Rickea did not get money from donations made to the Boost Her Club. Her money came from the advertising department at Furrow Automotive Group and I've read it's 75K and the use of the Benz for a year. Furrow had a similar deal with quarterback Hendon Hooker last year, but I bet he got much more money. In exchange, they appear in commericials, do appearances, publicity, etc.
What happened w Rickea is probably the ideal of how NIL can work. Furrow was open to doing a major deal w a female athlete this year. Just happened that the highest profile female athlete on campus wanted to stay, and understandably was looking for something roughly equal to what she would make as a first round WNBA draft pick. The Boost Her Club simply played matchmaker, acted as an agent.
So there was nothing taken from the "tank" except perhaps using up one of their best corporate donors. Where the tank does get used is for the many events the club stages for all their contract athletes: dinners, painting, meet n greets, adult camp coming up, etc, etc. Rickea and the other bball players under contract are everywhere making appearances and working for what they earn. In fact, one big thing I worry about w NIL is how much of their time it takes up. Can't imagine in season juggling all this w classes. practice and travel.
Apparently the gap in NIL capacity comes not from one player "using it up" but from a lack of enough corporate and private donors willing to make impactful deals. It's the Club's job to develop these relationships but it's running into alot of misunderstanding of the concept and embracing the stereotype that NIL is just handing over suitcases of cash to spoiled, entitled brats who are already getting a free ride.
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