Volleyball Day Deals, Sporting KC, Harbaugh's Call for Revenue-Sharing, + ICYMI | NIL Newsletter # 178
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Quick Hitters:
Nebraska Volleyball Hosts “Volleyball Day”
On Wednesday, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska played host to the Volleyball team. “Volleyball Day,” as it was branded by the university, was projected to draw around 90,000 fans to the stadium for a two-part act, volleyball and a concert.
The University of Nebraska hosted in-state rivals Omaha for the event, which coincided with a number of NIL deals for volleyball student-athletes.
Each member of the Cornhuskers’ volleyball team opted into a group licensing deal with The Brandr Group. Through this licensing deal, ONIT released team-specific trading cards. The first 5,000 units are fully guaranteed, with projected payouts over $1,000 for each student-athlete.
Through Campus Ink, each student-athlete has their own personalized apparel for sale and will receive between $8 and $15 per item sold.
More details on Volleyball Day and the accompanying deals can be found HERE.
Sporting Kansas City Launches NIL Program
This week, Sporting KC, a Major League Soccer franchise, announced “Sporting U NIL.”
The NIL program features deals with student-athletes at Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri, and was facilitated by respective university-focused collectives.
“Sporting KC is excited to offer student-athletes from multiple sports the opportunity to grow their brand and to support their pursuit of professional careers both on and off the field,” said Aaron Borns, Sporting KC Vice President of Marketing.
More on the program is available HERE.
Jim Harbaugh Advocates for Revenue-Sharing
Jim Harbaugh may be preparing to serve a 3-game suspension, but he opened his first game-week press conference of 2023 with a different topic in mind.
Instead, on Monday, Harbaugh began with a nearly six-minute monologue in support of revenue sharing with student-athletes.
"We all should be about diversity, equity and inclusion. I'm calling for a system that is fair, equitable and benefits all involved," Harbaugh said. "Don't exclude the student-athletes from the profits. My opinion, you can't say you're about diversity, equity and inclusion, if you aren't willing to include the student-athletes in revenue sharing."
"The current status quo is unacceptable and won't survive. In my opinion, we capitalize on the talent, we should pay the talent for their contributions to the bottom line."
More from his statement is available HERE.
ICYMI
USC’s Zachariah Branch, fresh off a breakout performance in Week 0, is signing a multi-year trading card deal with Panini. LINK
Oklahoma Quarterback General Booty signed an NIL deal with Rock ‘Em Socks, launching an underwear collection. LINK
ICON collective is now the preferred collective for Illinois. LINK
BYU’s NIL Collective, The Royal Blue, will benefit all 123 players on the football roster. 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!