It's a common sight on college campuses, especially on Fall Saturdays, to see fans wearing officially licensed jerseys of their favorite teams emblazoned with the numbers of their favorite players. Now, at Ohio State, the names of those players might soon be on the jerseys as well, with those players pocketing a share of the profits from the merchandise
The Buckeyes announced a partnership with The Brandr Group on Tuesday that will allow athletes to opt-in to a group licensing program that will, among other things, allow for jersey sales as part of a program that is expected to grow to encompass other merchandise such as bobbleheads, trading cards and video games.
Ohio State is the most high-profile football program to announce group licensing opportunities for official university memorabilia, but it is not the first. North Carolina also announced a partnership with The Brandr Group on July 20 that offers Tar Heels athletes the chance to profit in conjunction with UNC's officials logos.
These group licensing moves are the latest evolution of new rules that allow college players to profit off their name, image and likeness. While most of the endorsements landed by college athletes to this point have been independent of their official university logos, the moves toward group licensing involving university logos should create more financial opportunities for athletes whose sponsorship value is closely connected with the universities they represent.
"This is a unique opportunity for our student-athletes, Ohio State senior associate athletics director Carey Hoyt said in a statement. "We are passionate about educating and providing opportunities for student-athlete to take advantage of the Name, Image and Likeness, and co-branding them with Ohio State's official trademarks and logos is going to be an exciting new way for them to monetize on their NIL."
