NIL Newsletter #112 | 'Fansville' returns, 1st HS NIL team deal, Amazon expanding into licensed apparel, Hooters signs 51 offensive linemen + ICYMI Ticker
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for student athletes, administrators, agents and other sport professionals.
Recapping NIL This Week:
Dr Pepper’s ‘Fansville’ returns for 2022, Bryce Young to star
Dr Pepper, ongoing sponsor of the College Football Playoff and presenting sponsor of the CFP National Championship Trophy, is bringing back its “Fansville” campaign for a fifth season.
The ever-popular Brian Bosworth returns as Sheriff, and Dr Pepper signed Alabama quarterback Bryce Young to an NIL deal. Young says he’s excited about his acting debut. “It was a lot of fun. I don’t know if I’m going to give up my football career anytime soon, but I’m proud of the way everything turned out and I’m really excited for everyone to see the commercials. I hope everyone has some fun with them.”
Last season, Dr Pepper was one of the first national brands to sign a college athlete to an NIL deal when it tapped Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei for “Fansville.” Fans questioned if Dr Pepper regretted the choice after Uiagalelei’s performance on the field fell below expectations. John Alvarado, SVP of brand marketing for carbonated soft drinks at Dr Pepper, says there’s no regret, and it didn’t impact their decision to use another student athlete for the campaign this year.
“Dr Pepper puts their fans first, just like I do. I appreciate all the fans that support me and the game of football. It was fun to be a part of ‘Fansville’ in these commercials and get a glimpse into what it feels like to be a fan for day,” said Young. “Fansville” will air episodic content through the 2022-2023 college football season.
St. John Bosco football team signs up for unprecedented team-wide NIL deal
St. John Bosco’s (CA) football team is about to go where no high schoolm has gone — a team-wide NIL deal that will pay compensation to any participant, according to an announcement by KONGiQ Sports Performance. It is believed to be the first for a high school.
Players who choose to participate will receive compensation for posting personal experiences on social media accounts using the KONGiQ Sports Performance System and also on the KONGiQ App.
“We’re a very collegiate-minded program,” head coach Jason Negro told USA TODAY Sports. “If there’s something colleges are doing, what better way to help our athletes than to provide them the same type of opportunity? I want to be a pioneer at the high school level, and I think we’re doing that at Bosco.”
The money St. John Bosco players will earn by promoting KONGiQ is not life-changing - financial terms weren't disclosed - but it’s being offered to every player. While Bosco is loaded with players we’ll soon be seeing on Saturdays, including six prospects rated as four- or five-stars by 247 Sports, they also have a lot of players who won’t make a cent of NIL in college because they won’t be playing the sport anymore.
Similar to the NCAA, Bosco was not allowed to be involved in facilitating the deals with KONGiQ. But when Brian Wickstrom (St. John Bosco’s President/CEO) took the job at Bosco in 2020, he was familiar with the company, which uses its video and biometric technology to collect advanced training data to help performance in the weight room.
“They can do videotape of ACLs when they’re sprinting and making a turn and seeing where the pressure is coming on the joint,” Wickstrom said. “It’s an amazing company with amazing technology. Our football program is such a high level, I wanted to make sure we could bring that to our team here.”
"As a high school football coach, this is just another layer of information I'm going to have to learn and be knowledgable in to be able to educate our young men as they come through,” Negro said. “Just as an example, we’re implementing a financial literacy course to help them deal with that and understand how to manage money and things like that.
Amazon launches NIL program with officially licensed apparel
Starting off with a test trial at USC, Amazon is enlisting student athletes to promote merchandise through NIL deals. The company is aiming to reach college sports fans across the country with its newly school-licensed gear. The Trojans are just a starting point, though.
Amazon is positioned to quickly roll out similar programs at major known institutions throughout the rest of the fall. All the apparel is made by Mademark, which is a branch of Amazon Fashion.
Jeff Bezos and Amazon already have the infrastructure live on its website. With officially licensed college and NFL gear, “Campus Colors” features links to apparel from Alabama to Yale. Personalized player-centric gear will be loaded on marketplaces as the program expands.
USC defensive back Latrell McCutchin and track star Bailey Lear were the first two to make the announcement on Instagram. McCutchin has his own T-shirt jersey with a USC logo and his name/jersey on the back. Lear was rocking a custom USC Track and Field shirt with her name on the back. DE Korey Foreman is set to join the campaign, too.
Auburn quarterback T.J. Finely and Clemson basketball player Brevin Galloway each launched personalized apparel brands with Amazon last month. Dreamfield, a NIL deal-making platform, worked with the tech company to broker the deals. Plans are in place for more athletes to launch apparel brands, too.
Hooters Signs 51 CFB Offensive Linemen from LSU, Oklahoma, more
The Hooters restaurant chain has signed 51 college football players to NIL deals, all offensive linemen from 10 different schools.
"For decades, the physical play, blue-collar mentality and on-field leadership of the offensive lineman has shined, but national praise and attention for these crucial players has all-too-often been sidelined," Hooters chief marketing officer Bruce Skala said in a press release, via ESPN's Tom VanHaaren. "We want to change the narrative and celebrate these elite SAs who play a pivotal role in making college football so thrilling and give them their fair share of the spotlight."
The latest deal from Hooters features some less-heralded players on the field, with the chain intending to sign full offensive line groups rather than individual athletes, per VanHaaren. There is still no shortage of talent in the current list, with Miami's Zion Nelson, Texas A&M's Layden Robinson and Oklahoma's Anton Harrison all among the top 10 at their position on the 2023 NFL draft big board, according to Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN.
ICYMI Ticker
Pittsburgh DE Deslin Alexandre took the initiative to take advantage of NIL to help children in Haiti. He partnered with the Pittsburgh Kids Foundation to set up the Fifth Down Campaign, an effort to raise $50,000 for Haitian students. Full story HERE.
Missouri WR Luther Burden has signed a unique NIL deal - Burden is getting his own flavor of potato chips with Old Vienna, a St. Louis based chip company. Old Vienna will produce a special edition honey barbecue version of its red hot riplets which will have Burden's picture and autograph on each bag. They will be available to purchase in Schnucks grocery stores across the state. More HERE.
Division Street, the Oregon Duck-focused NIL collective launched by NIKE co-founder Phil Knight, is auctioning exclusive Tinker Hatfield-designed Air Jordan VIII University of Oregon PEs to benefit Duck student athletes. Hatfield is one of the world’s most legendary sneaker designers and currently NIKE’s Vice President for Design and Special Projects. Full story HERE.
All 19 members of the 2022-2023 women’s gymnastics team at Michigan State have received NIL contracts with an emphasis on charitable giving - This is Sparta!, a collective organized by Charitable Gift America, a 501(c)3 charitable organization. In addition to the women’s gymnastics team, This is Sparta! has also entered into individual agreements with Spartan football and baseball players.
Be the Difference NIL, a Marquette-focused booster-led collective, has signed the entire men’s and women’s Golden Eagle basketball teams to NIL agreements.
ESPN’s Andscape & espnW are set to have branded pages within INFLCR’s app.
MOGL has announced an NIL Partnership with prayer app Hallow.
Kansas AD Travis Goff announced today that KU has hired Tate Gillespie and Casey Seberger to serve in two newly created positions overseeing NIL efforts for Kansas Athletics. Details HERE.
Belmont and INFLCR have announced a new partnership which will launch Bruin Local Exchange. Same goes for North Texas, which just launched the Mean Green Exchange.
Mississippi Valley has a new deal with NOCAP Sports.
Arizona and Altius have announced a 3-year partnership extension.
Illinois has partnered with Opendorse to provide the Illinois Marketplace. So has Youngstown State with ysusports.com/NIL. Wichita State is set to launch their marketplace on August 29th. Kent State also announced plans, but has no date/site released yet.