The Check Is Not the Ceiling: NIL Equity, Athlete Branding, and the Business of Sports

The conversation in most sports families stops at the dollar amount. How big is the deal? When does the check arrive? What does it cover?

Malcolm Lemmons wants athletes and families to start asking a different question: what is my stake?

Lemmons is the founder of Vetted Sports, a media and research platform covering sports as an asset class, and a former professional basketball player who competed at Niagara University before taking his game to Japan and the G League. On this episode of BABES BALLS & BRANDS™, he joins host Janet Moreira to break down what it means to treat an athletic career as a business, and why the families who understand that shift earliest will have a real advantage.

The Mindset That Changes Everything  

Lemmons did not walk off the court with a transition plan fully formed. The turning point came during a stretch in Japan, when a month-long break from competition left him with unstructured time, no Wi-Fi, and nothing but his own thoughts. He started journaling. That eventually became his first book, a collection of lessons from basketball aimed at athletes navigating similar crossroads.

What that period clarified for him was this: the skills that make athletes good at their sport transfer directly into business. Studying film is studying a competitor. Absorbing a coach's feedback is processing criticism from a mentor. The discipline of training maps directly onto building a company. None of those skills disappear when the sport ends.

The athletes Lemmons now watches closely on platforms like LinkedIn are the ones who already see it that way. They stay curious. They read about deal structures and investment rounds. They reach out to business leaders and take meetings. They understand that while they are playing, access comes to them, and they use it.

Audience vs. Brand: Why the Gap Matters  

Every athlete with a phone and a following thinks they are building a brand. Most are building an audience. Lemmons draws a clear line between the two.

An audience watches. A brand makes people feel something. Oprah. Kanye. Elon. Say any of those names and a reaction fires immediately, positive or negative. What matters is that the feeling exists, that it is durable, and that it makes the name worth something in rooms where money gets made.

That emotional connection is what creates leverage in deal negotiations. Brands do not pay athletes just for reach. They pay for the relationship athletes have with the people they are trying to reach. Follower counts can be purchased. Genuine connection to a specific audience cannot.

For student athletes building a platform, this reframes the work. Posting consistently is not enough. The content has to convey a story, a personality, a set of values that people actually connect with. The athletes who build that have staying power. The ones who chase metrics get forgotten when the next account goes viral.

What Equity Actually Means  

Janet brought the question most families need answered and rarely ask: what is equity, exactly, and why should an athlete care about it?

Lemmons keeps it plain. Equity is a percentage stake in the upside of an asset. Owning equity in a company means participating in its growth. A cash deal ends when the contract ends. Equity compounds.

The argument for athletes specifically is that they bring something most investors cannot: distribution and cultural attention. Any investor can write a check. Not everyone commands the relationship an athlete has with a specific fan base. That relationship has real value to brands trying to reach a particular demographic. An athlete who understands that, and negotiates accordingly, is in a position to ask for ownership rather than just compensation.

Lemmons's preferred structure is a blend: some cash to cover immediate obligations, some equity in the company's future. The cash meets present needs. The equity creates the possibility of a return that changes a financial picture permanently.

What to Watch Before Signing  

Janet added the contract-side perspective that athletes rarely get before they sign. The term that draws the most scrutiny in her practice is not the dollar amount. It is the scope of how NIL rights can be used once the deal is active, and what happens to content after it ends.

Content created during an NIL deal does not automatically stop circulating when the contract expires. Brands can repurpose it, redistribute it, and layer it into new campaigns if the original agreement allows. An athlete who does not understand perpetual use clauses can find their image being used in ways they never anticipated, with no legal ground to object.

The conversation also surfaced a structural issue Lemmons has watched repeatedly among high-level athletes. Everyone agrees that young athletes need an attorney, a financial advisor, and some form of guidance around brand obligations. What gets overlooked is that adding people creates coordination challenges. Role clarity matters. When the attorney oversteps into financial decisions and the agent starts managing deliverables the advisor should handle, the athlete ends up managing the team instead of being supported by it.

His advice: build the team intentionally, define roles before anyone is onboarded, and make sure whoever is running point has the athlete's long-term interests at the center.

Where Sports Is Headed  

Lemmons sees the broader sports asset class still in early innings. The capital moving into leagues, teams, and sports technology represents a bet on something that has proven unusually durable: the emotional experience of being a fan.

AI will generate more content. Digital interactions will continue to multiply. But the things that require physical presence, a game, a live event, a shared moment in a stadium, are becoming harder to replicate and more valuable as a result. Sports sits at the top of that category. The tribal connection between fans and teams, the real-time unpredictability, the way a shared passion cuts across language and geography: none of that gets automated.

For athletes operating in this environment, Lemmons's message is consistent. The brand, the equity, and the team all matter more when the asset class itself is growing. The athletes who understand that are not waiting until their careers end to think about ownership. They are building now.

Take Action  

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Follow BABES BALLS & BRANDS™ and Janet Moreira:

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Follow Janet Moreira:

LinkedIn: JanetMoreira | Instagram: TheNILAttorney | Instagram: TheJanetMoreira | YouTube: @TheNILAttorney | Caldera Law: Janet-Moreira | Book Free NIL Consultation: Janet Moreira

Follow Malcolm Lemmons:

LinkedIn: Malcolm Lemmons | Vetted Sports: VettedSports.com | Twitter/X: @VettedSports | Instagram: @VettedSports | Email: malcolm@vettedsports.com

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