Georgia athlete details NIL deal with Taco Bell and role of social media

University of Georgia student-athlete Matthew Boling joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss deals he's making with brands through the NCAA's new NIL rules.

Video transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: University of Georgia track and field running star Matthew Boling joins us now along with our sports correspondent Josh Shafer. And just got to say, when you've got 16 million viewers on TikTok, you're more than just fast, Matthew. Josh, take it away.

- That's right, Adam. And Matthew, we'll start right there with kind of how you've been able to leverage your platform. So you have a pretty big following on a couple of different social medias, from your success at the University of Georgia and running track, kind of, in Team USA. I guess, how did this come about with Taco Bell? Can you kind of take us through the process of how this name, image, and likeness deal came out for you?

MATTHEW BOLING: Yeah, so I signed with my sports agency back in August. And I think three weeks into the process they had called me and said Taco Bell was interested in making a video on TikTok. And I thought that it was really cool, because I like tacos. And it's a big company who I was interested in starting a relationship with.

So I said, yes, and made the video. And it kind of blew up from there, got around 10 million views on TikTok, I think. But yeah, it was a cool experience. This is my first NIL deal. It's something I won't forget.

- And I know you're a marketing major at University of Georgia, if I'm correct with that. I mean, how have you sort of viewed this experience. How are you approaching NIL, and what kind of deals are you looking for?

MATTHEW BOLING: Yeah, the deals that I'm looking for-- I don't want to take every deal that comes, stuff that I see myself kind of working with the brand long term and doing future stuff. So that's kind of been the biggest thing for me and my agency. And they know that, when they come and approach me with deals.

So yeah, that-- and it's interesting to how I can bring kind of knowledge that I'm gaining from working with these brands into my marketing courses. Because a lot of other students I feel like do internships and stuff, but this is like kind of how I do my internships.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Yeah, right [INAUDIBLE]

- I was going to ask that. So I just-- what did you-- how has that sort of worked for you as far as what happened-- did you ever think that you are going to use your social media in this way and kind of be able to monetize it.

MATTHEW BOLING: I really didn't, up until I heard about the NIL rule being passed. For my whole life, I just thought like social media would be a good way to reach my fans and post content of me at track meets or working out. But then when the NIL stuff dropped, it was really a way that I saw I could use my following to maybe show my fans different stuff I'm interested in with these companies that I'm working with.

So I've been working really hard for the past couple of months to put out good stuff on TikTok and Instagram to kind of show everyone like what I'm doing with the NIL deals.

- So how much time do you spend on this? Like, I know you're pretty busy with sports and probably didn't have a job before, because of the demand of sports. How much time are you able to put into this?

MATTHEW BOLING: I'm able to put a lot of time into the videos I create, like with the Taco Bell one. And then I recently did something for STX Films, where I watched the movie "National Champions", and that was actually really, really cool, because I was also able to invite some of my friends to come with me. But I think the most important thing for me with time management, I don't want it to become a distraction for me on the track. Because I put so much of my time into my workouts and eating right, recovering right.

So what's really helped me is having an agency that I trust to bring me the best deals or have my best interest in mind. So it's a whole team effort. Like I trust my coaches with my training and getting me better, in the same way I trust my agency with navigating me through these NIL deals.

- Absolutely. Matthew Boling, University of track and athlete, thank you for joining-- University of Georgia track athlete, thank you for joining us today. Adam, back to you.