7 Weird NIL deals
This month’s focus on NIL deals is on group NIL deals. Some of the groups are specific causes, some of the groups are for whole teams. Some of the deals are so funny it kills… others are so serious trying to prevent deaths. Here’s that list.
7. Our first weird NIL deal is with Blood Sugar. More specifically, a company that sponsors athletes with blood sugar issues. Dexcom U is a group sponsorship of 14 athletes who use that product to control their blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes and other diseases can cause blood sugar imbalances, and this is the first NIL deal focusing on this important medical issue. If you follow the link it will take you to the personal story, and a Youtube link, of all 14 athletes. The NCAA football player they feature is Caleb Fauria, tight end for the Colorado Buffaloes.
6. Pepsi has a group NIL Deal. Pepsi uses the athletes to promote recycling and ecological awareness.. Pepsi runs the #PepsiTrashTalk campaign on Tik Tok. Different athletes, including NCAA football player Kansas QB Jalon Daniels promote the cause with cool quick scenarios on Tik Tok. Daniels knocks a can into the air with a ping pong paddle, grabs it and then throws it into the trash. You can read the whole story at the link, there are almost a dozen athletes involved. The motto of the campaign is “Know the difference,” the video captions say. “Be a team player and recycle.”
5. Built Bar, a protein bar company based in Utah, offers every football walkon their full tuition paid. This was a groundbreaking type of group deal. Other group deals have covered multiple players at multiple universities, but this is the only one on the radar with one company funding a whole team. There are 36 walkons at BYU and at the announcement they were announced as “Employees 1-36” when Built Bar announced the NIL deal. Built Bar also said scholarship athletes can earn $1,000 for being brand ambassadors.
4. Outback Steakhouse announced a second wave to it’s NIL deal with a group of NCAAF athletes. As part of it’s deal with 13 new athletes, there’s even an exciting Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) part of the deal for 2 of the athletes. Georgia running back Kendall Milton and Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen have NFTS are part of the NIL promotion. According to the linked article, there’s been 80 athletes in 38 sports sponsored by Outback Steakhouse. What’s remarkable about this deal from the Australian-based restaurant chain is that there is no regional or theme for this promotional NIL deal.
3. Kane Footwear has a shoe sponsorship deal across several universities. What makes this deal unique is that it features it’s recovery shoe, it’s not an athletic performance specialty shoe. This new deal features 5 Ohio State University football players. For your reference, here is an Instagram post showing the Kane Revives. Five Ohio State University football players, featuring QB C.J. Stroud, are involved in this NIL promotion. Kane Footwear also has licensed NIL deals with Alabama, USC, LSU, Clemson, and Florida.
2. Yeah…. we’re getting towards the big finish. (Spoiler alert) Who doesn’t love a great big offensive line NIL. NOBODY I KNOW. Ohio state Offensive Line is out there promoting Applebee’s Boneless Wings. (h/t Eleven Warriors) From the release, ” Left guard Donovan Jackson, center Luke Wypler, right guard Matt Jones and right tackle Dawand Jones have partnered with Applebee’s. ” You really should follow the above link just to see an O-Line enjoying something besides smashing in D-line’s helmets.
Colorado offensive lineman Tommy Brown signs with @Shinesty, becoming the first ever college football NIL underwear model.
"When you have a body this good, you deserve to be paid," Brown said.
Yes, that's a real quote. pic.twitter.com/EIyXIako4r
— Mark J. Burns (@markjburns88) October 28, 2022
1. The first NCAA football underwear model. Maybe not what you expected…. but there’s the photo. I know this is an article about group NIL deals… but you can make up your own joke – I’m tapped out.
You can read all my other serious (oh so very serious) articles at www.gridironheroics.com but if you’re more specifically interested in the NIL area I’ve written about The Top 5 Food NIL deals, Top 10 NCAAF top 10 compared to the AP top 10, Oct. version, (Nov. version coming soon) , and the Weirdest NIL Deals (preseason version).
