It's hard to pay for an unproven athlete in my mind. I reached out about securing services for some small NIL deals on some guys, and guys not ever seeing the field are $1,000 minimum for a Twitter shout out. Want them wearing your product, $1,500-$2,000 minimum. Want something signed, "we'll see what we can do about that", meaning you won't be getting even that with the $1,000 shoutout. To secure Bryce or William Anderson, it was atleast a $10,000-15,000 minimum for an autograph session of like 15 minutes I was told. Not for the faint of heart.
I'd be pissed off if I paid for Aaron Anderson's NIL to get him to Alabama, and then he leaves. I don't see the investment value there. It's a write off, sure, but how many of those until the IRS pops you?