News & Features

My Players

|

My Lists

|

My School

|

My Notifications

Team Home

Liv Hovde delivered an early Christmas present to Duke women’s tennis.

The program announced on December 23rd that the 2022 Wimbledon girls singles champion had signed with the Blue Devils to join them for the spring of 2025.

A native of Minnesota who now resides in Texas, Hovde is a former No. 1 recruit nationally. The 19-year-old reached a career-high No. 3 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings before deciding to turn pro in 2022 and sign with GSE Worldwide.

Hovde climbed to No. 245 in singles and No. 354 in doubles on the WTA Tour while capturing seven pro titles.

Before signing with Duke, Hovde negotiated a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with the school’s collective, Durham Devils Club.

Darren Heitner served as Hovde’s legal counsel. He reviewed Hovde’s existing deal with her agency, GSE, and handled the legal side of the negotiations on her NIL package with Duke’s collective.

“I can't give you specifics with respect to compensation because there is a strict confidentiality provision,” Heitner said. “But I can confirm that the arrangement is with Duke's collective, and I can just say they were a pleasure to work with, alongside the university, to answer any questions that we had related to her eligibility and how that plays a role in the negotiations.”

Because there is no requirement for athletes to disclose NIL deals, it’s unknown how much they are making. Tennis is on the low end of the totem pole in college sports, with football and basketball earning the lion’s share of deals at nearly every school.

Opendorse, an NIL marketplace, projects women’s and men’s tennis players earn about $5,000 annually through NIL.

“I'd say it's comparable to what it's like at the professional level, where the very top athletes in individual sports such as tennis are afforded the unique opportunities and more pay than the vast majority of athletes who are just trying to make ends meet and get to that top level,” Heitner said. “So there's likely a massive disparity between those who are signing with a school like Duke and those players who are just hopeful to get on a roster. And the same is true in other sports as well. We've seen a massive amount of money spent in football and men's basketball, particularly at the coveted positions like quarterback. Tennis is nowhere near that, at least not yet.”

Precarious Future

It’s unlikely college tennis players will ever receive large financial payouts from collectives or schools. In fact, the future could be dicey for many programs because of the House vs. NCAA case.

In October, Judge Claudia Wilken approved a $2.78 billion legal settlement that would allow NCAA Division I schools to pay players directly. A final hearing is set for April 7, 2025. If finalized, the deal would give schools the option of establishing a pool of about $21.5 million in the first year to distribute money to athletes through a revenue-sharing plan.

Not every school will pay the full amount, and administrators have already begun making decisions on which sports to prioritize. It’s likely some tennis programs will be cut as a result of the new financial structure and the reallocation of resources to fund what schools consider as the most important sports.

The settlement also imposes roster limits for sports. Men’s and women’s tennis will both move to 10. Scholarship caps will be removed, which would permit schools to offer scholarships to every player on the roster. Schools are not required to offer a full ride to every player and it will be highly unlikely for non-revenue sports.

How the settlement impacts Title IX is yet to be determined.

Lawyers and other industry experts have estimated that around 90% of the money will go to football and men’s basketball players, whose sports bring in a large portion of the revenue to college athletic budgets.

“There is an artificial cap that's intended to be placed and an amount of money that has to be spread across all sports, revenue, non-revenue, male, female. So if there's a general manager or a set of individuals that are seeking to apportion those monies, tennis is likely to get the short end of the stick by and large, except for those unique programs that make it a priority,” Heitner said. “At the collegiate level, tennis tends not to be a real revenue driver for schools and a byproduct of that is that I don't think there's going to be a preference towards spending on athletes in general, with respect to that school.”

About Ethos School

We are excited to have Ethos School as the title sponsor of the Recruiting 101 series of articles at TennisRecruiting.net.

Ethos School - Transforming Education for Athletes

Ethos School is an online school committed to preparing next-level athletes with next-level learning opportunities through flexible, high-quality courses in a faith-based environment. Our online platform offers over 100+ a la carte courses for 4th-12th grade students, allowing families the freedom to pick and choose what course(s) they would like their child to take through either a fully homeschool or hybrid model. To date, Ethos boasts an AP pass rate of over 80%, with student-athletes going to universities such as the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Dartmouth, Auburn University, and more.

One of the unique aspects of Ethos School is our commitment to providing a holistic educational experience. Our students participate in a live 1-hour video session with their teacher and peers each week. These sessions offer enriching activities, opportunities to ask questions, discuss coursework, and present projects.

We are thrilled to extend an exclusive offer to TRN recruits like you. If you decide to enroll your child at Ethos School, we will waive the $95 enrollment fee. Additionally, we will provide a complimentary Academic Counseling session with one of Ethos' Academic Deans to plan out your child's educational journey to ensure they are on the right path for college and beyond.

To learn more about Ethos School, please visit EthosSchool.org - or connect with them on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube, If you have any questions or would like to discuss how Ethos can meet your child's educational needs, please schedule a call here.

Leave a Comment

About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at [email protected].