing in the next generation of athletes today and also supporting them in the future. We welcome this group of powerful student-athletes to the Adidas family and look forward to working alongside them to define what is possible for the future of sport.”
In an effort to guide these student-athletes through their NIL deals, the brand has launched a mentorship program led by Candace Parker herself. This mentorship program will educate the student-athletes on contract jargon and enable them to properly represent themselves in their current and future deals.
The women signing onto NIL deals through adidas this summer include:
Maddy Anderson (Mississippi State soccer)
Brianna Copeland (Indiana softball)
Lauren Dooley (Kansas volleyball)
Kinsey Fiedler (Washington softball)
Jayci Goldsmith (Texas A&M tennis)
Nicklin Hames (Nebraska volleyball)
Jameese Joseph (North Carolina State soccer)
Haley Van Lith (Louisville basketball)
Moriah Oliveira (Miami track and field)
Emily Mason (Rutgers soccer)
Erin Moss (Georgia Tech volleyball)
Gianna Pielet (Texas A&M tennis)
Izzy Redmond (ASU gymnastics)
Jaiden Thomas (North Carolina state soccer)
India Wells (Grambling State softball)