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On July 1, 2021, the college sports landscape changed with the introduction of name, image, likeness legislation. Collegiate athletes can now profit off of their name and brand, without restriction from their schools.

Athletes across the country signed deals, including Syracuse guard Buddy Boeheim who made history as the first collegiate athlete to sell merchandise featuring his name and the university trademark. Buddy teamed up with The Players Trunk to sell “Buddy Buckets” T-shirts that featured Syracuse’s trademark block S. Most deals will not feature the university, but in this case, it provided a glimpse into mutually beneficial partnerships that an athlete and university can cash in on.

The Players Trunk was founded in part by former Syracuse basketball team manager Hunter Pomerantz, who graduated in 2020. Pomerantz said that he became close friends with Buddy and Joe Girard III through his job and used those relationships to sign the two SU players.

“NIL first passed on July 1, (and) those were my two first calls,” Pomerantz said. “Texted both of them, ran the idea by them and said ‘I think we can do something really special together.’”

Multiple Syracuse players including Buddy, Girard and Cole Swider have made deals with local and national brands. NIL legislation allows athletes to appear in commercials, sell merchandise with their name and faces or sell their time, like on Cameo. Syracuse Athletics communication told The Daily Orange that every NIL opportunity is evaluated on a case-by-case basis in cases regarding Syracuse’s trademark. College athletes finally have the power to profit, just like other students.

“It’s pretty much a new world,” Girard said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what there is in the future. Honestly, the better you play the more it’ll come.”

Hoops season is officially back and so is hoodie weather. :cold_face:Shop your favorite player’s official merchandise now! #tpt

A photo posted by theplayerstrunk

There are a variety of reasons why a company might partner with an athlete. Shoe company ISlide, offers custom slides and licensed team slides ranging from collegiate to professional teams. Stephen Basden is an ISlide U Coordinator who recruits and signs collegiate-athletes to deals. Basden explained that shortly after the July 1 ruling, Buddy reached out to ISlide in the hopes of making a deal.

ISlide is a licensee of Syracuse already, so Basden said it was “a no-brainer to move forward.” Since then, ISlide has signed Swider, Girard, Symir Torrence and Benny Williams, too.

For ISlide, Girard’s established following at Syracuse was appealing to them. Similarly, Basden cited Torrence being a Syracuse native and Williams’ potential to be a star freshman for the Orange as reasons for signing them to deals. But as a new transfer, Swider does not have any connections to Syracuse.

Swider has potential markets in his home state of Rhode Island, plus Syracuse and potentially even Philadelphia since he played at Villanova, Basden said. ISlide has known about Swider and wanted to partner with him for a while because of his success in high school but needed to wait until NIL was passed.

Since signing the five Syracuse players, Basden said SU also reached out to work with ISlide. ISlide, Buddy and Syracuse reached an agreement where Buddy’s custom slides are being sold in the campus bookstore. ISlide’s business has been going “very well” with deals with many different athletes and schools, Basden said.

“I think for us, it’s very much a trajectory that’s going up,” Basden said. “It’s been something that we definitely see value in and we plan on continuing to put a lot of effort and resources into.

Megan Thompson | Design Editor

While players and businesses can have a mutually beneficial agreement, not every Syracuse athlete has the same opportunities. International student athletes with student visas are not allowed to profit off NIL in the U.S., so players like Jesse Edwards or Bourama Sidibe cannot profit the same way Girard or Buddy can.

“We can’t really do anything with American companies,” Edwards said. “Luckily I have a couple of good companies back home who want to do some stuff in the future, so I’m starting on that.”

Edwards pointed out that basketball isn’t as big in the Netherlands compared to the United States. The opportunities are much harder to come by since Edwards wouldn’t be a household name in his hometown the way Buddy is in Syracuse.

Head coach Jim Boeheim argued that NIL isn’t fair, with part of his issue stemming from the amount of money collegiate-athletes already receive in scholarships and stipends. At ACC Media Day, Boeheim jokingly asked Sidibe if he was jealous that Buddy was making more money than him. Sidibe said he wasn’t.

Buddy has been the clear frontrunner on NIL deals, appearing in commercials for Three Wishes Cereal and Beak and Skiff, having autograph signings and selling messages on Cameo. Girard signed with ISlide, The Players Trunk and clothing brand Novus.

While Boeheim said NIL is unfair because some players make more than others, NIL is meant to bring collegiate-athletes onto the same playing field as other students on campus, according to David Meluni. Meluni is an assistant teaching professor in the sport management program in Falk College and teaches the only course on NIL in the nation.

“In the past, (athletes were) the only segment of a campus that was not allowed to (profit),” Meluni said. “The artist on campus can have a scholarship, and … they can sell their artwork.”

On any campus, there is no fairness between the amount of money students bring in through their brand deals. What determines which players get deals is often their performance on the court or field and their social media engagement. For the Orange, Girard has the most Instagram followers with 56,600, while Buddy has 37,300.

Brands want to tap into the markets that Girard and Buddy have created with their social media followings, Meluni said. Most of these players’ followers are young and have a clear interest in Syracuse basketball, so they become a new market for brands.

People in the industry say an athlete is valued at 80 cents per follower for an entire year, Meluni said. That estimate would value Girard at $45,280 and Buddy at $29,840 — far greater than their teammates. A star like Buddy could naturally make the most money since the Boeheim name attracts a lot of attention in Syracuse.

Boeheim said athletes already received money and benefits from the university, but NIL does not take from university budgets. NIL deals are independent of the university, so these profits provide a supplement to what collegiate-athletes are receiving. Now, universities are no longer the sole beneficiary of a collegiate-athlete’s performance.

NIL will also help athletes in lesser-known sports. One of the highest-paid NIL athletes in the country is Olivia Dunne, a gymnast at LSU. At Syracuse, players on high-achieving, but relatively lesser-known teams like women’s lacrosse, now have an earning potential through social media. At the very least, Meluni noted how players from smaller sports can go home and run camps over the summer for profit.

“As much as people think this is going to be for the male football and men’s basketball, and even in Syracuse, men’s lacrosse players,” Meluni said. “That is not correct.”

Published on November 18, 2021 at 12:22 am

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu