College athletes in Florida to profit from legislation

What is NIL and what does it have to do with the NCAA?

What does NIL stand for? What does this have to do with the NCAA?

Adam Hensley, Des Moines Register

“1. July – Let’s do business. “

That news, coupled with clothing lines and sponsorship requests, dominated the Twitter feeds and Instagram stories of college athletes across Florida on Wednesday. After decades of strict amateur laws, hundreds of athletes want to benefit from the state’s new name, image and portrait law.

Florida’s NIL law goes into effect on Thursday. The bill, passed earlier this year, allows college athletes in the Sunshine State to make money from social media posts to dealership advertisements, and to hire lawyers and agents to negotiate such deals. With Florida enacting NIL laws among more than a dozen other states starting Thursday, the NCAA board of directors on Wednesday approved provisional NIL law that would allow college athletes in all 50 states to benefit from their name and image.

“Everyone’s pretty happy about it,” said Florida state junior basketball player Wyatt Wilkes, weeks ahead of the NCAA’s tentative NIL bill that covers the nation. “I have a lot of friends who play college basketball and the popular idea is that it’s a good thing and the guys are really excited.”

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Wyatt Wilkes wants to take advantage of the Staying In grocery store and its podcast

For Wilkes, after three years of persistent entrepreneurship, the NIL legislation provides a helpful boost. While the Seminole Shooting Guard stretched the ACC defense with their standout 3-point shooting last season, they worked with a few teammates to start a company called Staying In.

The company enables consumers to purchase meal sets directly from restaurants that contain the raw ingredients for each dish along with “instructions” on how to prepare the starter. After seven months of sleepless nights and bitter work, Wilkes’ store now offers 12 dishes from three local restaurants in Tallahassee.

In addition to the usual hurdles of starting a business, the Orlando native also navigated a maze of NCAA regulations to gain his eligibility.

“We are very careful not to promote it ourselves,” said Wilkes. “I couldn’t be on the street and say, ‘Hey, I’m the owner of Staying In and you should try this.’ We made sure not to advertise it on personal social media. “

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Wilkes also hosts the What’s What with Wyatt Wilkes podcast, where he welcomed a host of guests, including the first Florida State graduate with Down syndrome, a two-star Marine general, and a number of other seminars. Wilkes intends to bring his podcast back this fall and he can now promote his business and monetize his podcast under the new NIL law.

“When the law goes into effect, we can get our business going and I can do pretty much anything I want with it,” said Wilkes. “And the same goes for the podcast.”

College athletes can now from social media platforms like TikTok. benefit

While Wilkes’ business avenue is more traditional, many Florida athletes benefit from their online platforms. Born in Fort Lauderdale, Benny Sapp III, son of NFL corner Benny Sapp II, found TikTok fame during his college career as a journeyman.

Sapp adapted for Minnesota in 2018 after attending St. Thomas Aquinas High School, and the cornerback began making dance videos on TikTok after his sophomore season. Sapp’s account received more than 1 million views in the app’s first two months and had 18,000 followers at the start of the pandemic.

“It just started as dance videos – simple trends,” said Sapp. “I started to associate it with my audience, my soccer people, and it started to destroy the internet a little bit.”

The former three-star recruit decided to move to his father’s alma mater, Northern Iowa, in the fall of 2020, and Sapp’s opportunities on and off the soccer field rose.

He started all seven games in Panthers secondary, finished fifth on the team on total tackles, and grabbed an interception. Sapp also maintained its popularity on TikTok, increasing its audience to 118,000 followers and sparking interest from local sponsors.

Although Sapp currently plays in Iowa, a state with no enacted or pending NIL legislation, the NCAA’s decision on Wednesday ensures he can benefit from his name, image, and likeness.

“Before it was legal, I got emails from sponsors,” Sapp said before Wednesday. “Because of the rule, I couldn’t respond to or entertain any of these activities. It kind of blew me away because I missed making an opportunity for myself. “

Despite the appeal of sponsorship and online celebrity, Sapp makes sure that its top priority is between the hashes. The aspiring senior posted sparingly throughout UNI’s spring season and pulled out of the app ahead of the upcoming campaign

“I probably won’t focus on that now – I’ve got football coming back,” said Sapp. “I’ll try to get some videos before the season starts and I’ll see what to do after that.”

While most of the NIL legislation-related attention is focused on college athletes, many high school players will benefit from the new legislation.

Omar Graham Jr., a three-star Fort Lauderdale recruit, announced his engagement in the state of Florida to a large TikTok audience last week.

Graham gained a following on the app after sharing his recruiting email, and the linebacker now has more than 20,000 followers on his various social media platforms.

While Graham originally created his TikTok to fuel his recruitment, the Stranahan High School senior hopes to capitalize on his growing online presence.

“I’m working on creating a sportswear and apparel brand,” said Graham. “I want to achieve that with more lifestyle content on TikTok.”

While Florida’s NIL legislation grants college students naming and image rights, the NCAA bill encourages recruits to enter NIL agreements as long as the colleges are notified.

The colleges are already preparing to help athletes navigate this new landscape. The University of Miami announced the creation of “Ignite” late Wednesday to help Hurricane players “build, protect and maximize their personal brands with industry-leading technology for education, marketing and compliance.” . “

To that end, Miami’s Ignite program is partnering with Opendorse to help athletes maximize their advertising value, according to a press release.

“As the Miami Hurricane, you have a unique opportunity to receive a great education to fight for championships and build your brand in the heart of one of the most iconic and dynamic cities in the world,” said soccer coach Manny Diaz in a press release. “We want our student athletes to maximize their chances of attaining the NIL, and Opendorse is devoting significant resources to expedite this process.”

The full summary of the Florida NIL law can be found here.

source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/college-athletes-in-florida-to-profit-from-legislation/