We’re more than three years into the NCAA’s NIL era, and comparisons are still consistently drawn between it and the wild west.
And not for no reason; NIL is still largely lawless; so much is still unknown; a lot of potentially predatory behavior is still occurring.
Still, for every scandal or controversy, the NIL ecosystem produces an equal amount of interesting, positive innovations — especially in the media space. The newest among these is booster, a platform aimed at making the process of earning NIL money more transparent, consistent and accessible for every type of athlete.
Founded by Scott Birnbaum and Ryan Simkin, two longtime marketing executives, booster allows fans and donors to support their favorite collegiate athletes through a monthly subscription. In turn, athletes, who set their own fees, provide these supporters with exclusive content and conversations via the booster platform.
While Simkin said the pair was “inspired by all of today’s major apps” when building booster, the content hosted by the platform isn’t what you’d expect to see on Instagram or TikTok. Instead of polished highlight reels, athletes are encouraged to share their authentic, unfiltered day-to-day lives and personal backstories.
Another differentiator from traditional social media? Booster employs a one-on-one sharing model, meaning fans and donors interact with athletes in a vacuum, and vice versa. This eliminates the headache of online trolls and makes booster a “safe, supportive space where athletes can feel comfortable being themselves,” said Birnbaum.
The primary benefit of booster, however, is its ability to provide all kinds of college athletes with access to a reliable NIL revenue stream without barriers to entry.
“Right now, only the largest schools and star players are really benefiting from NIL in a major way,” said Simkin. “But superfans exist for every sport, and booster lets these fans contribute to athletes’ journeys directly and consistently.”
In addition to keeping 80% of the monthly revenue they generate, booster athletes receive equity in the platform.
Since launching in late summer, booster has onboarded more than 500 athletes across nearly all sports and collegiate divisions. An impressive start to be sure, but the founders have bigger ambitions: “There’s something like 200,000 student athletes at any given time,” said Birnbaum, “and our goal is to get all of them on booster eventually.”
That said, they also see a use case for the platform even beyond the campus gates. “We’d love for booster to continue being a supportive resource for athletes who choose to pursue professional careers in non-mainstream sports after graduation,” explained Simkin.
Whether the platform has that kind of staying power remains to be seen. But its early growth is yet another sign of sustained excitement around NIL — and around sports more broadly.