Pac-12 CFB, CBB Players to Profit off Highlights Posted to Twitter in NIL Deal

Pac-12 athletes will have a new revenue stream in 2022-23, with the conference allowing players to monetize their name, image and likeness through game highlights.

According to Paolo Uggetti of ESPN, the Pac-12 announced an initiative with technology startup Tempus Ex Machina that will create customized highlights for football, men's basketball and women's basketball players after games. The student-athletes can tweet out their highlights, with Twitter's Amplify selling advertising.

The athletes will then be paid based on the advertising money, which could be determined by the amount of views and retweets.

Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff discussed the new initiative in a statement:

"The Pac-12 is committed to providing our student-athletes with best-in-class technology, tools and promotional platforms that support their individual brands. Our partnership with Tempus Ex is focused on enhancing our student-athlete and fan experiences, and today's announcement is another important step in positioning the Pac-12 as a leader when it comes to student-athlete promotion and brand building."

These efforts could further help Pac-12 programs in recruiting after the league has fallen short in recent years.

No Pac-12 team finished in the top 10 in the 2022 football recruiting rankings, per 247Sports, while only USC landed in the top 10 in men's basketball recruiting rankings.

There are several elite Pac-12 players who should be able to capitalize on their highlights.

Utah quarterback Cameron Rising could be a first-round draft pick in 2023, while USC's Caleb Williams is considered a Heisman Trophy contender after transferring from Oklahoma. Williams also has over 59,000 followers on Twitter.

In men's basketball, the conference returns some proven players like UCLA's Jaime Jaquez Jr., Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis and Oregon's Will Richardson while adding high-upside freshmen in UCLA's Amari Bailey, Oregon's Kel'el Ware and USC's Vince Iwuchukwu.

Stanford's Haley Jones returns as one of the top players in women's basketball next season.

It could lead to big returns for the elite talent in the conference.