How Oregon acrobatics and tumbling athletes approach NIL deals

ATLANTA – If you aren’t aware there are college athletes who compete in acrobatics and tumbling, or if you’re not sure exactly what the sport entails, you’re not alone.

“We’re currently an NCAA emerging sport, so we’re kind of in that in-between space,” Oregon acrobatics and tumbling base Cami Wilson told On3 at the 2023 INFLCR NIL Summit. “Not everybody knows what we are but we’re still growing with the sport.”

According to the NCAA, “An emerging sport is a women’s sport recognized by the NCAA that is intended to help schools provide more athletics opportunities for women and more sport-sponsorship options for the institutions, and also help that sport achieve NCAA championship status.”

Wilson was one of three members of Oregon’s acrobatics and tumbling team who attended the NIL Summit. Emma Keogh, who’s a rising senior top and tumbler for the Ducks, and rising sophomore tumbler Morgan Hood were there, too.

The trio provides an interesting lens into the NIL landscape.

Oregon is one of the strongest institutional brands in college athletics thanks to its association with Nike and its co-founder Phil Knight, but the three athletes compete in a sport that comes with the necessary “emerging” qualifier as it pertains to the NCAA.

“For our sport in particular, there’s no pro acro,” said Hood, who’s majoring in product design. “Our coaches emphasize that we’re humans, that we need to start building our career futures. And on the other side, football players, basketball players – they have that professional opportunity, and I believe that that kind of guides them in a different direction. Their focuses can be a lot more on sports brand versus personal brand.”

As Wilson told On3 about the future model of college athletics, “I think more than anything, there isn’t one best model that’s gonna fit every single athlete.”

‘Acrobatics and tumbling does very well in terms of presenting our sport’

Wilson said for her and her teammates, the NCAA’s NIL era is about maximizing and monetizing their personal brands.

“As of now, for us, NIL is being able to network with brands and finding that one-off deal, where it’s really leveraging our personal brand and what our social media is without sports more than just with sports itself,” Wilson said. “It’s more of being an acrobat and tumbler is an add-on to it and our personal brand is first.”

Wilson was one of five female athletes who were panelists in a session titled “Content capture, creation & storytelling” at the NIL Summit.

She’s able to rattle off metrics that describe the demographics of her audiences, depending on the social media platform. Wilson, who said she’s pursuing an MBA in sports business next school year, said roughly 80% of her followers on Instagram are women. That percentage is 90% on TikTok.

“I know typically for female athletes that’s not usually the demographic and I think from that, that’s really where my inspiration for my content comes from,” Wilson said. “I always keep in mind, like, ‘What would I want to have seen as a 12-year-old little girl who’s curious about the sport, doesn’t know where to go?’

“I think that’s really where it stems from and that’s also where I always draw back to my values and make sure that when I’m partnering with brands, those values align. Would this be appropriate for those younger girls to view and view as that role model? That’s something I take really seriously and I think that’s something across-the-board acrobatics and tumbling does very well in terms of presenting our sport in the way that it needs to be presented.”

‘They’re like, “Wow. I’ve never seen girls lift so much.”‘

Keogh said most of the members of her team post “what our followers seem to enjoy, which is usually tumbling videos.”

Ironically, acrobatics and tumbling might provide a similar appeal to its fans as some more mainstream or traditionally macho sports.

“Being able to tumble and throw people around, it’s appealing, so that’s a good way that we’ve been able to grow our followings,” Hood said.

Keogh, who’s majoring in public relations and minoring in sports business, described her social media posts and target audiences as having a 50/50 split. She wants to show girls that they can pursue acrobatics and tumbling in college. Additionally, she shows the training, particularly in the weight room, that it takes to be successful in her sport.

“It’s impressive to guys, too,” she said. “Like I’ll make videos of us lifting in the weight room and they’re like, ‘Wow. I’ve never seen girls lift so much.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I want to show you guys that we’re more than just some cheer team or people that just do flips.’

“It actually takes a lot of hard work and practice so on my media, I use it for both. I show the little girls that they have something to do like I’ve highlighted my journey and how I got to Oregon and doing acro, and then I also just show the hard work it takes and it impresses a lot of people.”

NIL collective Division Street highly supportive

Each of the three athletes wore matching Oregon backpacks as they checked into the NIL Summit. Hood wore a black Oregon hoodie and Keogh wore a pink Oregon sweatsuit.

After all, they attend Oregon, where with the backing of Knight and Nike, the Ducks’ football program seemingly has a different uniform combination for every game in a season.

“Carrying the Oregon ‘O’ is definitely something of respect and a different type of responsibility that we take very seriously just because we know how world-renowned it is,” Wilson said. “But I think the best part of it is not only does it apply to our football team or our basketball team, it applies to all of us because, at the end of the day, we’re all wearing that same ‘O’ on our chest. I’ve definitely seen that through the NIL opportunities through Division Street.”

Division Street launched in September 2021 as one of the first organizations that now fall under the all-encompassing term of NIL collectives. The organization, whose co-founders include Knight and whose CEO is former Nike Vice President and GM of Nike Women Rosemary St. Clair, described itself as a “sport venture” at the time of its launch.

“I’ve just started partnering with them and I think the best part of it is they’re never looking to just stay in one sport,” Wilson said. “They’re constantly looking to grow. We’re not a revenue sport but they’re still trying to find those opportunities for us.”

She credited Oregon Accelerator, which is a student-led organization that provides NIL-related workshops and resources, with helping her create a one-pager in advance of the NIL Summit within 24 hours.

Keogh praised Oregon’s programming for women in sports.

“It makes us proud to represent Oregon and everything it stands for like inclusiveness and working together as one,” Keogh said. “We really pride ourselves on being a family and you really feel it on campus in the athletic facilities. I think that’s what makes it so special. We all truly come together, no matter what team we’re on and we represent it well. I think that’s what made it so powerful.”