NiJaree Canady’s new beginnings are also being rewarded.
The former Stanford Cardinal softball ace pitcher is heading to Texas Tech’s Red Raiders team next spring, per The Athletic.
Canady is the 2024 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and has led her team to consecutive appearances in the Women’s College Series in 2023 and 2024, ESPN notes. She upheld a 0.67 ERA (earned run average) with 555 strikeouts in 365⅔ innings during her initial two years with the Stanford Cardinal softball team.
Canady took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to confirm her transition to the Texas Tech Red Raiders team.
“These past two years have been amazing and I thank @StanfordSball for the ride of a lifetime. Excited for what’s ahead! @TexasTechSB,” she wrote on X.
Canady has also cemented a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal. She reportedly signed a one-year deal valued at $1.1 million with Texas Tech’s collective Matador Club, a source familiar with the deal confirmed to The Athletic.
“I could never have imagined this. But I feel like we need to invest in women’s sports,” Canady said, per ESPN. “We saw it with women’s basketball this year: You invest in women’s sports and women’s basketball just blew up on a national stage. I think the same thing has happened with softball. … If I’m even a little part of that, that’s my whole dream.”
Before Canady, the highest NIL deal for a softball pitcher is said to have been valued at about $175,000, per the source to The Athletic.
“It’s a game-changer for softball, and even beyond that,” said John Sellers, co-founder of the Matador Club, according to The Athletic. “She could have gone anywhere, but she’s coming to Tech.”
NIL Benefits
Canady is now among an array of college athletes who are reaping the benefits of NIL.
On July 21, 2021, a Supreme Court ruling declared that the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) committed “illegal restraint of trade” by barring athletes from securing endorsement deals in their sport, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. Within five months of the ruling, over 125,000 athletes had been signed to an NIL deal.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, these athletes include Washington Huskies‘ Great Osobor, who reportedly has $2 million in NIL deals; South Carolina Gamecocks basketball player Raven Johnson cemented a deal with hair technology company Parfait in May 2024; and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) quarterback Chase Griffin snagged his first NIL deal through LinkedIn.
Griffin has secured more than 30 NIL brand deals, including Shell, Discord, Boost Mobile, and Chase. He has also been donating a portion of his earnings to charity.
“So, when you look at NIL — I think the overarching effect of it is one that promotes equity and inclusion,” Griffin explained. “The athletes who are taking full advantage of this, not only are we able to earn some money and build brand relationships, but for the first time, are able to freely convey ourselves to the public and realize our own value while we are still in college.”
Former University of North Carolina (UNC) basketball player Armando Bacot said he made $2 million in NIL deals, and a portion of his earnings allowed him to become an investor in a hotel. Additionally, former University of South Carolina (USC) basketball player B.J. Mack also opted to invest in the business world, but his motivation was to honor the sacrifices of his family. As AFROTECH™ mentioned, he opened the House of Hoops Barbershop near downtown Charlotte, NC, because it had been a dream of his father to own a barbershop.
“You have people like me, you have people like Armando Bacot, who gives back to the community or to their family to be able to help out with them because, you know, you never know the situation that people are in,” B.J. told WCNC.
