WATCH: NIL Agents Are Scamming Their Clients

By Mark Pszonak

There is plenty wrong nowadays with NIL and the transfer portal, but the agents who are “helping” players might be the worst of it all. Earlier today one agent explained some of the details of the business, which made the reality of everything even worse:

NIL agent Noah Reisenfeld claims “pretty much every NIL agency charges 20%” compared to NFL/NBA standard of 3-5%… his justification: If you compare a $10 million NFL deal to a $1 million deal in college, an agent makes $300k in NFL vs $200k in college.

(🎥 @beinthekneaux/YT) pic.twitter.com/J3vjay82I8

— Kevin Sweeney (@CBB_Central) January 11, 2025

It is necessary to say that not every agent is a scam artist. There are honorable agents out there who try to look out for their client. However, there are too many who are just trying to suck every penny possible out of their client, who too often is an inexperienced teenager. This casual admission that an NIL agent charges 20% should be a serious reality check that things are actually worse than people think.

Admitting that college players make less than NFL/NBA players so an agent has to charge more is faulty for several reasons. Aside from just being morally corrupt. The pros obviously make more, but there are 32 NFL teams and 30 NBA teams so the pool of available players is limited. In college there are 128 FBS football teams and 364 Division 1 basketball teams. While the players don’t make as much money, the available pool of players is almost eight times higher. More clients means more money.

Everything related to NIL is the wild west right now, and there are no signs of the things getting better anytime soon. And when there is chaos, individuals will look to take advantage of the situation, which is what is happening with these agents.