After hitting the groundbreaking milestone of officially surpassing $1 MILLION in athlete payouts through officially licensed NIL merchandise sales on the NIL Store network, it is only fitting that we celebrate the occasion by looking back to where we started.
A month into NIL - WAY back in August of 2021 - an incoming Illinois freshman guard Brandin Podziemski became the first athlete ever to sign with the NIL Store. After his first season, he transferred to Santa Clara and tore up the West Coast Conference, sharing Player of the Year honors.
The Golden State Warriors selected Podziemski with the nineteenth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and as a rookie this season, he’s averaging close to 10 points and 5 rebounds a game. Clearly, it was his NIL Store partnership that set him on a path for success (!).
Season Number One!
During that 2021 season after Podziemski signed on the dotted line, the Illinois NIL Store became the first in our now 40+ school network and set the pace by collaborating with a few other Illini basketball players - from Andre Curbelo hosting his birthday party at the Campus Ink lab to Kofi Cockburn creating “King Kofi” and special gold crown merchandise to honor his Kingston, Jamaica and Queens, New York roots - making nearly $100,000 collectively for the men’s basketball team.
Mark Cuban Invests
This model drew the attention of Mark Cuban, who became Campus Ink’s initial investor in March of 2022, but with the stipulation - still our core brand value - that merchandise opportunities be made available to ALL student-athletes, not just high-profile performers.
Illini Pop-Up Store Opens in Downtown Chicago
Continuing to make NIL history and expanding our footprint in Illinois, in March of 2022 we opened the nation’s first pop-up NIL merch experience in downtown Chicago, making national news and setting the pace for how student-athletes can best leverage their NIL.
Indiana Coach Wears NIL Merch on Sideline
One of our most memorable “pinch-me” moments came in December of 2022 when Indiana women’s basketball head coach Teri Moren wore injured star Grace Berger’s merch on the sideline. Again making national news, this showed the possibilities of how coaches can organically support their players’ NIL endeavors.
Edey Hockey Jersey Goes Viral
To tip off the new year in 2023, we collaborated with Purdue star and Canada-native Zach Edey on a “Big Maple” hockey jersey, which is still the NIL Store’s all-time best seller. The Player of the Year’s jersey highlighted our creative chops and fusing multiple sports products together to authentically tell an athlete’s unique story.
2023 Merch Madness - Two Champions
The 2023 NCAA Tournament was historic for us as two NIL Store schools - UConn and LSU - won championships, so you know we had to go big to celebrate. Highlighting our speed and reactivity to key moments, we launched Lamont Butler merch drop after hitting a game-winning shot for San Diego State in the Final Four. Once the confetti dropped on UConn and LSU, we launched championship merch for both the Huskies and Tigers and partnered with breakout stars Angel Reese and Flau’Jae Johnson on full collections, including their own jerseys.
WKU Bid Red Collection Is A Hit
During the 2023 football season, when Western Kentucky’s Big Red helmets - with each position group wearing a different decal - went viral, we jumped at the opportunity to support the entire team with their own merch lines, showing again that the NIL Store is for ALL athletes, not just superstars.
Winter Edition Custom Jerseys Released
Continuing to bring athletes and fans unique products they can’t find anywhere else, we launched our Winter Edition Jerseys during the coldest month of the 2023-24 college basketball season. The drop included last season’s NCAA National Champions UConn men’s basketball and LSU women’s basketball - in addition to their men’s and women’s counterparts - plus Michigan State, Nebraska, Utah and WKU.
New Partnerships Close 2023
Two key partnerships wrapped up 2023 and set us up to continue to innovate in the NIL space. We joined forces with The Original Retro Brand to launch a NIL Collectives Program that will offer fans new apparel products and member programming, continuing to prioritize student-athletes and their NIL earning potential. Additionally, we partnered with NIL trading card leader OnIt Athlete to feature their unique offerings via NIL Store’s network of schools and individual trading cards in each players’ locker room where available.
What’s Next?
As 2023 culminated with the NIL Store surpassing $1 million in athlete payouts, reflecting on our more than 100 NIL licenses, 40 stores nationwide and 9,000 athletes on the platform, none of this could be possible without our first signee Podzemski, the Illini basketball team and the Illinois NIL Store.
We have grown exponentially ever since, hiring a team of former collegiate athletes, coaches and administrators who have dedicated their entire professional careers to bettering the welfare of student-athletes.
As we continue to raise the standard for officially licensed and custom merchandise in the NIL space, we cannot thank our partners, student-athletes, teams and universities for their unwavering support.
The best news is…WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED!
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