Meanwhile, the push to help college stars cash in continues. In State College, Pennsylvania, a group that includes a local chamber of commerce and tourism board announced in September that they’d created HappyValleyTalent.com, a platform for connecting businesses with student athletes. The group doesn’t actually handle money, however, and instead just provides introductions.
In March, prominent Penn State alums, including Jay Paterno, a former coach, got in contact with Student Athlete NIL, an Atlanta-based company that works with brands, schools and donors. Together, they formed Success With Honor to raise money for players.
Fundraising is simple, according to Mark Toniatti, a longtime Penn State donor and Success With Honor’s chief executive officer: “We talk to individuals we know.”
Fans can give one-time contributions or subscribe for as little as $10 a month. In April, some enjoyed a meet-and-greet with athletes. Cassidy Rushlow, a 20-year-old Penn State gymnast, earned $800 -- $500 to attend a two-hour autograph signing and $300 to promote the event on social media. Before then, she hadn’t partnered with any brands.
“I get a lot of messages about random companies, so I never really know,” said Rushlow, who appreciates that Success With Honor clearly supports Penn State athletes.
The collective’s donor perks scale up based on the contribution. A $500 monthly membership provides direct access to the student athletes via virtual training sessions and custom video messages. The fund has raised more than $1 million already, including $200,000 from subscriptions, according to Jason Belzer, CEO of Student Athlete NIL.
That effort wasn’t enough though for Michael Krentzman, a local businessman and attorney. “Football,” he said, “pays for everything.” Just weeks before Success With Honor launched publicly, the Penn State fan announced his own collective, Nittany Commonwealth, to focus on that sport.
It offers a similar subscription model -- anywhere from $30 a month to $1,000 a month -- and signed its first player, Ji’Ayir Brown, in April. Krentzman said at the some point the group will include other sports like wrestling.
Representatives from both Success With Honor and Nittany Commonwealth said they’ll follow NCAA guidelines and don’t plan to compete against each another.
“Our collective will never call a high school kid,” Krentzman said. “It shouldn’t be the Wild West.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.