BYU female student-athletes could earn up to $6,000 each in landmark NIL deal with Provo-based SmartyStreets

All female athletes at BYU will now have the opportunity to earn up to $6,000 apiece in the name, image and likeness (NIL) market after a Provo-based company agreed to a deal a month after a similar agreement was struck for members of the BYU football team, including walk-ons.

SmartyStreets, which calls itself a “leader in location data intelligence,” announced the deal Tuesday at a meeting with BYU female athletes at the downtown Provo Marriott Conference Center that the company says could surpass $2 million in benefits paid to the athletes.

“The dedication, commitment and hard work of these strong female athletes is often not as visible,“ said Jonathan Oliver, founder and CEO of SmartyStreets. “We are excited to provide an additional spotlight on these athletes to create opportunities for them to build their personal and professional brands.”

More than 300 student-athletes are eligible to take part in the program.

Oliver said the student-athletes will be paid up to $6,000 a year for “sharing about SmartyStreets on their social media accounts and participating in various company events and activities.”

Last month, most members of BYU’s football team, if not all, agreed to a similar deal with Built Bar, a Utah County-based company that produces energy bars and other nutrition products.

Oliver is a BYU graduate who started the company that “provides enterprise-grade address validation, standardization and geocoding services in 240-plus countries and territories,” according to a company news release.

The release says it is the first opportunity presented to all female student-athletes at one school since the NCAA rule changes went into effect in July that allows college athletes to be compensated for the use of their name, image and likeness.

“We are happy to see SmartyStreets take the lead in supporting the success of these incredible student-athletes,” BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said in the same news release.

The company is also donating funds for facility and equipment upgrades for BYU female athletes.”

BYU’s female athletes have a strong tradition of success across a variety of sports, from volleyball to women’s basketball, soccer and softball, in addition to golf, cross country, gymnastics and track and field.

Coincidentally, on the same day the NIL deal was being announced, BYU’s women’s golf team, coached by former Cougar Carrie Roberts, won the 16-team Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Classic in Knoxville, Tennessee, by three strokes. It was the team’s second tournament victory in as many weeks, having won the Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last week.

Last March, the BYU women’s cross country team won the 2021 NCAA Cross Country National Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the program’s fifth national title. In July, BYU finished 17th in the final Learfield Sports Directors Cup standings, its best finish since 2001.

The high finished was fueled by the Cougars’ strong showings in several women’s sports.