Another NIL-based group involving Nebraska football players has emerged with the season a month away.
The Lincoln NIL Club launched Thursday afternoon, with dozens of current Huskers tweeting out identical messages and graphics about the news on their social media accounts. The group is the latest in an ever-changing and year-old reality that allows college student-athletes to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness.
The new entity offers fans digital content and experiences from players along with a members-only message board and chat rooms. Its website describes a setup where players can discuss past games, future matchups, practice updates and recruiting stories.
Anyone can become a member for a monthly cost as low as $5 per month. A July payment of $25 earns a jersey of former Husker Will Compton, with monthly installments of $100-plus worth an invitation to a steak dinner with players this fall. The site shows a monthly goal of $50,000 — it had generated $66 and five members a few hours after launching Thursday afternoon.
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“Commit what you can,†a letter shared by Nebraska players said. “Every fan is welcome and every dollar counts.â€
The group is player led in the sense that there is no point person or supporting businesses. But it is powered by YOKE, an Atlanta-based tech company that has unveiled upwards of 20 other school-specific clubs in recent months using similar or identical messaging and models.
The Norman NIL Club (Oklahoma) and College Station NIL Club (Texas A&M) debuted earlier Thursday. Other YOKE-led sites that launched last month operated under a model where fans purchased a digital pass — ones at Iowa cost $199, for example — but more recent versions have shifted to donations.
YOKE, on its website, says its goal is simple: “To help athletes receive fair compensation for their name, image, and likeness. Our best-in-class software solution enables athletes to do this.â€
The Lincoln NIL Club says more than 90 Huskers are involved. The entire team is invited to participate, with proceeds split equally among actively participating athletes.
The new venture follows on the heels of a launch this week of the Big Red Fan Club, a grassroots NIL effort created by a pair of Nebraska business students and walk-on receiver Elliott Brown. That group will offer similar fan benefits — with perhaps more in-person options — and charges $299 for a yearlong, all-access pass or $33 per month.
It’s unclear whether the Big Red Fan Club and the Lincoln NIL Club are considered to be in competition. Both have stated missions of allowing Huskers to profit from their name, image and likeness. They may simply feature different player groups — none of the 24 players who joined Big Red Fan Club shared any LNC messaging Thursday.
Both groups are different from Athletes Branding and Marketing (ABM), which is primarily financed by boosters and businesses and known as the program’s largest NIL supporter. That collective is run by former NU football chief of staff Gerrod Lambrecht and includes players as clients from both the Big Red Fan Club and the Lincoln NIL Club.​