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4 Insider Tips a College Athlete Should Know to Better Negotiate an NIL Deal with Nick Lord, NOCAP Sports: Show Notes & Transcript

Post | Nov 22, 2022

Welcome back to Marketing Smarts! From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini (that’s us) comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. We deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from our combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. We tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

This is Episode #134 and we’re talking NIL deals with guest Nick Lord, the Co-Founder and CEO of NOCAP Sports. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast spots – follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re exercising your Marketing Smarts!

  • Episode Summary & Player
  • Show Notes
  • Marketing Smarts Summary
  • Transcript

Marketing Smarts Episode #134: 4 Insider Tips a College Athlete Should Know to Better Negotiate an NIL Deal with Nick Lord, NOCAP Sports

The changes in NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) have gotten a looooooot of attention in college athletics over the past few years. It’s created a huge opportunity for both college athletes and brands. But it’s still early – and it still feels like the Wild West. So, if you’re a college athlete, how do you better negotiate an NIL deal? It’s key you get appropriately compensated for exclusivity, be really good at creating branded content, clarify usage rights and get the appropriate approvals from all parties, and know your worth. You also may run into a blackout period, be asked to post during a tournament, and need to figure out a team to support you in your NIL journey. We wanted you to learn from an expert at tackling these tricky NIL scenarios, so we welcomed on Nick Lord. He’s the Co-Founder and CEO of NOCAP Sports, an NIL sports tech company helping athletes transform influencer marketing. This episode covers everything from college sports to negotiating. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

  • How do you better negotiate an NIL deal?
  • Who’s responsible for getting all the approvals?
  • What is a blackout period?
  • How do you approach March Madness with brands?
  • What do you do if a brand wants you to post during a tournament game?
  • How do you tell a good story with your sponsored social posts?
  • What team do you need in place to support your NIL efforts?
  • How do usage rights work?

And as always, if you need help in building your Marketing Smarts, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at: ForthRight-People.com.

Check out the episode, show notes, and transcript below:

Show Notes

  • 4 Insider Tips a College Athlete Should Know to Better Negotiate an NIL Deal with Nick Lord, NOCAP Sports

What is Marketing Smarts?

From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. They deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from their combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. They tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

How do I exercise my Marketing Smarts?

Thanks for listening to Marketing Smarts. Get in touch here to become a savvier marketer. 

Transcript

Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

Anne Candido  0:02  

This is Marketing Smarts – a podcast committed to helping you become a savvier marketing leader, no matter your level. In each episode, we will dive into a relevant topic or challenge that marketing leaders are currently facing. We will also give you practical tools and applications that will help you put what you learn into practice today. And if you missed anything, don’t worry, we put worksheets on our website that summarize the key points. Now, let’s get to it. Welcome to Marketing Smarts. I’m Anne Candido and I am April Martini, and today we’re gonna talk about a topic that’s getting a lot of attention that is NILs or name, image, and likeness. Since the NCAA has changed the rules on how college athletes can profit off their name, image, and likeness, it has really felt like the wild west that it really has Yes. And the infrastructure hasn’t yet been developed. So the rules and processes are you ambiguous and really open to interpretation, which unfortunately, is often to the detriment of the athlete who doesn’t yet have the business savvy or the professional sport to battle the brands and businesses are looking to hire them. So the result is that some not all businesses and brands are taking advantage of the situation to their own

 

April Martini  1:14  

benefit. Yes. And quite frankly, this bad behavior just makes us mad. So this episode is for those college students looking to leverage their NIL this is not a replacement, we will say for having a good business manager, lawyers, other professionals to help you negotiate these deals, but at least we’re going to try to give you some education, which should help you have a better sense of when something shady may be going on before you sign anything. And if any of you know of a college athlete using their NIL help them out by sharing this episode with them if you would.

 

Anne Candido  1:48  

And yes and help us with this topic. today. We have an expert. His name is Nicholas Lord, He’s the Co-Founder and CEO of NOCAP Sports. And, Nick, we’re so happy to have you today. You want to introduce yourself?

 

Nick Lord  1:59  

Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you guys for having me excited to be here. I’m Nick Lord, the CEO and Co-Founder of NOCAP Sports athlete, marketing technology and services company navigating this new NIL space space, working with college athletes and brands alike. So excited to be here and talk about the topic with us.

 

Anne Candido  2:16  

Yeah, awesome. This is gonna be a really good one. And let’s before we get started, let’s get some terminology aligned just to make sure we’re all on the same page. As we’re going through this episode. For us as much as the listener, I’m going to refer to these types of deals where you leverage your Anya with a brand or business as endorsement deals. Now, they could be called a bunch of different things. But whether you are short term or long term with these brands, or you’re doing a social post, or some sort of extended marketing effort in some way, you’re demonstrating endorsements, so we’re just going to talk about these all in one big category of endorsement deals, because that’s really what the brand is paying for. And so also, when I talk about brand new, you can also can contextualize that as being a business or something else, or whatever entity that you’re signing up with. So we’re gonna talk brand, meaning the whole business structure as well as endorsement deals, being all of these things that you could be doing. Yeah. All right. All right. So let’s jump into four insider tips a college athlete should know, to better negotiate an NIL deal, oh god,

 

April Martini  3:14  

this is going to be a tongue twister,

 

Anne Candido  3:16  

today, say five times fast. So the first one is to get appropriately compensated for exclusivity. So here is the reality of the situation, I’m going to be speaking a lot from the brand side and the business side because that is the side I come from. So I spent a lot of time working in corporate and P&G brokering these deals, negotiating these deals, executing these deals, and then also dealing with all of the outcomes, whether they’re good or bad associated with these deals. So that’s the perspective I’m coming from here. So I’m going to be giving you those insider tips and knowledge and one is on exclusivity. And the big one here is that a brand is going to try to get as much exclusivity as they can for as little cost as possible. That’s just the reality of the situation. That is reality of doing business. And exclusivity means prohibiting you from working with any other brands in some capacity. So the moral here is you do not want to give up exclusivity without considering the implications and being compensated appropriately. And to realize that there are several tiers of exclusivity here, but a general rule of thumb is the more broad the restriction, the higher the compensation. Yep. So let’s go it should be or so it should be right. So let’s talk about how this could look. So first, what they’re going to probably ask for is the basic and this is the standard, where they’re going to say you cannot do any other business with a direct competitor. That’s what you should expect. That’s kind of like the going in baseline assumption. Make sure you get the list are what their direct competitors are. It should only be like three to five, not like 10 to 20 or more or more. So make sure that you’re really understanding who their direct competitors are so that you can appropriately determine if this is within the realm of what is expected or not. Now, what they could ask. And this is where sometimes a 10 to 20 gets to be a little bit of an issue is that you’re not doing any other business with any other brand in the industry. So then you want to consider how many additional brand deals you might get, or could have gotten as a result of being able to work with these others in the industry, and then want to price it appropriately, right. Because really, what they’re doing is they’re basically blocking you out of doing any additional work. And if it’s a category that really makes sense for you, that could be could have been pretty lucrative. So for example, if you’re a soccer player, and somebody wants you to endorse their soccer cleats, okay, so that’s one level of endorsement. But then as part of the exclusivity, they come back and say, well, we want you also to be exclusive, and you have to wear our shirts or T shirts and our shorts, right, that is an additional level of exclusivity. And so you should be appropriately compensated for that. So what that means then is that you start to then anticipate and ask for more, because shorts and shirts could be at a whole nother level of endorsement. And that could be a different brand, that could be a different category. So you need to think about what that looks like. Now, the top top level is they’ll say you can’t do any other brands altogether. Now, this is very unlikely, because it’s actually not good for either one, it’s tend to be extremely expensive. So it’s cost prohibitive. But for you, as an athlete who’s trying to gain your popularity, it doesn’t really make sense for you either. So it’s hard to find a number that actually would be justifiable to say, Alright, I’m gonna limit my popularity, my exposure here for just your brand. But then also, I’m gonna say this, and I’m gonna pass this over to Nick is that you need to consider when they want to exclusivity, so many are gonna try to lock you down during time periods, like playoffs or tournaments. And you need to be very, very careful here, because there could be some conflicts with other brands and other sponsors who have exclusivity to those specific events. But also note that some brands are going to ask you to have exclusivity, no matter where you show up. So for example, if you do have that shirt and shorts endorsement deal, they might expect you no matter when you’re wearing a shirt and shorts to be wearing their shirt and shorts. So if you show up at the gym, and you’re wearing somebody else’s shirt and shorts, and somebody snaps you and they post that you could be in breach of contract. So definitely need to be looking at all that fine writing and making sure that the details are there, and that you understand those details and you understand that language. And also make sure you understand the length of when the endorsement deal runs out. Because usually it’s at the end of the contract, but sometimes they try to work some things in that goes beyond the contract, which is generally not something you want to sign up for. So Nick, I just talked a lot, I would love you. And your perspective on this. Now sure, you have plenty of stories to tell about what are you gonna calendered

 

Nick Lord  7:55  

Yeah, absolutely. And that was a great kind of synopsis there too. But working with brands and athletes on a daily basis, we see this exclusivity term, thrown around all the time. And for a lot of a lot of these is the first time athletes are hearing this. So it’s really important for them to research what exactly that means for you know, their likelihood, because, you know, a lot of these athletes have don’t have agents. And that’s what most people don’t really realize. So if you do agree to you know, exclusivity, make sure it is an industry and a brand that you really care about, especially if it’s a lengthier exclusivity period. The when is also very important, as you mentioned, for example, you wouldn’t want to get engaged in a super long exclusivity period during something like March Madness, because there’s so much uncertainty of what could happen, I could engage in a deal at the beginning of March Madness, and I end up having some of the best games in my life. And I become extremely marketable and a ton of brands are approaching me and I could miss out on some opportunities that could surface there. Another point you mentioned, I think it’s really important to have the brand explicitly explicitly say, what other brands you can’t work with just so there’s no misunderstanding when it comes to what brands you can or can’t work with. But I think the general rule of thumb should be, you know, the broader the exclusivity, the less or the shorter the period should be, that you’re agreeing to. So I think you made a great lot of great points and covered most of it, but there’s the kind of the little pieces I would add, for sure. And then another thing I would also say is kind of think about it a little bit more in depth when you’re agreeing to a deal. Like if I’m working with a, for example, a granola company, and if changing the exclusive he’s going to kill that deal, like realistically think about how many granola companies are probably going to approach me if you know if they’re asking for a six month period, probably not likely a granola company is going to another good company is going to approach me so it might be okay to engage in something like that. But that’s like super specific. So upgrading to something more broad is definitely something you want to look out for. But these really specific ones I think, you know, they’re definitely more okay. That makes sense.

 

April Martini  9:58  

Yeah. And I think you We’ve touched on a couple of good things there. So just to kind of emphasize the point, I think the one is and and you said at the beginning, it’s a little bit of a wild west, right. And so I think, Nick, your comment about the lack of agents in this space paired with the fact that it’s newer, makes it that much more important to really hone in on the terms and where brands may be attempting to get you quote, unquote. And I’m not saying that from like a malicious standpoint, right. But this is business, especially on the side of those brands. And so they’re going to go for what is best for their business. And so I think when we think about the professional realm, it’s a different world, right? Because you have agents and you have folks, you really have like a board of directors almost on your side that’s looking out for you from all angles of this. And so I think the caution here, and you know, lawyers daughter, I’m always thinking about the fine print here, but you know, is really make sure that you clearly understand what you’re signing up for no matter what, and also the knowledge that exclusivity is one of the big hot buttons. So if that comes up in the contract, you really have to make sure that you understand the ins and outs of what that looks like. And then I think the other thing you mentioned, Nick, which is really important to emphasize, the point is making sure that you’re signing up with brands that make sense for you. And so you use the granola example, right? And the terms and how, how many granola brands are going to reach out, right. So that point is well taken. But then on the other side, I think if you’re going to enter into exclusivity with a brand, you darn well better have a positive opinion, at the very least, and at the very best feel like it’s part of your personal brand to be associated with that brand.

 

Nick Lord  11:45  

Absolutely. One One also thing I would add to that is, I think, you know, in general, a lot of brands maybe have taken advantage of athletes in a couple of different ways. When it comes to NIL just because they’re so new to it. I think there’s been a lot of affiliate and product deals, I don’t think in any circumstance, you should be agreeing to any sort of exclusivity unless you’re getting paid cash, to be honest. And we’ve seen that a lot we’ve had no, we’ve worked with brands that are mainly trying to do affiliate deals are mainly trying to do product deals, and they’re trying to get athletes to only talk about that brand for a certain period of time. And I think you know, in general, if you’re not getting paid for it, you shouldn’t have to agree to any sort of exclusivity.

 

Anne Candido  12:23  

And right, and they shouldn’t be able to require that unless you’re under contract anyway, right? Because giving you a product could be a quote unquote, form of compensation, but you do not need to see it that way. So don’t feel like oh, because they gave me the shoes. All of a sudden, I’m beholden to the brand, unless there’s a contract that states so and I think, Nick, you’re totally right, I would never sign a contract that says that I have to have some sort of exclusivity with a brand. And just because they gave me a free product. We’ve seen it happen. Yeah, I believe they do. And just one comment on agents as well, because I think a lot of folks say that or think, especially if you’re new to the game, think that an agent is going to be your savior. And I’ve been involved too in too many situations from Olympic athletes, to professional athletes to tell you that’s just not so. So even if you had the benefit of an agent, either you’re paying the agent or you have some sort of affiliation with an agent, still do your homework, it’s really important that you do your homework, because I’m going to tell you not all athletes are created equal. Yes. So the agent you’re going to get versus an agent that is doing a big deal with one of the professional athletes is going to be very, very different. And because they’re compensated very differently for those things. So just be very careful there don’t use that as a safeguard to say, Well, I have an agent, therefore I’m protected.

 

Nick Lord  13:42  

Yeah, absolutely. And the interesting thing about that is like kind of anyone can become an agent, to an extent. Yes. I mean, sometimes family members are representing athletes. Further, and I’ll deal. So I think, in general, it’s important to get a second opinion, whether that is someone in your athletic department, whether that’s some sort of legal counsel that you potentially could get in touch with, or if it’s just having to do research on your own, but I wouldn’t trust just one opinion, in general, just because there’s so many different people popping up now that are claiming their agents that probably don’t have the credibility to do to be so. So that’s another point that I want to make.

 

Anne Candido  14:16  

Yeah, I think that is a really good point. All right. So the second insider tip a call to athlete should know to better negotiate in NIL deal is to be really good at creating branded content. And April alluded to this in a second ago is that really content is king. And it’s going to be one of the primary reasons that brands hire you. They want access to your following the reason why they want you is because they can’t reach the audience that you are reaching authentically on their own. So they want you to basically help them make that connection in a way that the that audience is going then to like that brand as well. So in order to make yourself marketable, you really need to do two things you need to generate a Following that appreciates your point of view that appreciates who you are as a person and appreciates your lifestyle more than just beyond your sport that’s going to help make you marketable. And then also you need to give brands some love. This is a way whenever somebody asked me and I’ve been approached by a gazillion athletes from NIL athletes all over the Olympic athletes, like how do I get an endorsement deal with P&G, I said, show you love some of the brands show what you can do and what kind of impact and what kind of results you can get when you do put a brand out there that helps people see that yes, you are, can authentically generate this kind of content that’s going to be valuable to the brand. So be a little bit proactive in that. And that’s going to help give in an immediate way of those brands that understand the impact that you can generate. And so the next point is that you know, you should expect and you’re going to want the actual brand to give you a message track. This is really, really important. And this is where you have to start doing a little bit of negotiation to is because you are going to want to be able to translate what the brand’s intent is into your own words, right? If the brand is giving you a message back and say you have to say this, you definitely need a push back because you don’t want to ruin your credibility with your audience by saying something that looks very forced, very inauthentic, very salesy very advertising is that a word advertising will allow

 

it, we can make it one we can make.

 

You need to maintain your authenticity. That’s what makes you marketable. And so the art comes and being able to translate that. So it does feel very much like it’s coming from you. And as April said, it’s better if you’re familiar with the brand is better, if you like the brand, that comes up is way more authentic than you trying to pimp out some brand that you have no association with, or more obviously, you wouldn’t have any association with Nick, what are some examples? Good and bad? You’ve seen of this?

 

Nick Lord  16:48  

Oh, man, I have so many. I hate this come across my

 

April Martini  16:53  

brain floods with like, so many. How do I pick?

 

Nick Lord  16:57  

Yeah, well, I think, you know, in general, looking at the NIL space, I think it’s evolved over time in the first year, I think at the beginning there was so I saw this so many different times. And it really made me mad, just seeing this kind of content come up with just like athletes, like, we’ll take like, let’s say, for example, a protein bar company that sponsored an athlete, and they’ll just lay the protein bar on their bed, or like on a desk or something. And they’ll take a picture of it and post it on social media with like a discount, like, oh, yeah, that’s the content, you you really don’t want to see, I think I say this a million times. But you really want to try to align with brands that you use on a daily basis consistently, you know, exactly what kind of their, their brand is, what they’re what they’re about what they what their mission statement is, things like that. Because that just makes for better content, in general. And kind of to your message to and I think most brands are going to obviously give you some sort of message track. But I want, you know, you have to make sure to be able to have as much control over that as possible. Just because you want to be able to turn it into your own, basically shape that wording or shape that narrative in your own way to the audience that you’re usually pushing out to. And I think that’s one of the biggest keys when it comes to creating content for for brand partners that you’re working with.

 

April Martini  18:16  

This, this one always makes me think of anytime we get into this conversation about whether we’re talking about NIL, or any sort of endorsement or partnership, or whatever is really giving the people on the other end of the content credit, right? Because I think your example really translates well of, you know, you see a protein bar show up in some place that could really be anybody’s place, right? And it feels a little lazy and execution. And it’s also kind of a What am I supposed to take away from that. And so I feel like as the viewer, consumer, or whatever, on the other side of that, first of all, we’re bombarded with so many messages. But second of all, if you want your personal brand to live and be authentic with those people, on the other end, you have to do that work for yourself. So yes, it’s partnering with the right type of brand. But I think, to the points both of you made around the messaging track, but also just the pure execution of what you’re putting out there. You have to make sure that you’re working hard, so that that consumer will be fill in the blank excited, compelled to do something about to engage, say, oh, man, that makes perfect sense that so and so’s associated with that brand, or I’m glad to see that or have a point of view at all on what they’re seeing. Otherwise, it’s a waste on both ends, but especially into the point of this episode for the athlete because they’re doing damage to their own brand in a pretty significant way when they’re putting that out there to their entire community.

 

Nick Lord  19:46  

Absolutely. Yeah, the best content that I’ve seen is where an athlete kind of ties a story into it. Video content, I think has done the best so far when it comes to NIL. I’ll give an example. We just did a deal with Tyson and they have this new meatless chicken. And there was a female athlete from Florida, she’s been a gymnastics athlete. And she never eats meat. And she had this whole story with the promotion about how she never ate meat, but she’s trying this like new, like fake meat essentially. And she made she went to the store she like bought it, she went home, it was like a video of her trying it and everything her reaction. And it actually made for a pretty cool piece of content that, you know, didn’t really even feel like an ad. So I think the content like that is definitely does a lot better. And also like the the types of content where it’s not, it’s not forced, it’s not only brand oriented. So there’s some sort of like, there’s an athlete working out and it let’s say, it’s a sports drink company. And then we’ll take a break from working out and they’ll take a sip and they’ll talk about it, then then go back to working out. So it’s not just all focused on the brand, it’s more and get organic. I think that’s also a good thing that athletes can do.

 

Anne Candido  20:58  

Please tell me that within that, that gymnast when she was doing the the Tyson meatless chicken, the hashtag was #TastesLikeChicken.

 

Nick Lord  21:06  

I’ll have to check on that. But that would have been a good hashtag. It was not.

 

Anne Candido  21:09  

Yeah, yeah, I just that’s just what kind of just popped in my head. But I think you guys break up really, really good points. And I think the, if I was gonna wrap this, this point, in a bow, I was gonna say that you need to cheat your social channels like marketing channels, right? I mean, you need to cultivate them as such. And I think what you said about being lazy in terms of creating content, it’s also being intentional, and what content you’re creating images outside of branded content. So you need to avoid things that brands are going to look at and go II, I’m not so sure. Because if it reflects negatively on them, then they’re going to be like, that association may not be something that’s best for my brand. So you need to really watch out on political comments, you need to watch out on taking extreme points of view on social issues, you need to watch out about putting any kind of hate on there, or like trying to do any kind of attacks on anybody, all those things start to culminate into a perception of who you are. And whether or not it’s a loose cannon, or I can’t, not sure what they say, or how they act, or how they behave is gonna be consistent with my brand equity, my brand character, if you want to do brand work, if you want to do endorsement deals, you have to understand that your marketing channel is your social channels, that’s your primary one. And it’s your best asset, and you need to protect it as such. Absolutely. Alright, so our third insider tip, a college athlete should know to better negotiate an NIL deal is to clarify usage rights, and get the appropriate approvals from the team, university and League. So in most cases, the only NIL you have access to is yours. And I’m gonna ask Nick to clarify all this because I speak from the context of what I understand from professional sports, but I think it translates. But again, we’re talking about the Wild West here. So there may be some rules or maybe not some rules. But what that means is if you’re doing a deal where your brand wants you to show up in your marks, whether it’s your school’s marks, or your team’s marks, that may require additional approvals and additional deal, it’s kind of like when you see all the subway commercials, and you see all those athletes who are Hawkins Subway sandwiches, and they’re not in any of their marks, that’s because subway does not have a deal with any of those athletes, teams, they can’t use those marks because they don’t have a deal with that. So be very, very careful here and making sure again, as you’re negotiating with the brand, that you understand how they want you to show up and don’t inadvertently agree to something that you haven’t gotten the approvals for. And don’t assume anything. Okay. Now, again, there’s tiers to this pricing as well, right? So the most common when you’re talking about what kind of exposure you’re going to have, and this comes to how you’re going to use your NIL is what we just talked about, about social posting and appearances. Now, this has some limited extended rates to where a lot of the brands will want to repost that on their social or put it on their website, these are generally okay. Right. So you can think about that in those terms. When they want to start using what they’re doing now in terms of advertising, which has much broader exposure, that generally a higher price here, so that’d be like ads, or billboards or collateral or something that’s a little bit more fundamentally broader or bigger. So you also need here to be thinking about the length of time that’s specified in a contract for usage of these things as well. Now generally, when your contract is over, they need to stop using all of these things, right? So the only exception here is social. When something’s on social something’s on social for eternity, there’s nothing you can do about that. But for things that are on their website, or a TV ads or billboards or things that can come down, those things should come down. So Nick, what have you seen and how have you helped people understand what they need to do with regards to their to their usage rights?

 

Nick Lord  24:53  

Yeah, for sure. I’ll start with the the IP part of it University IP, that’s a mess. Still. honest. So there’s no specific answer that I could give to that question. But it depends on a school by school basis, each school has different policy that they have, then there’s also restrictions and what types of brands you can and can’t work with. So if I’m promoting a city side, yeah, so if I’m, if my university is, let’s say, sponsored by Nike, you probably cannot do a deal with Under Armour as an athlete. So that’s also something to look out for. But when it comes to actually utilizing school marks in any sort of endorsement, that’s a process you have to go by on a on a school by school basis. And there’s also some state laws that have that interpreted in there as well. Yeah, and that’s something also the brands have to usually pay extra for, when it comes to using IP. So that’s very case by case. But on general usage, rights of content, most of the deals we’ve done our social media, I think a big thing to call out is the type or the way that the brand is gonna be using that content. So if they’re going to be using on their social media organically, or if they’re going to do something like paid media with that content, because if I’m a brand, and I decide to just post on my social media that’s different than me, the brand, putting, let’s say, $1,000 behind that content, boosting it to 1000s or millions of people, that my content is not going to be in the eyes of way more people than I had originally thought. So athletes if there is a paid media component, and we’ve tried to kind of call that out to make sure athletes get paid for the amount of eyes that are actually going to see their content, not just the type of user that they that they have in their contract.

 

April Martini  26:40  

Interesting. So you said most of this is socially led? I mean, I have an idea of why that is. But just Why do you think that that is such the focus? And or if it’s paired with other things? What are those things? Typically?

 

Nick Lord  26:55  

Yeah, that’s just, those are the most the deals that we’ve done, we just do a lot of social media campaigns with brands, we’ll have done a good amount of like appearances and things like that. I’ll give an example. We do a lot of work with this company called College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk. Yeah. They’re all they’re all over the place. But they’ve done tons of deals, they’ve probably sponsored at this point 15 to 20 different teams across the nation. And in each one of those scenarios, we had to go through the university to figure out if we could use their school marks for those sponsorships, and how long they could or College H.U.N.K.S. could post that on their website, how long they can post that on their social media. And if they were allowed to wear certain things to these, these basically appearances. So that’s, that’s kind of an example of some of the nuances that we’ve had when dealing with some of these, I would say, both in person and social campaigns.

 

April Martini  27:50  

Interesting. Yeah. So I mean, I think you’re hearing again, the caution here of it sounds like there is no standard. It’s pretty fair to say. And then also, again, I mean, I feel like we’ve harped on the whole idea of doing your homework. And so this is another one where it’s, you know, not making assumptions or thinking certain things are going to be possible. And making sure to cover your bases is really what I’m hearing throughout this because I think mistakes can be costly, whether we’re talking about the brand or the image, or both, quite frankly all, especially since there aren’t standard practices out there for people to be looking to at least to even have sort of like a barometer gauge of what to do. It sounds like it’s really honestly, you have to figure it out each time as if it’s brand new.

 

Nick Lord  28:39  

Yeah, 100%. And I think time timeframe to is also really important here. I’ll give the example of March Madness again, let’s say I signed a deal in January, and that the brand has usage rights all the way to the, you know, like May, and the brand doesn’t really do much with the content until March Madness now I’m now in March Madness, I’m performing really well, then they start to utilize that content and boost it to tons of people, because everyone knows who I am. Now, because I’m playing well. I wish that was the case it’s currently. But so you just want to be careful in terms of the length of time that you’re giving these usage rights to, or for, just so that you’re not, you know, locking ourselves into yourself in any long term agreement and kind of hinder yourself from being able to monetize that your brand more at certain periods of time.

 

Anne Candido  29:28  

Yeah, and one question related to approvals is a gentleman who experiences the athletes responsibility to get all the approvals from the University in their sport and whatever else they need to get or is it the brands or businesses responsibility to get those?

 

Nick Lord  29:45  

Yeah, it depends on the kind of scale of a campaign. That was what I’ve seen, if it’s a one off brand, and they’re sponsoring one athlete. A lot of the time the athlete will be in charge of that. But there’s also scenarios which I’m a brand I’m sponsoring 22 and athletes across the country, and I’m going to get those approvals myself. There’s also different organizations at some of these universities that handle that, on behalf of athletes. Again, it’s like it’s a case by case thing when it comes to this whole IP scenario, but it’s really about just doing your homework and figuring out what you’re exactly allowed to do and what you can’t do, and who’s going to be in charge of getting that approval.

 

Anne Candido  30:24  

Alright, so yeah, the moral of the story, too, is to ask the questions, right. So don’t assume and definitely don’t agree to anything without checking first, for sure, because it could get you in a whole world of trouble litigation trouble that you do not need. Absolutely. All right. So our fourth insider tip, a college athlete should know to better negotiate and if a deal is to know your worth, and as we said before, this is another one that requires you to do research and seek the advice of people who know like Nick, he is a good resource for all of you guys, to really understand what the going rate for athletes are in, in in different tiers. And so they can better guide you to really understand how you should really be benchmarking yourself, you can try to google it, it is not a good idea. A lot of those inflated and a lot of those are pseudo, again, agents trying to pluck you and pull you and sell you a line about how they can help you, which is not actually really, really true. But know that pricing in how you price yourself is not going to be an easy thing. Because it’s a very big battle between what you think your worth and what somebody is willing to pay. I mean, we say that all the time, like how much is a house worth, it’s whatever somebody’s willing to buy it for. So you have to kind of consider that. So I really suggest and Nick, I’m gonna ask in a second what your your, your thoughts are to on this. But I really suggest not to be too rigid, especially for your first few deals, you may need to take something initially less than what you think you’re worth in order to get some traction. And then as you said, like when things start hitting like March Madness, if you were smart and savvy and negotiating your contract, you can start asking for more money as a result of doing that, right. So there’s kind of an escalated level of value, depending on how you start showing up in the world around you, right. So think about the fact that your primary goal here is not necessarily an in and out, but is to build relationships, because that’s what’s gonna give you the on going revenue, okay, so you’re going to want to exercise that. And you’re going to want to be able to feel that for as long as you possibly can, in order to be able to get everything that you are worth. So here’s a few tips here that you can specifically think about as you’re thinking about how to negotiate yourself, or somebody’s negotiating on behalf of you. So you can definitely demand more when you’re in season. So this has been our experience and my experience, specifically, with Olympic athletes, Olympic athletes, when they are gearing up for the Olympics are worth astronomically more than when they’re not okay, so make sure you take advantage of that this is a time to seize what you’re worth. Don’t nickel and dime. Again, this is what I’m talking about, think beyond just a short term opportunity of being able to get that money in your pocket. Now, you should be trying to build relationships unless you believe that your window of opportunity is so small that you have to get everything that you possibly can in that small window. That’s generally not the case. But there are circumstances where that’s the case. At best a bit like what I said before, when I’ve been asked how do I get endorsement deals, I said, show some love for some brands, do that. Do that and do some extra things above and beyond your contract that don’t dilute your worth. But that helps show goodwill. A big thing that athletes used to do for us is he used to do like a high video to the organization. People eat that up. I mean, they just love to hear from these guys who are talking directly to them. So do something that could add a little bit of sizzle without it diluting what you would have actually made an order to kind of go do that. Call it as part of your contract. And then realize that just because someone else is getting it doesn’t mean you will. So this is the thing that it was the hardest for a lot of athletes to understand. It’s like well, hey, I’m starting tight in i and he’s starting tight end. And they do talk. So they’re like, why is he getting paid more than I’m getting paid. I’m like, well, you’re starting tied in for this team. And they’re starting to rattle away but by approvals and you’re still just kind of coming up, right? So don’t miss your opportunity by inflating your worth or feeling like you’re worth more than you are in the moment. And letting those opportunities slide by you. Now, that also means don’t underestimate your worth, you need to know what your minimum number is that’s worth your time and effort to go do this because it is going to take some time and effort and you should realize that so there should be a minimum number you’re like, I’m willing to negotiate but this is what I’m getting again in order to make it worth my time and money. So Nick, what are the other tips that you tell people whether negotiating their worth?

 

Nick Lord  34:57  

Yeah, for sure. I think I think the key it, like you said is to kind of be open, especially when you’re early in the endorsement sponsorship arena, I think there’s no really way to price yourself. If you haven’t really done any endorsements yet, I think you need to build up kind of a roster of sponsorships that you’ve done in order to kind of benchmark yourself at a certain point. So I think by doing that, that’s how you can kind of set maybe general guidelines around what you should, what you should do. But also, you may be willing to take less for a brand that you really care about, as well. And that might lead to longer term potential for you in that brand. But I think in the NIL space, in general, there’s kind of a skewed reality of what athletes are worth, I think there’s these, there’s tons of companies out there now that like price athletes at certain amounts, I just don’t really buy that yet. I think, to an extent you’re worth what someone’s willing to pay. So I think just looking at, like a bunch of numbers online and basing yourself off, that is kind of not the way to go. But I think it matters, I think it matters on a case by case basis for you as the individual. And I thought I also, there’s this concept in the NIL space called collectives, where boosters and donors and union of universities are pulling together money and paying athletes with that money essentially, in exchange for doing things. And a lot of the time those the amounts of that of those compound, the amount of that compensation is is much larger than they would be worth and if they were sponsored by a brand. So it’s also creating some misconceptions about what athletes should be getting when they’re working with a brand. I think some athletes are losing deals because they got paid by a collective, a certain amount and a brand offered less, when in reality, that’s probably what they should have been paid. So I think that’s important to call out as well. But one that one also point I would make that I think you said and is the investment part. We’ve seen a lot of athletes get deals because they have kind of put themselves out there and explain why they want to work with a certain brand. For 99% of athletes, brands aren’t going to just approach you, you’re gonna have to be proactive, a little bit about it, reach out to brands yourself, tell them why do you want to, you know, work with them, I use their use their products, explain why you like you love their products, etc. And that will lead to a lot more opportunities, I think if you can naturally talk about how you use that brand and on day to day basis.

 

April Martini  37:24  

Yeah, I mean, I think what I’m hearing, both of you say in this point is Be realistic. And also play the long game. There’s a sports reference, look at that. I’m never the sports reference one. But in any case, I mean, I think, you know, we’ve talked a lot about your reputation being associated in the course of this episode, quite frankly. But this is one where I can see it going sideways, especially if you feel like you should be making more based on your emotional opinion of what that is, instead of what the market actually will bear. And I love the point about the Collective’s versus the brand, right? Because you could see that’s a prime example of how things could start to skew or go sideways, or the expectations become bigger than what the opportunities actually are. And I think if you take a step back, and you look at that logically, to me on the outside, that makes perfect sense of why that would happen, right? That booster organization, that collective is very passionate about that university, that team or that player. And so they’re willing to support the player in a more one off capacity because of that affiliation, instead of when you look at Brands, that it’s much more of a business approach, right. And I have believed watching this whole thing come to life around and i els that this is actually an opportunity, unfortunately for brands to pay less than they typically would or for new brands to enter the opportunity to even work with athletes, right? Because they can’t afford that, you know, the Olympic athletes, the pro athletes, all of that. So I think just honestly keeping your head on your shoulders and your ego in check, and thinking about the reason that these brands are reaching out, or these companies wants you. And then also I think it’s just super smart to be proactive about it on your end. Because I think if you go after those brands that you really love, and you want to be a part of them, that it makes it a bigger opportunity for you the athlete to get something out of it that goes beyond just the financial exchange of things.

 

Anne Candido  39:41  

Absolutely. Yeah, I agree with all that. And I can tell you I personally have picked athletes based on their interest with our brand because you know, to the point you were making before, Nick, it creates more of an authentic story. I have less that I have to be able to brief them and check their content and all that big because they already are showing an affection for the brand. And yes, it was even tied in Yes, athletes like the brand, not just for the dollar science behind it. It has some nostalgia value that they appreciate. And it gets your clothes clean. So there you go. But it also just it to the point you’re making about even just doing some it starts to build a credibility. And then you use the word reputation for which I think is right on that when other businesses are shopping for athletes, and they see that you’ve done other brands, even if you got paid for by them or not. Or you’re doing it just to attract those brands, they start seeing you as more populous like oh, well, I see that they have done this. Now, technically speaking, you’re supposed to disclose when that you got paid or not when your duty social posts. But, you know, if you didn’t you probably you wouldn’t have tagged that you got paid and some people are not savvy enough to understand that or see that. So they would see that you Okay, well, then maybe they’re getting these endorsement deals, okay, this, they know what they’re doing. They know how to do it, and maybe take a shot on them, you know. So do right by yourself and market yourself, I think is a really good piece of advice. And don’t just sit back and think that the brands are going to come to you because there’s a lot of athletes to choose from. Make it easy for them to choose you I think is the moral here.

 

Nick Lord  41:15  

Absolutely. And you make a great point as well. And we see this all the time is athletes will engage with the brand, post content about it on their social media, and then they’re talking about how they want to take it down about a week later. But I don’t think they realize that other brands coming on their social and seeing them working with seeing the content that they create is quality will actually could lead to more opportunities on their end.

 

Anne Candido  41:38  

Absolutely. Yep. Your point. And I can say that yeah, first firsthand, I can say that, that that works. All right. So just to recap, four insider tips a college athlete should know to better negotiate and I ll deal get appropriately compensated for exclusivity. A brand will try to get as much exclusivity as they can for as little cost as possible to not give up exclusivity without considering the implications and being compensated appropriately. Second be really good at creating branded content. Content is king will be the primary reason brands hire you the better you are creating content, especially content that gives them brand messaging while still maintaining authenticity of tone, the more marketable you will be. Third, clarify usage rights and get the appropriate approvals from a team, university and League. In most cases, the only nio you have access to is yours, which means other deals may have to be negotiated. Our brand wants you to be in your team’s uniform, in front of university and marked or even for you to mention your team or your university. And finally know your worth. This means doing your research and seeking the advice of people who know our next section isn’t in the trenches. This is where we’re going to go a little bit deeper into this topic using a little bit more specific examples and situations that we have come in contact with. And so hopefully, you can see this within the context of maybe things that you’re considering, or you’re negotiating in your head or in real life. So the first in the trenches question a brand is asking for a blackout period, what is this? What should I expect? Alright, so we’ve talked about a lot about the timing of exclusivity, the timing of usage rights, this is another aspect of timing, but it’s a little bit different. So it’s very typical for a brand ask for a period of time around your deliverable that you don’t do anything else. So for example, if you’re scheduled to do a social post, then they will want you to not do a social post for a certain amount of time before that. And after that, if you’re doing an appearance where you’re supposed to end anticipated to generate some PR, there’s going to be a time before that. And after that, that you’re not allowed to do any other PR. And there’s a couple of reasons for this. So one, the brand wants their time in the sun. So they don’t want anything to dilute the impact, especially if they’re paying you to do this, they want you to be able to have that single line to you are following and they want your following to have time to absorb it, react to it, engage with it. So for social posts is generally 24 to 48 hours. So you should expect that there’s gonna be a blackout period around that. And that’s for any post your do not even your lifestyle post right, again, is to allow that post to breathe. From a PR standpoint a little bit different. So you have to think about it from a media standpoint in that depending Okay, on how popular you are, generally media will only want to talk to an athlete once every couple of months. Now, that could be different if you’re in a highly intense time, like the Olympics or something to that effect, where you have a lot going on. And there’s something new to talk about every day. But in general, usually there’s about a month before and after that your brand might say you can’t do any other PR any other media because if you do that, then the media that we’re going to go seek out for you may not want to talk to you because they just talked to you. So of course you’re going to want to limit as much as possible, that amount of time so that you can be doing other brand stuff because it gets really crowded and very complicated very quickly, especially if there’s a narrow window to try and negotiate all these things and being able to for you to fully leverage it and I Ally’s period of times. But you have to consider that this is the reality of the situation. And you have to plan for that. So, Nick, what have you seen with regards to blackout periods? And how do you instruct your folks how to manage this?

 

Nick Lord  45:15  

Yeah, I think in general, just the the time period, and the time of yours is really important. When it comes to any sort of blackout period, I think you need to look kind of ahead of what potentially could happen, especially if it’s something that’s in season, because you never know what moment that could pop up. And you could potentially capitalize on with nio. So, there, I’ll give one example. There’s a kid I keep going back to the March Madness example. I’m sorry, but

 

April Martini  45:44  

it’s not even basketball season one.

 

Anne Candido  45:47  

I know what you’re starting. But it could be any it could be any tournament, right? It could be any tournament, take this as a March Madness, time period. But it could be any kind of playoff tournament, anything that is in a condensed period of time where everybody’s playing in it’s like a lot of attention, right?

 

Nick Lord  46:03  

Yeah, absolutely. So there was this, there was this kid last year, his name is Doug. And he was on a super small, he was at a super small school, and they ended up going crazy in the in the NCAA tournament. And you got ended up getting a bunch of NIL deals. But if there would have been any sort of blackout period, during that he wouldn’t have been able to capitalize on on on that opportunity. So I’m assuming most of the deals that he signed during that time period, did not involve any sort of period like that. And I think if someone is requesting that they need to pay for it. And it needs to be, you know, significant amount, because they have to account for the potential of something else that could happen.

 

April Martini  46:39  

Yeah, I mean, I think that’s a great and, you know, we teach you about keep saying the March Madness. But I think all the examples throughout this episode had been really good. And I think, Nick, you’ve said a few times here that you just never know what’s going to happen, right. And so for any athlete, there really is no predictability or guarantee to how well or not, you’re going to do. But I think it’s super smart to just think about what are the possibilities within the timeframe, and then not that you can, you know, necessarily predict that good things or bad things are going to happen. But just think about all the things that could take place, and then formulate your decisions when it comes to the asks of these companies, whether it’s a blackout period, or any of the other things we’ve talked about today, what that will mean for you if those things occur. And you know, we’ve said that this is an instance where you really have to be looking out for number one, we haven’t said that directly. But essentially, that’s this whole episode, right is what’s the best thing for me. And on my best day, if x happened, then what would be my best situation when it comes to any sort of NIHL deal that I may have? Or that I may be looking to get as a result of that? Absolutely.

 

Anne Candido  47:58  

Yeah, I think that’s a really, really good point. Some scenario planning is definitely beneficial. But don’t make yourself crazy trying to think about all What if just trying to think about what the possible upside is and the possible downside and trying to make the best decision you can for yourself, and then you live and learn.

 

April Martini  48:14  

Yes. There’s also that yes, yeah.

 

Anne Candido  48:18  

All right. So a second in the trenches. Question a brand wants me to post during a tournament game. I am nervous about this, because I’m not sure it’s allowed. But I don’t want to disappoint the brand. What do I do? And really, you could extrapolate this question. Anything a brand asks you to do the baby and violation of your team, your universities or your leagues rules. And really here as April just mentioned, is, this is where another one where you need to be looking out for yourself, you do not want to do anything about compromise you, your team, your score your future. So it’s an absolute hard, no, it can be a very hard note to make, but you’re going to absolutely have to do that. Because you do not want to get yourself into a situation where there’s legal litigation action, or you put your compromise your your team’s success, um, in any sort of way, because you’ve done something that violates any rules that are been put in place. So don’t assume anything, do your research, find out and know that even if you get the approvals of your team or university to do things like where your marks or those sorts of things know what the League university in your team’s rules are, as well, so many have rules when you can leverage the and and I only talked about this. So like, especially come like March Madness time. There’s loss of sponsors who are sponsoring that entity of March Madness, what you’re doing may be in conflict with what they’re doing. And so that becomes an issue. So you need to really consider what that looks like. So you need to understand the rules and make sure that you’re not compromising yourself or your team in the context of those rules. And then also ask a lawyer I mean, if you do not understand the language, if you do not understand what things mean if you don’t understand the context for which all the terms are being discussed. Ryder laid out, ask a lawyer and if you don’t have a Lawyer Go to your law school. And as somebody there, there’s definitely somebody there who will understand contracts, they’ll understand even if they don’t understand sports contracts specifically don’t understand contracts enough, they can give you some prospect of what the risk is and what you’re signing yourself up for. And also, they can help you make sure you have some language in there that is going to protect you. So for example, you may have all the best intentions of the world to do certain appearances or social posts, and then your coach says, You can’t do that. And that actually happened to us with Gronk. So at the very, very, like, almost professional days, he had this contract and belcheck said, No, you can’t go do that. And he was like, Are you serious right now. And that was at the very last minute. So it happens to everybody, don’t let it happen to you. And then also have them put some legalese. And in case something happens to you that you can’t fulfill your contract. So what if you get injured and you can’t play? And then therefore, you can’t do it? Do you have to pay all the money back? Do you get paid up to that point in time, so make sure you could try to mitigate some of the risk or some of the circumstances that can happen, so that you can protect yourself, and you’re not just kind of left out there hanging to dry if something were to happen, or if something happens to your team or your school that by virtue of association. Now your brand no longer wants to work with you, that has happened to So Nick, what other suggestions do you have here?

 

Nick Lord  51:22  

Yeah, I think the biggest key for sure, is just keeping an open line of communication with all parties that are, even if they’re not directly involved, indirectly involved as well, especially if you’re engaging in some sort of deal at a partnership or, or at a tournament or an event. So that could be number one, your your athletic department, you definitely need to be keeping them abreast of any sort of deal that you’re doing within school grounds or within any thing that school is involved in. I think the coach point is extremely important as well, I think, now with NILs coaches are getting more and more involved in these processes. And sometimes coaches might have good ideas around how to structure certain things. But you also, you don’t know what exactly your your team rules are until you until you talk to your coach about it. So this NIL thing is such a new concept. So he could feel I feel certain ways about certain things. So just keeping an open line of communication, I think, is really important. And being able to check all those boxes before engaging in sort of an ideal world while at an event or in a tournament. And I think your point, if you can find some sort of, you know, legal person, whether it’s your a lot of every university pretty much has a some sort of law department, even if they’re not, you know, a complete professional lawyer, they probably have some sort of expertise around, you know, contracts and what you should really look out for the kind of the key points. So I would really try to, you know, find someone within your network that is able to provide advice on that. I think that’s key. Yeah, I

 

April Martini  52:56  

mean, you said the communication and what was going through my head is, you always want people to assume positive intent about you, right. And in this situation, it is so important because everything is so gray and a little bit up in the air. And so I think communication is one of the ways to protect yourself. Indirectly really, is if you’re perceived as someone who’s trying to communicate is trying to keep everybody in the loop, who’s trying to do the right thing. And then a miss a misstep happens, there’s probably a lot more patients associated with that, than if you’re in it for yourself, trying to pull off all these different deals perceived to be trying to fill in the blank, make a bunch of money partner with a lot of brands, you know, you’re losing focus on your game, all of those other types of things. I think the communication can be really critical and really helpful, especially because there is no rulebook for this.

 

Nick Lord  53:53  

Absolutely. Yeah.

 

Anne Candido  53:54  

I agree with that wholeheartedly. All right, our third and final in the trenches question. And, Nick, I’m gonna turn this one over to you. If I want to use my NIL. What team do I need in place to support me? What do you recommend?

 

Nick Lord  54:06  

That’s great question, I think, you know, number one, is you want to stay above law, to every extent possible. So if you’re going to be engaging in a lot of NIL deals, make sure you have a relationship with someone within your athletic department, as well as your coach, and just to keep them abreast of things you’re doing. Because you never know when something’s going to come back and bite you. If you didn’t engage in something that was impermissible. I think having some sort of not I wouldn’t call it agent but some sort of advisor when it comes to doing any sort of NIL deal is really important. Whether that is an actual agent out there, whether it’s some sort of lawyer, even if it’s some sort of, you know, parental figure. Just make sure you’re getting like second opinions on any deal that you’re engaging in. Before you do so. I think another big one is talking to other athletes that are engaging in it. Nail deals, maybe talking to some of your teammates that have gate have engaged in a bunch of them already. And just getting their advice and some things that they’ve seen when negotiating or completing any sort of NIL deal with a brand. I think that’s, you know, pulling from actual experience is key. And you can learn a lot more, you know, from talking to people like that, and someone who hasn’t done it yet. And then I would say, if you’re on your own, just educate yourself as much as possible. There’s tons of resources out there, whether it’s online resources, or your school’s resources, different schools have different types of things they provide their student athletes, but just take advantage of those. There’s tons of free videos on YouTube and just consume as much as you possibly can to gain an understanding of you know, how to do things before engaging in any any sort of things kind of blindly. And then I would say, lastly is maybe you’ll you’ll ask, if you’re by yourself, you’ll have some different platforms that provide you with guidance on certain things like that is being one of them. I’ll plug myself real quick.

 

Anne Candido  56:03  

As expected, so you should,

 

Nick Lord  56:06  

yeah, but find it basically, utilizing platforms that provide you with vetted opportunities, as opposed to some random brand hits you up on social media and says that we should work together, probably, that’s probably not the best way to go about it, you need to there’s a lot of checks that you need to, there’s a lot of boxes, you need to check when working with a brand. So utilizing some sort of platform helps with that process and makes it a lot more seamless, and make sure you’re staying above law as well.

 

April Martini  56:30  

I think that’s all awesome. And, you know, I think just to sort of put a finer point on what you said, because there isn’t that rulebook that I mentioned before consulting with as many people as possible, but especially those who have been there, and then proactively educating yourself as much as you can. I mean, you’re speaking our language again, and I consume content just voraciously. I feel like on anything where that we’re studying or talking about, but I think that that can put you in a much better position to have a handle on how things are going to go. But also be proactive in your ability to navigate the situation because it is so no.

 

Anne Candido  57:11  

Yeah, I agree. And Nick, maybe you want to give a little bit of an overview about how no cap works, I’m gonna ask you in a second to tell them where to find you. So if you want to put that in there, too. And I guess we’re gonna just roll that into the third section, which is really when we have a guest, we let you kind of give us the wrap up anything else, we have missed anything else that you want people to know about you about? No cap. So maybe, as part of that, you can give everybody an indication about how the platform works, how they should reach out to you when you want them to reach out to you like, what did they need to come prepared to talk about or to have at their disposal? So just give everybody a little bit more intel on that?

 

Nick Lord  57:48  

Yeah, absolutely. In terms of engaging with us, it’s super easy. I mean, go to our website, no cap, sports.io. And sign up, it’s completely free. We never take any sort of money from athletes, our kind of core client is the brand. So we pick and choose which brands we want to work with. We like to work with quality brands that are willing to pay athletes, what they’re worth, I would say is a big key component of what we do. But essentially what our platform does is connect athletes with opportunities to monetize their nisl. And it’s in a variety of different ways. So it’s brands, posting deals that they’re working on athletes applying to it, it’s brands sending direct deals to athletes that they find. Or it’s also it’s also allowing athletes to kind of be more proactive and pitch brands of why they should work with them. So just provide different avenues for these athletes to engage with potential opportunities and really kind of make it a key focus to make those opportunities better. So they’re not, you know, just super random and could be taking advantage of athletes in general. But that’s kind of a brief overview of of what we do. Appreciate you. Let me shout out there.

 

Anne Candido  58:50  

Yeah, anything else that we missed that you feel like they should know as they’re thinking about this that we didn’t cover? I don’t

 

Nick Lord  58:56  

think so. I think you guys covered it a significant amount. I think that was great.

 

Anne Candido  59:00  

All right. Awesome. All right. So just to recap, the four insider tips a college athlete should know to better negotiate an NIL deal. First get appropriately compensated for exclusivity. A brand will try and get as much exclusivity as they can for as little cost as possible. Do not give up exclusivity without considering the implications and being compensated appropriately. Be really good at creating branded content. Content is king will be the primary reason brands hire you the better you are creating content, especially content amusing and brand messaging while still maintaining authenticity of town, the more marketable you will be. There are clarify usage rights and get the appropriate approvals from the team, university and league. And most cases, the only NIL you have access to is yours, which means other deals may have to be negotiated if a brand wants you to be in your team’s uniform, in front of university marks or even for you to mention your team or university. And finally, know your worth. This means doing your research and seeking the advice of people who know like Nick, no cat, and with that we will say go and exercise your Marketing Smarts!

 

April Martini  59:58  

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