Troy Athletics expands NIL partnerships

Published 10:14 am Wednesday, July 20, 2022

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This week, Troy University Athletics has announced expanded partnerships to help enhance name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities for student-athletes.

Troy Athletics and Opendorse teamed up this past November to provide all Trojan student-athletes with a digital social media experience to help build their personal brand. On Tuesday, Troy and Opendorse announced an expanded partnership designed to propel Troy’s 400-plus student-athletes to the forefront of name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities.

The enhanced relationship with Opendorse is also designed to enhance Troy Athletics’ mission to prepare all student-athletes for success in the new era of college sports with the market’s leading NIL solutions. Additionally, the partnership will empower Troy’s student-athletes to understand, build and protect their brands with the industry’s leading education, marketing and compliance technology.

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“We are committed to providing each of our student-athletes with the best possible overall experience during their collegiate careers at Troy,” Director of Athletics Brent Jones said. “With that goal in mind, our relationship with Opendorse provides a multifaceted approach for our student-athletes to tackle NIL, personal branding and social media strategy under one umbrella. Additionally, the NIL Marketplace provides our fans and business partners with an easy-to-use platform to connect with our student-athletes.”

More than 75,000 athletes use Opendorse to understand, build, and monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL) with support from thousands of brands, fans, sponsors, donors and partners, including Team USA, PGA TOUR, NFLPA, MLBPA, WNBPA, LPGA, over 100 professional and collegiate sports teams.

“Providing student-athletes with NIL education and marketing support is a must for today’s leaders in college athletics,” Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence said. “By adding Opendorse, Troy is making the commitment to supporting its players with the proven NIL platform – ensuring that they are best-equipped to build and monetize their brands in a compliant manner.”

The expanded agreement will also lead to the implementation of a Troy Marketplace, where “fans, brands, sponsors and donors can browse, book, pitch and pay” Troy student-athletes for NIL activities in one platform that is NCAA complaint. The platform is scheduled to launch in August.

Additionally, Troy Athletics and The Brandr Group (TBG) announced on Wednesday that the pair has established a group licensing agreement for students-athletes across all of Troy’s 16 athletic programs. The partnership is designed to create new opportunities for Troy University’s student-athletes to profit from NIL using the school’s official trademarks and logos.

This collaborative effort allows for the collective use of student-athletes’ NIL in licensing and marking programs to be co-branded with Troy logos and marks. The student-athletes can join a group licensing program on a voluntary basis and TBG will facilitate the group licensing opportunities on behalf of the student-athletes while not limiting individual NIL rights. Potential licensees interested in learning more about the program should contact TBG’s Jim Neigh at jim.neish@tbgusa.com.

“NIL unlocks profitable opportunities for student-athletes across the collegiate sports landscape, and this group licensing agreement with Troy Athletics allows its student-athletes to take advantage of this new environment,” TBG Program Development Vice President Rick Perko. “Troy student-athletes now have the option to financially benefit from the NIL through co-branded opportunities across Troy’s merchandising and sponsor portfolio. The dedicated Trojans fan base will also benefit with new avenues for engagement with their favorite players.”