Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
Contributors›Maribeth Kuzmeski
Maribeth Kuzmeski photo

Marketing Strategist, Author, Speaker

Maribeth Kuzmeski

Maribeth consult and deliver keynote presentations to financial services companies, Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurial minded corporations, women’s organizations, and industry associations on the topics of marketing strategy, sales, persuasive communications strategies and branding. She conduct live and virtual interactive training sessions designed to guide participants to create their own powerful marketing messages, and facilitate large group sessions where participants create and share business development strategies. She is also the founder of The Brand Squad, a group of top-tier business students at Oklahoma State University who have been trained and certified to assist other student-athletes with their NIL efforts. Each Brand Squad member is matched with student-athletes to help them generate deal opportunities, assist with their social media, develop entrepreneurship opportunities, and work on ideas to monetize their NIL. To find out more and start your own Brand Squad: www.Brandsquad-osu.com.

1 articleLinkedIn ↗X ↗
Contributor Brief·Maribeth Kuzmeski · 1 article
Updated Sep 5, 2023

Athletes must demand market-rate compensation when NIL value exceeds offered pittance

Kuzmeski argues that college athletes possess demonstrable, quantifiable marketing value that far exceeds the token compensation they currently receive for name, image, and likeness rights. She advocates for a performance-based valuation model where athletes who prove commercial worth through engagement metrics should negotiate from a position of strength, rejecting below-market digital licensing deals as institutionalized undercompensation.

pittance

the specific term Kuzmeski uses for current NIL compensation offers

“If a college athlete proves their NIL marketing worth, show them the money.”

Article title—If a College Athlete Proves Their NIL Marketing Worth, Show Them the Money

Compensation logic: demonstrable value should drive negotiation leverage

Athlete has quantifiable marketing metrics1
Proves commercial worth through engagement2
Entitled to equitable, market-rate payment3

SHARE

17%Athlete has
Athlete has quantifiable marketing metrics
Proves commercial worth through engagement
Entitled to equitable, market-rate payment

1

article in this collection — limited sample size constrains broader patterns

Digital likenesses should not be licensed below market rate.

Implied argument structure in—If a College Athlete Proves Their NIL Marketing Worth, Show Them the Money

Equitable compensation reflects proven marketable value, not institutional convenience.

Central claim in—If a College Athlete Proves Their NIL Marketing Worth, Show Them the Money

“Athletes demanding equitable compensation when their marketable value exceeds pittance.”

Themes:Performance-based NIL valuation tied to demonstrated marketing metricsInstitutional undercompensation of athlete digital IP rightsAthlete negotiating power through quantifiable commercial proof

What is MarketScale

These experts publish through MarketScale, a content platform that turns industry knowledge into articles, video, and audience. Want the same for your team?