This morning at the NCAA senate hearing, Senator Roger Wicker asked for examples of female athlete NIL examples.

So now, I am here to deliver.

First of all, let’s talk about Katelyn Ohashi, whom, prior to the hearing, Mr. Wicker obviously didn’t know existed. Her perfect floor routine from 2019 has garnered more than 115 million views on YouTube. That’s marketable.

Here’s a link to the routine (bc it should be mandatory viewing).

Here’s another (recently graduated) UCLA gymnast, Madison Kocian. She’s a gold-medal-winning Olympian, whose net worth is estimated to be around $500,000.

There’s also my favorite gymnast, Trinity Thomas from the University of Florida, whose videos have garnered over 500,000 views on the SEC Network’s social media. That can be monetized, too.

Here’s Miranda Elish. She was an ace pitcher for the University of Texas, and I have had the pleasure of watching her compete here at UT before sports were cancelled.

Elish. Can. Ball. Mighty Fine Burgers and fries must think so, too, because every time she struck a batter out, it was a “Mighty Fine” strikeout. She deserves a cut from that advertising.

And then there’s walking highlight reel, University of Washington shortstop and PAC-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Sis Bates, who has 73,000 Instagram followers and gained about 40,000 since the last Women’s College World Series. Social media presence is marketable.

Here’s her UW highlight reel, because, it, like Ohashi’s floor routine, should be MANDATORY VIEWING. Her swing is just *chef kiss*

And this is Sabrina Ionescu. She was a University of Oregon basketball player, who stuck with Oregon in 2020 instead of declaring for the WNBA draft (she was the #1 pick). She was literally a professional athlete in a college uniform, and she’s currently worth $68,000/year.

There’s also the University of Connecticut and University of Tennessee women’s basketball programs, aka two of the winningest basketball teams in NCAA history (men or women). These athletes are marketable.

And although I in no way deserve recognition among this fiery group of ladies, as an athlete I was affected by NIL restrictions as well. Lots of track athletes are, because we compete in the offseason to stay in shape, but can’t accept prize money bc of amateurism.

My senior year, my chiropractor actually asked me to advertise on his website, because he thought that associating with a D1 athlete could boost sales (*gasp!* Even mid-major female athletes have value!). I declined because of amateurism.

This is only a snapshot of the arsenal of marketable NCAA female athletes, and there are a lot of just-graduated seniors on this list. For those who aren’t going pro, they just bypassed the most marketable point of their athletic careers without seeing a dime of their net worth.

Are they worth as much as football players? Probably not. But that’s not the point. Women want (and deserve) access to the free market just like the men. That’s not a Title IX violation. That’s gender equity.

And I can’t believe I have to say this in 2020, but women are valuable. Women’s sports are valuable. And using Title IX to argue against NIL rights for women doesn’t make you a champion for women. It just means you’re uninformed (and probably sexist).