A.I., Nike's Asia Experiment, and NIL

Teaming up with

Hey there,

Artificial Intelligence may not take over the world, but it could take over NIL dealmaking soon enough. Also, Nike is taking a big risk in the Asian market after signing two brothers to NIL deals. Oh, and there’s an NIL superstar from Texas that just signed a massive national deal… but he doesn’t play football, basketball or baseball. It’s all coming up right now on NIL Wire!

Give us a shout if you like what we do. You can get in touch by either responding to this email or sending a message to [email protected]. Now let’s get to the news!

— Cole, Justin and Collin

The Big 3

Sam Hurley Signs NIL Deal with Cane’s 🍗 

Texas high jumper Sam Hurley is raising the bar for track athletes utilizing NIL. Thanks to a massive following on Tik Tok and Instagram, he’s become a social media sensation of sorts, which is why he was just signed to a national deal with Raising Cane’s. 

The deal involved him serving chicken fingers all the way across the country at Cane’s Times Square location in New York. The full-time athlete, part-time model was there as part of a promotion for fashion week:

Hurley is becoming an NIL force in the same way Livvy Dunne has. Both are excellent athletes, but their modeling talent is what’s really been attracting brands. Hurley’s valuation sits at $941K right now – the highest track valuation in the country. (More)

Artificial Intelligence Coming to NIL Soon

The NCAA just struck a deal with Veritone to handle the global archiving and exclusive video licensing for all NCAA championships – including all video from the past, too. That could just change the NIL game because of the company’s investment into artificial intelligence.

Here’s how: Veritone's new role will give them access to an extensive collection of 92 years of NCAA highlights, which can be indexed and sorted using AI. That means a former player could simply search for their former highlights, request access from Veritone, and then use it in NIL deals.

Easily accessible archived footage for NIL opportunities – that sort of access could literally change way former and current athletes are able to leverage their NIL forever. (More)

Nike Signs Brothers to Rep Brand in Asian Markets

Nike just signed two brothers to an NIL partnership to rep the brand internationally. Adam and Robert Hinton play basketball for Cornell and Harvard, respectively, but they’re about to become the faces of Nike hoops in Asia.

The Hintons are from Los Angeles originally, but they come from Taiwanese-American descent. Neither one is necessarily banking on a basketball career – Adam is pre-med, and Robert is pre-law – but that’s not stopping either one from carving out an NIL brand while they’re in college.

"There comes a point where a lot of middle school and high school students have to choose between basketball and academics," Adam said in an interview with Boardroom, “I would like to open eyes and minds to recognize that it is possible to do both.” (More)

Teaming up with

Rhoback has quickly established themselves as the go-to activewear brand for college athletes. Having exclusive partnerships with some of the faces of college football in Quinn Ewers, Jalen Milroe, and Caleb Downs, it’s easy to see why college athletes across the country can’t take their Rhoback hoodies, tees, and shorts off.

With the largest NIL apparel program in the country, college athletes across all divisions have access to become a Rhoback U athlete. If you are a college athlete or know a college athlete, check out this link to apply.

Finally, Rhoback just released their licensed game-day collection with schools such as Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, among others. They are custom designing Polos, Hoodies, and Q-Zips specific to each school in an attempt to bring a new level of creativity to the market.

Check out Rhoback’s custom designed game-day collection and use code “NILWIRE” at checkout for 20% off your first purchase.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Adam Hinton

• School: Cornell 

• Position: Guard

• Sport: Basketball

• Class: Junior

• Accolades: 

  • Averaged 1.3 points in 14 games off the bench.

  • Scored 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks in 62 minutes.

  • Scored 11 points and had 3 steals in a win over SUNY Morrisville.

  • Posted 2 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals against Wells.

• NIL: Adam is the first-ever athlete to sign an international NIL contract with Nike, and he’ll be featured in campaigns across Asia along with his brother.

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Houston just denied a newspaper’s request for NIL deal data, saying that information is “confidential and not subject to public disclosure.”

♦️ While other schools mull cutting programs, Florida State just added a women’s lacrosse team 

♦️ Former Michigan football players are filing a $50M suit against the NCAA and Big 10 Network

♦️ UCLA’s Chase Griffin just unveiled a model to help assist his teammates with NIL and their financial futures

♦️ Harlan Capital – a Private Equity firm – just committed $200M to NIL investments

♦️ USC athletics signs a partnership with a CBD cookie brand 

♦️ Teamworks announces their new General Manager tool to help schools manage athlete earnings

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