St. Joseph’s athletics is working to stay competitive as NIL rules evolve. Here’s how.

The name, image, and likeness rules for NCAA athletes are constantly evolving, forcing athletes and schools to find ways to navigate the new landscape of college sports.

One of the most recent of these changes, ratified April 22, allows Division I institutions to aid in facilitating NIL deals for athletes.

St. Joseph’s athletic director Jill Bodensteiner said the decision was an attempt to balance collective deals with local business opportunities. She said the other impetus was that student-athletes were asking for something that would offer them more guidance.

“Now, institutions can provide lots more support to individuals and their pursuit of NIL,” said Bodensteiner, a member of the NCAA Division I Council’s NIL working group. “That could include directly contacting businesses and facilitating deals. It could include assisting them with legal and tax issues, and all sorts of different ways that we can really help now.”

Bodensteiner and St. Joe’s already have a plan.

On April 24, St. Joe’s announced it would launch enhanced NIL programming for student-athletes in conjunction with Van Wagner, Student Athlete NIL, and the Brandr Group. The program was created to educate athletes about the information and connections necessary for them to pursue NIL deals — if they’re interested.

A Hawk Hill NIL fair will mark the beginning of the collaboration between the groups.

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“One of the responses we had was, ‘Let’s educate local businesses, our current university sponsors, prospective sponsors, maybe some alumni-led businesses, on what this means,’” Bodensteiner said. “To do so, we’re going to get everyone together and let them meet some of our athletes, explain the rules, and see what happens.”

Bodensteiner will attest that taking part in the NCAA’s working group has helped St. Joe’s stay competitive in the world of NIL.

“NIL is extraordinarily complex, and it’s changing literally by the week,” Bodensteiner said. “And so I think being part of that committee has really helped me stay current, stay knowledgeable, and maybe start being a little strategic, maybe a little earlier than some others. Not to mention the fact that I’m on this committee with some of the smartest people in college athletics. So I think by osmosis, I learned a lot about what they’re doing.”

For smaller Division I schools like St. Joe’s, the challenge is staying in the conversation with larger Power Five schools with more NIL opportunities. But its strategies have gotten noticed, and St. Joe’s was one of eight Division I schools nominated for a 2024 INFLCR NIL Award for Best Institutional Program.

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“We have passionate and generous fans who are dedicated to St. Joe’s basketball being back on the top of the A-10,” Bodensteiner said. “Our alumni and fan base have been very generous in their contributions to the NIL collective. And our coaches, our basketball coaches in particular, I think have the right attitude about NIL, which is it’s a small complement to everything else you’re gaining through this experience.

“It’s good for our student-athletes to be out meeting people and working for it, and it could be a nice advantage for some local businesses. That’s sort of how we’ve stayed in it and how we hope to grow it.”

The one thing Bodensteiner knows for certain as she looks to continue to help the university’s NIL initiatives is that the best thing to do is to embrace it.

“This is the new world we’re in, and how can we best position St. Joseph’s University in this new world?” Bodensteiner said. “I’m excited. I’m proud of our mindset, as much as anything, and I think that’s helped us stay really competitive.”