🏅 Would you join forces with your arch-rival for NIL?

Teaming up with

Hey there,

NIL makes people do crazy things — like you’ll see today. Can you imagine joining forces with your rival school for the sake of NIL supremacy? That’s what two in-state enemies are doing. Also — do you know how much each Power conference school allocates toward football NIL on average? Keep reading and you’ll find out!

If you want to advertise with NIL Wire, we’d love to partner with you. Get your product, service, or brand in front of thousands of highly educated readers today — just respond to this email!

We think we’re pretty great, but we’re not perfect. We’d love to hear feedback on anything and everything about our newsletter. Hit reply or send us an email at [email protected].

— Cole, Justin and Collin

KICK-OFF

How a Snack Bar Changed College Sports Forever

Cade Haskins just spearheaded the Dartmouth basketball unionization effort, but oddly enough, he’d already been introduced to the labor realm years prior. The 6’6 forward first learned about labor unionization when he worked at the school’s snack bar two years ago, where he partnered with other campus dining employees to launch the Student Worker’s Collective.

It was a wildly successful effort. As a result of their unionizing, the dining employees got paid sick days for Covid – not to mention a nearly 100% pay increase. Haskins took what he learned there and applied it to the basketball team a couple years later, especially in regards to health benefits.

“Basketball — it's a physical sport, so you know, people get hurt,” he said. Haskins, who has suffered torn labrums in both his hip and shoulders, argues that Dartmouth should provide financial support for medical costs. (More)

Flau’jae’s NIL Flow is 🔥Fire🔥

Flau’jae Johnson is more than just one of the best hoopers in college basketball – she’s a rapper, too. Thanks to a new NIL deal, Johnson’s channeling her rapping ability into NIL money down in Baton Rouge — she just dropped a fire Super Bowl track for a commercial with Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys:

 The “Super Bowl” commercial was released on social media while in the thick of the game. Gordon McKernan has made a name for himself as well in the NIL world, where he’s tapped multiple LSU Tiger athletes to star in promotions for his office. (More)

Accounting for the NCAA’s Legal Troubles

By this point, we all know the NCAA is in hot water, legally. But how hot is that water? When you lay out every legal dispute in a line, it becomes clear how rapidly the pot is boiling over.

On3 just ran a story that discusses each of the NCAA’s major legal woes – all nine of them – in serious detail, giving context for each one. From the recent Dartmouth unionization effort, to the Tennessee NIL probe, and even the billion-dollar Hubbard v. NCAA damages case, the article breaks down the stakes of each dispute alongside what the outcomes could mean for college sports. 

If you want to get caught up on how lawsuits, courts, and legal disputes are changing the NIL landscape, click on the link. (More)

Teaming up with

Influxer has emerged as the a leader in the realm of NIL merchandise. 

With an impressive roster of over 250 universities and a 7,800 student-athletes, the team is revolutionizing the co-branded NIL gear market. From tees and hoodies to long sleeves and comfortable crewnecks, Influxer has it all. And that's not all - they are soon set to unveil an exciting addition to their collection: jerseys!

But Influxer's commitment to student-athletes goes beyond just merchandise. They are dedicated to providing additional opportunities, evident in their employment of over 70 student-athletes for internships.

Simultaneously, the team is working on an app that will serve as the ultimate NIL portal. This game-changing platform will offer live sales and royalty tracking for both student-athletes and administration, a dynamic marketplace for student-athletes and brands to collaborate, comprehensive NIL education, and even career placement capabilities.

In 2024, Influxer is taking things to the next level. They are focusing on expanded rollouts, enticing sponsorship opportunities, strategic bookstore partnerships, captivating pop-up shops, and a plethora of other exciting ventures. The possibilities are endless!

If you're eager to learn more about what Influxer can offer, click here and reach out today. The future of NIL merchandise and student-athlete empowerment awaits!

WHAT’S TRENDING

Ups and Downs

• Justin and Cole are getting absolutely flamed in the comment section for our recent list on the top five coaches in college football 📉

• Tyler Kolek saw a $403K valuation spike after a dominant stretch of hooping for Marquette 📈

• The NCAA is trending down as pressure mounts in the Tennessee lawsuit 📉

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Will States Rethink NIL after losing Top Talents?

Only 31 states have technically and legally implemented pro-NIL policies at the high school level. However, with elite high school athletes chasing compensation of any sort, the holdouts may be forced to change in order to keep talent in-state.  

Take Texas, who lost top ranked basketball player Tre Johnson to Missouri for his senior year. Immediately upon arriving in Missouri – a notoriously pro-NIL state – Johnson signed a trading card deal with Panini America. He couldn’t do that in Texas, so instead of waiting for college, he simply relocated for one year.

That’s only going to become more common as time moves forward. One can only imagine what might happen if Texas starts losing five-star quarterbacks to rival states – my guess is, it would probably push them over the edge and into allowing high school NIL. (More)

• UCLA star Kiki Rice showed off her own signature Jordan shoes before a big matchup with Stanford last week. Rice dedicated the shoes to her hometown Washington D.C. in an Instagram post promoting the NIL-fueled kicks.

• On3’s Shannon Terry is projecting Power Five schools to spend about $345M total on NIL roster management the next twelve months – that figure split between 65 schools comes out to $5.3M per school. While that may sound like a lot, just one NFL team spends about $225M per year.

COLLECTIVE 101

The Best of Friendemies

As bitter in-state rivals, Kansas and Kansas State don’t like each other. That doesn’t mean, however, that they can’t help each other out in raising some NIL cash. The coaches for each school’s football team have partnered together for a fundraising event that hopes to push the entire state forward into the upper echelon of NIL.

The event will take place in Kansas City, and includes a deep dive into how each program has built football culture over time. The goal of the event, according to the organizers, is to “build Kansas schools into formidable football dynasties” through NIL. (More)

• After a wildly successful donation campaign, Ohio State’s THEFoundation collective is running another giving initiative to continue their NIL dominance. It’s a matching campaign up to $600K, and it runs through April 14^th – the day after the Buckeye’s Spring Football Game.

• Michigan is tugging on the heartstrings to raise NIL money for next season – they just launched NIL trading cards to commemorate their National Championship run this year. The cards are signed by players from the team, and directly benefit the players’ NIL compensation at Michigan.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Frederick Richards

Meet Frederick Richards, a 2-time World Medalist with Team USA and a 3-time NCAA champion for the University of Michigan. Frederick has harnessed his massive social media following to secure partnerships with brands like Crocs, Celsius energy and more.

Frederick was recently nominated as a semifinalist for the prestigious Sullivan Award, which boasts a list of winners that are among the greatest athletes in American history. The finalists are determined by fan votes, so anyone looking to support Frederick can place their vote HERE. 

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Brock Purdy lookalike attends Super Bowl thanks to NIL

♦️ West Virginia launches NIL Store

♦️ Mary Hardin-Baylor partners with Opendorse

♦️ UConn’s Kamorea Arnold signs NIL deal for basketball education

BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Will the Chiefs win the Super Bowl again next year, completing the Three-peat?

• Yes - 54%

• No - 46%