GILBERT, Ariz. — Gilbert's Haley and Hanna Cavinder are two of the top earners in the name, image and likeness era of college sports.
The Cavinder twins recently announced their transfer from Fresno State to the University of Miami as they look to take their basketball careers and their NIL opportunities to the next level.
These two Hurricanes have been making it rain with NIL earnings close to $1 million since the new rules took effect on July 1, 2021.
The Cavinders were two of the first collegiate athletes to announce a for-profit partnership with Boost Mobile and have since signed lucrative deals with Champs Sports, WWE, Eastbay, Six Star Pro Nutrition and more.
Haley and Hanna's mom, Katie, says the twins have been disciplined athletes since they were little girls and now the former Gilbert High School Tigers are two of the big names in the NIL game.
"Never would have imagined that college athletes would be able to profit off name, image and likeness. It's made their lives really busy but they try to focus on school and basketball, obviously, first," Cavinder said. "Even in high school, they made sure they had their training in and their schoolwork and practices and so they've always been pretty routine and they've kept a good schedule."
The Cavinder twins have nearly 5 million followers combined across their social media channels and their posts are profitable. According to an Action Network report from September 2021, the Cavinder twins were ranked among the top 20 athletes on "The NCAA Instagram Rich List" with the potential to earn upwards of $1,110 per Instagram post.
"We have them with a financial advisor and we've explained to them it's not about now, it's about the future. We're really proud of them, just to see how they're handling everything," Cavinder said.
While NIL opportunities make The U alluring, the Cavinders have always dreamed of making it to the NCAA Tournament and they'll be joining a Miami program that's made nine appearances since 2010-2011. The last time Fresno State made it to The Big Dance was in 2014.
During the 2021-2022 season, Haley became the first Bulldog to record multiple triple-doubles in a season and has three All-Mountain West selections to her name. She was also named the 2021 Mountain West Player of the Year. Hanna will be leaving Fresno with a pair of All-Mountain West selections and the pair were named to the 2020 All-Freshman Team.
The Arizona products are basketball stars who have blossomed into savvy businesswomen in the evolving world of college sports.
The Cavinder twins are a shining example of how collegiate athletes have been able to leverage their social media following and talent to earn big-time paychecks while the NCAA continues to operate as a multi-billion dollar business.
Follow the conversation with Lina Washington on Twitter: @LWashingtonTV. If you have a sports story idea, e-mail Lina at LWashington@12News.com.
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