The NIL Forum Research Poll
Put real athlete data behind your NIL practice.
Every month we survey college athletes and high school prospects on the questions that matter to your work. Members get every report and use the findings in their own pitch decks, proposals, and client presentations.
How Members Use It
Most NIL decisions are made on assumptions and anecdotes. Members make them with data.
Financial advisors: Show a family how athletes choose advisors and where athletes get money wrong.
Attorneys: Back your advice with what athletes were promised and what they got.
Entrepreneurs: Test your product against what athletes do, not what you assume.
College athletics professionals: Bring athlete data to your next budget or policy meeting.
Members submit questions for the poll. Have one you need answered for your practice? Ask it.
Methodology
Who we survey. Every month, more than 5,000 college athletes and 1,000 high school prospects across NCAA Divisions I, II, and III.
How we sample. Stratified sampling across sport, conference tier, gender, and class year.
How reliable it is. Individual revenue sports (FBS football, men's basketball, women's basketball) hold a ±5% confidence interval at roughly 375 responses per sport.
Privacy. Full participant privacy protection. No athlete is ever identified in published data.
Frequency. Continuous monthly tracking — not a one-time snapshot. The Forum's data shows how athlete sentiment and behavior move over time.
2026 Reports — Yours the Day You Join.
The Confidence Trap: NIL Financial Literacy Data (April)
Use it to open a financial planning conversation with any athlete or family.
The Trust Deficit: What College Athletes Were Promised in NIL (May)
Use it to show prospects how you differ from the people who overpromised.
The Two Portals: Why College Athletes Transfer (June)
Use it to advise transfers and the programs recruiting them.
The Recruiting Issue: How Much NIL Matters in School Choice (July)
Use it to correct what families and boosters assume about NIL and school choice.
The Fifth Year: Will College Athletes Use the NCAA's Extra Year of Eligibility? (August)
Use it to help athletes and programs plan around the extra year.
Self-Made: How Women Athletes Built the Real NIL Market (September)
Use it to make the case for working with women athletes.
The Member Edition: Who College Athletes Turn to for Help (October)
Use it to see how athletes pick the professionals they hire, and adjust your pitch to match.
Athletes React to the CSC Compensation Data (November)
The first survey of student-athletes since the College Sports Commission published compensation data on October 30.