(Bloomberg) — Younger athletes navigating a burgeoning world of big-money sponsorship offers are teaming up with Financial institution of America Corp.’s monetary advisers to plot their monetary future.
BofA’s Merrill Wealth Administration and IMG Academy, the Florida-based highschool sports activities powerhouse, are partnering to supply financial-education to scholar athletes and their households, masking subjects together with saving and spending, credit score and investing.
This system can be accessible at IMG’s boarding faculty in Bradenton and on-line at the start of the upcoming faculty yr, in response to executives.
“This era goes to be dealing with decision-making round monetary issues otherwise than different scholar athletes have prior to now,” Greg McGauley, head of Merrill Personal Wealth Administration, mentioned in an interview. “They should be higher educated at a youthful age.”
School sports activities has entered a brand new period as restrictions ease on gamers being profitable, together with from their identify, picture and likeness, also referred to as NIL. This has launched Division I athletics right into a monetary frenzy, with athletes bringing in thousands and thousands in model endorsements and advertising and marketing offers.
Whole NIL compensation for NCAA athletes will hit an estimated $1.67 billion in the course of the 2024-25 faculty yr, in response to a report by the web market Opendorse, which tallied roughly 150,000 transactions involving greater than 100,000 athletes.
With college students athletes being profitable throughout their faculty careers, some colleges have tapped monetary specialists to show gamers easy methods to handle their earnings. That course of will now begin earlier at IMG, situated about an hour south of Tampa. The college, which counts Venus and Serena Williams as alumni, has lengthy despatched a stream of athletes to Division I colleges and ultimately the skilled ranks in sports activities together with soccer, soccer and basketball.
For the largest US banks, in the meantime, wealth administration has been a fast-growing, aggressive enterprise. They’ve poured sources into the sector as they attempt to lure new purchasers who carry with them further property to take a position. Merrill began specializing in the sports activities business three years in the past when it created a devoted sports activities and leisure group. Shoppers in that unit make up about $40 billion in property, in response to McGauley.
As a part of the brand new partnership, Merrill will transfer a few of its 641 designated sports activities and leisure wealth advisers to IMG’s campus, he mentioned. They’ll host guardian and scholar teach-ins, and simulations that present college students what it’s wish to spend money on an actual monetary market.
IMG has a boarding faculty, camps, faculty recruitment providers and on-line teaching for scholar athletes as they put together for faculty and careers in sports activities. The brand new program with Merrill will develop the curriculum to supply college students with self-study supplies and one-on-one conferences with monetary advisers.
“We hear a variety of questions on monetary alternatives for scholar athletes at colleges, past scholarships,” IMG Academy Chief Government Officer Brent Richard mentioned. “On this second, monetary training is the subsequent piece of the puzzle. Our job is to arrange them for faculty and for all times.”
