UCONN Basketball Stars Cash In
Now Presenting This Week in NIL, a newsletter about everything you need to know to keep up with the rapidly changing world of name, image, and likeness in college sports!
A top-heavy week of NIL news with two women’s basketball stars taking the spotlight - I appreciate you checking it out! If you enjoy this please consider sharing it with a friend or colleague who might like it, thanks!
This Week in NIL:
👟 Paige Bueckers inks her highly-anticipated first deal with StockX
💰 UCONN top recruit gets equity in BioSteel deal
💻 College athletes look to crypto and NFTs for next wave of deals
Paige Bueckers signs multi-year deal with StockX
Last season, Paige Bueckers became the first freshman to with the AP Player of the year award in college basketball. The UCONN star guard has over 920,000 followers on Instagram and 341,000 on Tiktok and is widely considered one of the most marketable names in college sports.
StockX is an online platform to buy and sell sneakers, apparel, electronics, collectibles, trading cards and accessories that will be featuring Bueckers in a campaign focusing on women’s sports and basketball. “My partnership with StockX is about equity and authenticity,” said Bueckers. The multi-year deal that won’t limit what brands she can wear off the court is her first major NIL deal.
Our takeaway:
Since Bueckers likely has 2-3 years left in her college career prior to turning pro, her long-term endorsement value is higher than many other college stars. Nevertheless, she took her time to find the right NIL deal for her that matched her personal brand values and interests. Even though this space is moving extremely fast, we are just at the beginning of the largest faces and brands collaborating.
UCONN Top Recruit Azzi Fudd gets equity from BioSteel
An intro to the two sides of this deal:
Azzi Fudd: The #1 recruit in the Class of 2021. The first sophomore in history to win the Gatorade National Girls' Basketball Player of the Year award. 164,000 Instagram Followers before stepping on the court for UCONN.
Biosteel: Sports Nutrition Drink with a eco-friendly focus promoting their new sugar-free drink targeted toward athletes. Current athlete partners include Patrick Mahomes, Luka Dončić, Christen Press, Ezekiel Elliott, DeAndre Hopkins and Jalen Ramsey.
Our takeaway:
Equity. Equity. Equity. We mentioned it in last week’s newsletter. Even if Fudd is receiving a tiny sliver of equity, ownership in growing brands is going to be one of the foundations of NIL deals in the future for superstar athletes.
College athletes look to NFTs for next wave of deals
I get it: NFTs are confusing. But to understand the space we need to understand all the players within it and student-athletes are clearly buying into NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens - here is a great video and text explanation from how they work from those who know much more than me).
And this Outkast NFT collection with UF Guard Myreon Jones and FSU QB Mckenzie Milton is just the start. Multiple Miami players are holding a NFT auction. Star Oregon Ducks DE Kayvon Thibodeaux signed a NFT deal with Phil Knight. NFT platform Recur raised $50 Million to bring NFTs to college sports and already has a rights deal with the Pac-12
How serious is this?
Very. It’s why I bought my very first NFT today.
Well at least I tried to… but 3 hours of attempts later I have been unsuccessful. Stay tuned! I’m eyeing a few different college athlete NFTs but I’m open to suggestions!
Top NIL Deals you need to 👀
Morgan and Morgan x Kentucky Basketball
Leah Clapper x Balance Palace board game
🚨BREAKING🚨All-American Florida gymnast @leahclapper launches the first ever gymnastics board game - Balance Palace Clapper teamed up with her club coach to make the game with the goal of creating experiences that ignite the athlete spirit within3. John Fulkerson x Tennessee Fund
Tennessee's @fulkerson_john has pledged $1 for every point scored this season from his NIL earnings to the Tennessee Fund This is the first known current student athlete donating NIL proceeds to their institution #NIL #SANILMckenzie Milton NFT (And a twitter thread with even more information on NIL and NFTs)
100's of college athletes are now selling thier own NFTs for big profits. NFT's in College Sports (And The Impact They Have on NIL) A thread 👇Thanks so much for reading! This Week in NIL is brought to you by the team at 8 In The Box Productions: we create branded video content for student-athletes and brands. If you want to get in touch or provide any feedback our email is here! Finally, if you enjoyed this newsletter please consider subscribing and sharing with someone who you think would enjoy it too!