LSU's NIL Empire, Coach Prime & Family, Viewership + ICYMI | NIL Newsletter #182
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Quick Hitters:
LSU’s Dominance in Female NIL Compensation
According to On3’s NIL valuations, only three of the top twenty NIL earners are female. The one thing those three have in common? They all attend LSU.
Olivia Dunne, Angel Reese, and Flau’jae Johnson all sit within the top ten in NIL valuations, and all were featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Money Issue” this past week.
“Everybody knows the WNBA doesn’t make that much money, so I just want to be able to grow my brand as much as I can in college before I go to the WNBA,” said Reese. “I’ve done so many photo shoots. I’ve done so many commercials. Being able to pitch those things with the team I have now is going to help me when I graduate and decide to go to the WNBA.”
The full article is available HERE.
Deion Sanders, Sons Shilo and Shedeur Star in Commercial
Deion Sanders, more commonly referred to as Coach Prime these days, and Colorado have dominated the college football media cycle this month.
Coach Prime recently starred alongside Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban in a line of Aflac commercials, and his most recent publicity comes alongside his sons Shilo and Shedeur.
The three Sanders, working with SMAC Entertainment, released a new commercial for KFC. Both Shilo and Shedeur play under Deion at Colorado and have their own impressive suite of NIL deals.
More on the endorsement is available HERE.
College Football’s Most-Watched Games Exceed Expectations
This past weekend’s Alabama-Texas matchup drew 8.8 million viewers on ESPN, and likely would have drawn a bigger audience if ESPN had settled their dispute with Charter earlier.
That number only barely outpaced Colorado-Nebraska, which drew 8.7 million viewers on FOX earlier on Saturday.
Through two weeks, twenty-one different college football games have drawn two million viewers or more, up from eighteen at this point in the 2022 season.
Then-NCAA President Mark Emmert testified during O’Bannon v. NCAA that NIL would turn college athletics into “minor league sports.”
As columnist Dan Wetzel put it best: “It doesn’t appear many actual fans are still listening. They are too busy watching the games.”
Wetzel’s full column is available HERE.
ICYMI
Kansas QB Jalon Daniels partnered with Meritrust Credit Union. LINK
Paige Bueckers is now the first ever college athlete to enter an agreement with GoArmy. LINK
Cincinnati partnered with Altius Sports Partners to add a Partner Services Manager for NIL support. LINK
Have you checked out OSC’s website?
Head to www.OptimumSportsConsulting.com to find important resources and features relating to all things NIL. These resources include State by State Resources for Admins, Agents and Athletes, including our initial “OSC Summaries” for over a dozen states coming soon.
More to come too, including links to helpful state information- agency laws and information about school policies, as well as seminar/congressional notes, worksheets, and much more!