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Today’s Case

Numerous NIL deals taking place to align with March Madness

With the First Four set of games tipping off yesterday, March Madness-related NIL deals are already taking place in full force.

Sample partnerships include:

• Global marketing and advertising company Epsilon partners with Opendorse to launch the “Work Together to Win Together” campaign, offering an NIL deal to every female athlete participating in March Madness.

• Kim Kardashian's SKIMs brand launches all-star NIL promotion with six top college basketball stars.

• LSU star Hailey Van Lith will star in a March Madness ad as Adidas crosses 12K participants in NIL network, the largest NIL activation to date.

• Gatorade launches limited-edition Caitlin Clark products, with charity donations to support the next generation of women basketball players.

• Keurig signs 16 prominent basketball players to NIL deals for the company’s Pod Toss Challenge.

The Verdict

• As expected

  • It makes sense for brands to jump in to March Madness just in time for the beginning of the tournament and leverage partnerships throughout the next few weeks.

  • While it’s great to see the usual brands (Gatorade, adidas), it’s also promising that other prominent brands (SKIMs, Keurig) are seeing the value of working with college athletes and expanding their demographic.

• More deals throughout the tourney

  • While the tournament progresses, there will be both men’s and women’s athletes who will begin to stand out - for which they should leverage their platform for NIL partnerships.

  • Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark were big NIL stars on the women’s side last year, with UConn’s Adama Sunogo and Florida Atlantic’s entire team cashing in during the men’s tournament last year.

• Hunter Dickinson continues to earn significant partnerships

  • While he doesn’t receive the NIL headlines as some other athletes, Dickinson has been building an impressive NIL portfolio.

    • Along with the above mentioned SKIMs and Keurig partnerships, he has also partnered with Wendy’s, adidas, and Outback Steakhouse.

Nick Saban shares his thoughts on NIL

The college football coaching legend discusses the good and bad of NIL. Check out this video for more!

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