Nebraska’s football program is trying to position itself at the forefront of a continually evolving conversation about the value and importance of student-athletes’ names, images and likenesses.
It’s launching an initiative called Ready Now to be on the cutting edge as college athletics continues what looks like a steady march toward student-athletes being able to monetize their personal brands.
The program, which will use Lincoln-based Opendorse software as a platform, is the first of its kind for a college athletics program, according to a university news release Tuesday.
NU football coach Scott Frost hinted at the announcement during his Monday news conference and said his chief of staff, Gerrod Lambrecht, helped design and spearhead Ready Now.
“Nebraska has always been a leader and an innovator in a lot of things,†Frost said Monday. “There are very few places in the whole country where players' (names, images and likenesses) can benefit them more than at Nebraska, just because of the fan base and the excitement around here.
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“I think (athletic director) Bill Moos and (senior deputy AD for external operations) Garrett Klassy have done a great job of kind of following football's lead a little bit and trying to make sure that we're ready to be at the vanguard of that for the entire athletic department.â€
The Ready Now program will not be football-specific, according to the news release, but will be available to all 650-plus Nebraska student-athletes.
“This agreement will provide all of our student-athletes the education and assessment tools they need to navigate the complexities of social media and maximize their brand in the digital world," Moos said in a release.
The design of the program has been in the works within NU’s North Stadium offices for months.
The Huskers have steadily built their in-house media prowess. The football program, for example, has three dedicated employees who do graphics and video work, led by director of football creative and engagement Orah Garst.Â
NU football believes it can create engaging, dynamic content in-house — it has rolled out several player-specific branding videos in the past few weeks, including customized logos for quarterback Adrian Martinez, defensive backs Cam Taylor-Britt, and Dicaprio Bootle and left tackle Brenden Jaimes — and then use Opendorse’s platform as the vehicle for disseminating that content.
Act III
— Adrian Martinez (@MartinezTheQB)
Meanwhile, Opendorse has been planning to take the valuation and monetization techniques it uses for professional athletes and corporations it works with into the college sports realm as the name, image and likeness landscape changes. That transition includes educational elements and information on how college athletes can increase their marketability online.
“It’s in our wheelhouse,†said Adi Kunalic, who co-founded Opendorse along with fellow former Husker Blake Lawrence. "… It was something (Nebraska) had already started talking about internally — ‘Changes are coming, what are we doing about it?’ — and the marriage was born there.â€
NU has used Opendorse as a vendor in recent years to help push content to student-athletes and alums. The financial details of the formal partnership announced Tuesday were not yet available, a school official said.
At the moment, NU’s Ready Now is essentially a personal development program, but it is very clearly designed for the future, when student-athletes may be able to make money from their so-called brand.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a landmark bill in October, making California the first state to codify student-athletes’ rights to profit off their name, image and likeness. That law takes effect in 2023. Similar bills are proposed in other states, some with accelerated timelines as early as July of this year.
Nebraska has a proposal moving through the Legislature that, if it becomes law, will go into effect in 2023. It’s possible the NCAA or federal government could take action sooner.
“We believe social media is at the core of this next frontier for player development,†Frost said in the Tuesday release. “There’s an opportunity for our players that transcends compensation today — we as coaches and leaders can provide our student-athletes the tools to maximize their future value while they’re competing for the University of Nebraska.
“Regardless of what change comes in (name, image and likeness) legislation, we want every Nebraska athlete to be prepared with the blueprint for success beyond the field.â€
Said Kunalic: “We don’t necessarily know what some of the changes are going to be as it relates to the NCAA, but what we do know is that there’s a likelihood that there will be some involvement of social media, because that’s one of the easiest ways for brands to partner up with athletes.
“There’s likely going to be a massive market and demand from that. That’s something we know from having worked with pros for the past seven years.â€
That market could take nearly limitless form, but consider some examples from the professional ranks. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers promotes his partnership with State Farm Insurance on his Instagram page. The NFL's partnership with Bose headphones shows up across the league on social media, but also through players' personal accounts, which oftentimes have huge followings.
Now consider that schools like Nebraska will be positioned to create content that players can use as part of an arsenal to build followings and then capitalize on them. It's not a stretch to think the content itself could be leveraged — think "premium content" presented by Nebraska's quarterback — into financial gain, or that players could partner with businesses and make money that way.Â
This Ready Now program, like NU’s $155 million training facility set to open in the summer of 2022, will be a major recruiting pitch for the football program going forward. The timing of the announcement comes, not surprisingly, just ahead of a major recruiting weekend for the football program.
N x Ready Now Program x You = Success Now → Success Later x
— Nebraska FB Recruiting (@NEB_Recruiting)
Recruiting is oftentimes a battle of who has what. In addition to facilities, high-end training and nutritional programs, and the latest technology, one of the next frontiers of recruiting battles will be the resources and ability schools have to help their student-athletes build personal brands and, perhaps eventually, turn that into profit.
On Tuesday, NU coaches across several sports and football recruiting staffers were pushing the newly announced program on social media.