HOW SHEDEUR SANDERS AND TRAVIS HUNTER TUNRED NIL, BRANDING, AND VISIBILITY INTO RECORD NFLPA LICENSING REVENUE

From College Football Stars to Business Brands

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Travis Hunter made history this NFL offseason. The NFLPA’s latest LM-2 filing placed Sanders and Hunter atop the league’s licensing revenue ranks, with both players securing record-setting royalty payouts. Between May 2025 and February 2026, Sanders earned more than $17.7 million and Hunter more than $12.8 million. To put these figures in context, Sanders’ and Hunter’s payouts top the $9.5 million that seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady earned during his 2021-22 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Understanding the Business of NFLPA Licensing

“Group licensing encompasses deals that include six or more players, the most typical of which are jerseys, trading cards, video games, and other collectibles,” Daniel Roberts of Yahoo Sports said. “Taking into account his personal endorsement deals, Sanders likely pulled in well north of $20 million in off-the-field earnings, an incredible sum for a rookie fifth-round pick but perhaps not that surprising given his celebrity and the media attention showered on him.”

It is also worth noting that Sheduer's earnings were paid out to his LLC SS2Legendary.

As fans, it is so easy to focus on the contracts players sign with their teams and assume they encompass the end-all, be-all of what a professional athlete earns. Instead, it is intellectual property rights, endorsements, and licensing agreements that have proven valuable revenue streams. In the case of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, their personal brands have netted them unique financial opportunities, further breaking the stigma of the dumb black professional athlete as merely a performance showpony and instead positioning them as dynamic enterprises.

Building a Brand Before the NFL

Going beyond the numbers, it is important to understand the factors that positioned Sanders and Hunter for the financial success they achieved in the licensing revenue space. They were both products of perfect timing and positioning. Given that their college careers began at the beginning of the name, image, and likeness era.

 Redefining Success Through Ownership and Entrepreneurship

The two of them took their talents to Jackson State University, where their head coach was two-time Super Bowl Champion and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. Coach Prime, as a player, secured lucrative endorsements and partnerships with the likes of Nike and Pepsi, a byproduct of the brand he created, Primetime, during his time at Florida State and throughout the NFL.

 The Real Value of a Personal Brand

Following a blueprint similar to the one Coach Prime used to build the Primetime brand, both Sanders and Hunter maximized their earning opportunities through NIL partnership deals. While at Jackson State, Shedeur partnered with brands such as Beats by Dre and Brady Brand and was the first HBCU athlete to sign with Gatorade. On the other hand, Hunter initiated partnerships with Actively Black, the Michael Strahan Brand, J5, and digital banking platform Greenwood. These deals demonstrated that both athletes were building marketable brands before the NFL, ultimately positioning themselves as influential figures proving their value beyond the field.

When Coach Prime left Jackson State to become the head coach at Colorado, Shedeur and Travis followed. The transfer to Colorado amplified not only their careers on the gridiron but also their marketability. National television viewers flocked to watch the Buffaloes. Their 2023 season opener against the TCU Horned Frogs drew an average of 8 million viewers on Fox. Additionally, their Week 3 rivalry game that same season against Colorado State, which went into double overtime, drew 9.3 million viewers on ESPN and became the most-watched late-night college football game on the network. Although they went 4-8 in their inaugural season with the Buffaloes, those viewers gave Shedeuer and Travis every brand covets: attention. In today’s sports economy, attention is currency, and both athletes were uniquely positioned to cash in on those eyeballs.

According to Andscape, Sheduer Sanders and Travis Hunter built social media followings that exceeded millions during their time at Colorado, transforming visibility into tangible business value.  Research by Kiunkel, Doyle, and Funk found that an athlete’s social media presence carries measurable NIL value, which helps explain how players converted attention into record-setting licensing revenue. Their influence extended beyond Instagram and TikTok, as Sanders gained additional exposure through Well Off Media’s vlog-style coverage of Shedeur’s football journey, while Hunter built a presence through YouTube, streaming, and media appearances.

Sanders and Hunter represent a new generation of athletes who understand the value of ownership, branding, and entrepreneurship. Their NFLPA licensing success shows that while performance may create opportunities, building and controlling your brand is what creates lasting value. The biggest lesson isn’t how much they earned; it’s how they earned it.

  

Sincerely,

Ray Saturn

Sports Blogger, Educator, Journalist

 

 

WORKS REFERENCED

 Lindsey, Joe. "Coach prime Is Perferct For This Moment" (2022) https://5280.com/coach-prime-is-perfect-for-this-moment/ (AP Photo/David Zalubowski).

Kunkel, T., Doyle, J. P., & Funk, D. C. (2021). There is no NIL in NIL: Examining the social media value of student-athletes' social media profiles. *Sport Management Review, 24*(5), 838–861.

 Roberts, D. (2026, May 30). *Shedeur Sanders banked record $17.7M in NFLPA group licensing income*. Front Office Sports. https://frontofficesports.com/shedeur-sanders-record-breaking-17-million-nflpa-group-licensing-income/

 Sinnott, J. (2023, September 19). *Prime-time viewing: Colorado-Colorado State draws a late-night record 9.3 million viewers for ESPN*. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/colorado-deion-sanders-television-espn-216f63fd3690cf83d695dbe60612f8b0#

 Taylor, J.-J. (2023, November 23). *Colorado players Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders are cashing in: Jackson State transfers are among college football's most marketable athletes*. Andscape. https://andscape.com/features/colorado-players-travis-hunter-shedeur-sanders-are-cashing-in/