The NCAA Division I student-athletes who benefit from so-called NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) revenue are realizing the burden of collecting so much money – paying taxes.
Ever since NIL rules changed in 2021, college athletes can make real money from endorsements, social media deals, appearances, and brand partnerships.
But there is a catch: those students are running what constitutes as a small business at the age of 18 and they have no idea of the federal and local tax laws. This has created an opportunity for University of Bridgeport alumnus Denzel Luna, a former shooting guard for UB who is now studying for at Wake Forest University as a Deloitte Foundation Scholar to become a CPA.
That opportunity turned into a nearly two-year-old business that derives revenue from his Nexa Tax app. The name stands for NIL eXpense tax.
Nexa Tax has been around nearly two years with a majority of the startup funding bootstrapped by Luna. The University of Bridgeport Entrepreneurship Center was instrumental in getting grants for Luna’s business and getting it off the ground. They were able to do the C Corp, set up the bylaws, trademark the logo, Luna said. Additionally, he was a top 5 finalist in the Startup Westport pitch competition last November, which led to Luna getting involved with the mentorship program there.
Luna, 23, is an Orlando, Florida, native who attended UB from 2022-2025 while serving as an international tax consulting intern for PwC in New York City.
“My original intentions of going to UB were for basketball and getting my degree,” Luna told the Fairfield County Business Journal. “As I was there in my freshman year, there was Covid. Quickly early on I was a business administration major who was focused on basketball.
“I kind of had a quick pivot in order to stay within sports. I wanted to build a career working with athletes and stay working in the game. Once I realized I wasn’t go to go the NBA and the grind it would be to play overseas, I kind of wanted to find something where I could work with athletes while also pursuing a career.”
He decided that accounting was for him, and with taxes under that umbrella, the first thing he thought was, “Hey, every athlete has to get their taxes done. And why not do that service for them.”
Sherri Dente, University of Bridgeport, Director of the Innovation Center at Bauer Hall, cites Luna as an example of what the school’s Entrepreneur Center can do for students.
“Denzel is a great example of a student who fully leveraged everything the Student Entrepreneur Center has to offer,” she said. “His drive and intelligence, combined with access to resources at the Innovation Center, enabled him to turn his idea into a viable business. The Innovation Center plays a critical role in supporting students like Denzel by providing mentorship and the tools needed to move ideas from concept to execution.”
As a UB student, Luna noticed an interesting new trend among some of the student-athletes he knew. A high school friend upgraded from a Honda Civic to a C-Class Mercedes Benz in just six months.
He had questions — not necessarily about how these students were financing their new, upgraded lifestyles – about how they were navigating the new taxes that came along with them. Or even whether they knew about these new taxes at all.
NIL history
In 2021, new Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules allowed student-athletes to earn money through endorsements. The income was real, and so was the paperwork. Many athletes felt lost when tax season came around, unsure how to handle their new responsibilities. Students were earning money from sponsors and facing challenges they hadn’t dealt with before.
“Obviously, it originated with video games and merchandising,” Luna said about NIL compensation. “Florida was selling a football jersey with No.15. And everybody knew that was Tim Tebow. And Tim Tebow didn’t get a dollar. Additionally, the big plays of athletes shown during March Madness commercials and the signature moments. And the athletes weren’t getting their share.”
They were now paying athletes for their brand, Luna added. “And now with the new ruling last July with schools being able to play athletes directly for their services, not just their name,” he said.
In 2025 following a historic court ruling and settlement between the U.S. House and NCAA over NILs, new regulations included a $600 mandatory reporting threshold for deals via the “NIL Go” platform. Schools can now directly facilitate deals, with potential revenue-sharing of up to $20.5 million annually.
Luna explained the two ways student-athletes are paid through NILs.
“There are two avenues of NIL,” he said. “So, you now have money directly from the schools. Normally, it will be in installments. Then there will be clauses that include number of games played, injuries. The amount of money paid is up to the coach’s budget. Then, there is the brand side, where a company comes in to have athletes endorse their product or wear their shoe.”
The app
“It’s meant to be a mobile app for athletes,” he said. “We try to act as the middle man from the moment the athlete gets paid – and 99% of their income is 1099 to the moment they file.”
Through the app, the athletes can upload their income, applicable expenses, populate their taxes and file their quarterly taxes and track mileage. Then, when it’s time to file their annual income tax they can export that information to their CPA or upload to software.
The idea started while he was still a student at UB, and now athletes from schools like UCLA, Wake Forest, and Kansas are using it. And there are plans to expand the app to include direct filing once Luna earns his CPA.
Luna began with simple tools: a checklist, a way to track income as it came in, clear expense categories, and reminders to pay taxes on time. He shared the idea with his mentor, Bill Guerrero, who was UB’s CFO at the time, and asked for feedback.
Luna then took his idea to UB’s Innovation Center, where he connected with mentors, including C.J Watson, Joe Ziskin (who would become his advisor), and UB’s VP of Innovation, Strategy, and Advancement, Elena Cahill. Together, they stress-tested the concept as a viable business idea, focusing on compliance and habits student-athletes can actually keep.
Building his team
Denzel’s first hires came from University of Bridgeport.
Two UB master’s students joined Nexa’s tech team, and a third engineer arrived through a UB connection. A head of marketing based in Fairfield came aboard after Denzel spotted his work on LinkedIn. Nexa’s intern program is underway, including an ambassador coordinator who is deeply embedded in the college athletics ecosystem.
What UB made possible
When Denzel talks about progress, he comes back to relationships and hands-on experiences. UB professors taught him to value clarity. Mentors asked hard, practical questions. The VITA Tax clinic turned theory into practice for students. The Innovation Center has stayed in his corner even after graduation. “I can go to events and come back to a home base,” he explains, “I can say, ‘Here’s what I’m being presented with. What do you think?’”
That feedback loop, he says, keeps the work grounded and makes the next decision simpler.
What’s next?
Since launching, more than 250 student-athletes have downloaded Nexa, and 15 users have reported earnings of six figures. Denzel is in active conversations with five-plus NCAA Division I programs for onboarding, and athletes on Nexa include representation from UCLA Women’s Basketball, UConn Football, and Wake Forest Football.
Abby Levandoski, assistant director of communications and content strategy at University of Bridgeport contributed to this story.
