Montana Athletes Accept NIL Compensation to Endorse Senator Jon Tester
Two University of Montana women's soccer players have entered into an NIL partnership with activist group Montana Together and created Instagram videos supporting U.S. senator Jon Tester, a Democrat currently trailing in his re-election bid.
Sports Illustrated's NIL Daily reported Monday that news surfaced two weeks ago that the largely unknown Montana political group, Montana Together, had contacted Montana athletes offering NIL compensation in exchange for a social media endorsement of Tester. Deals offered ranged from $400 to $2,400, depending on services provided, to produce scripted or unscripted social media videos supporting Tester and his policies.
According to Loyola University Chicago sport management professor Noah Henderson, writing for NIL Today, Montana Together is not affiliated with the Jon Tester campaign, which has publicly stated that it was unaware of the activist group's behavior. The incumbent senator currently trails Republican challenger Tim Sheehy by as much as 8% in a race that will likely affect which party holds control of the Senate for the next two years.
News of the offering went national when Montana track athlete Lily Meskers leaked details of the NIL campaign to media outlets and launched a strongly worded statement to Fox News about Tester's platform and the Montana Together NIL campaign.
Videos recorded by Montana soccer players Taij'a Anderson and Riley Carolan have been marked as paid promotions.
According to Federal Campaign Laws cited by Henderson, political candidates can pay for endorsements as long as they are publicly disclosed. Since Montana Together is a separate entity from the Tester campaign, the value of these endorsements does not need to be transparent. However, any social media engagement of this nature must be marked as a paid promotion to comply with FTC guidelines.
The Montana Together NIL campaign was shared with student-athletes via the Grizzlies athletic department in what has been noted as standard NIL practice by the university. In a statement to The Montana Kaimin student newspaper, University of Montana senior woman administrator Jean Gee, who also serves as associate athletic director of student affairs and compliance, said, "It's not my job, necessarily, to verify the legitimacy of an organization that's coming to us to pass on an opportunity… This is part of the new NIL world for our student athletes, that you have to become an informed person."
"Without a doubt, Montana Together's NIL campaign raises novel moral and ethical questions about NIL and political endorsements," Henderson wrote. "While we all have political tilts, I implore readers to engage with this dilemma from an agnostic viewpoint. It could have just as quickly been a Republican, Libertarian, Green, or Independent political group engaging in NIL payment for endorsement."
Henderson then offered two perspectives — positive and negative:
Positive: The Montana Together NIL offering has the potential to bring about positive change in the political landscape. It encourages Democratic-leaning athletes to engage in the civic process, become more educated and informed about their political opinions, and, as people of high influence in their communities, inspire other younger people to get out and participate in the electoral process. This practice is viewpoint-neutral and does not hurt any political party or viewpoint, as every group can leverage NIL for endorsement.
While some athletes may only share the candidate's opinions to receive money, the net impact is positive, as it encourages a population that traditionally has low voter turnout to become more engaged. Nothing about the endorsements is deceptive, as they have been clearly and conspicuously marked as "paid promotion."
Negative: Even with disclosure practices in place, financial coercion to endorse a candidate raises ethical and moral concerns. Athletes, especially non-revenue athletes at a school like the University of Montana, are not rolling in cash in the way the media often likes to paint college athletes in the NIL era. Less than 2% of NCAA athletes receive full scholarships and, due to vigorous sports schedules, do not have the same freedom to work as non-athlete peers. Students athletes are often susceptible to financial coercion and these offers can entice athletes to compromise their political beliefs for their monetary well-being.
Non-campaign-related activism groups, like Montana Together, are not mandated to disclose the payment value for an endorsement. This leads to a lack of transparency for viewers, even if the post itself is disclosed. Increased commercialism of campaign endorsements also likely hurts voters, as it is seen as inauthentic and can dilute the meaning of bona fide endorsements without financial compensation. This NIL practice helps propagate financial influence on elections. It utilizes political funding to influence public opinion by targeting a susceptible population of people with relatively high influence and small bank accounts.
