Syracuse Activates INFLCR Plus NIL Program ‘ACCELERATE’

From Syracuse Athletics:

ACCELERATE is Syracuse University Athletics’ official comprehensive Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) educational and empowerment program designed to assist student-athletes in the growth of their personal brand. The program will educate and enable all Orange student-athletes to leverage their name, image and likeness to elevate their personal brand, make a positive impact on their community, and capitalize on earning opportunities from these activities if they so choose.

The ACCELERATE program is designed to provide the necessary educational and implementation tools required to benefit from the modernized and recently updated NCAA Name, Image and Likeness legislation.

“Embracing Name, Image and Likeness opportunities and providing our student-athletes the necessary resources and support to capitalize on opportunities is another step in providing a best-in-class experience for our student-athletes,” said Director of Athletics John Wildhack. “We are committed to preparing our student-athletes as leaders in every aspect of their lives. The ACCELERATE program will aid student-athletes in building and leveraging their brand through NIL opportunities.”

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS
This program will leverage the university’s existing strengths in Syracuse’s nationally recognized entrepreneurship, sport management, media studies, and other programs to create innovative academic programming that will help students gain the skills they need to make the most of their opportunities related to NIL, including enhancing student-athlete branding, storytelling and education.

“Our student-athletes chose Syracuse University because of the great academic reputation and a chance to compete for championships.” said Syracuse Assistant Provost Tommy Powell. “The NIL legislation provides an opportunity for them to compete in the arena of promoting their brand. We look forward to collaborating with our outstanding faculty through a multidisciplinary approach to educate and prepare our students to navigate this emerging industry.”

BUILDING INFLUENCE
In advance of the adoption of the NIL legislation, Syracuse Athletics partnered with INFLCR, the content and compliance software platform for elite athletics, last year to provide every student-athlete with real-time multimedia content access from Syracuse Athletics’ communications and creative services teams so student-athletes can share the content to their own personal social media channels.

The athletics department is also expanding its relationship with INFLCR to further aid student-athletes in building their brand and marketability via INFLCR’s suite, including INFLCR Verified, INFLCR+, INFLCR Recruiting Support, and INFLCR Athlete Support.

• INFLCR Verified will support student-athletes by allowing them to learn more about the implications of NIL through targeted education modules covering topics like entrepreneurship, networking, branding, finance, and taxes. INFLCR Verified will also allow student-athletes to digitally report all NIL activities to the Office of Athletics Compliance and ensure compliance with NCAA legislation and relevant state law.
• Student-athletes will be able to use INFLCR+ to further develop their personal brand and marketability through comparative data, market research, and personalized metrics detailing their social media follower growth and social media engagement metrics.
• INFLCR Recruiting Support will allow Syracuse coaching staffs to explain to recruits the tools and resources at their disposal so that they too can best position themselves to take advantage of their brand and marketability once they arrive at Syracuse.
• INFLCR Athlete Support will provide Syracuse’s student-athletes the opportunity to receive customized support, strategy, and one-on-one sessions with INFLCR staff.      
• “As a Syracuse native, I could not be more excited to be innovating together with Syracuse University Athletics, one of INFLCR’s first official clients, as we go into this new era of college sports with the NIL,” said INFLCR CEO Jim Cavale. “INFLCR is launching new technology to enable student-athletes receive education around Name, Image and Likeness to help them build their business.”

BOOTCAMP TRAINING
In addition to these strategic partnerships, Syracuse Athletics will offer an intensive bootcamp to all student-athletes beginning in September 2021. This bootcamp will allow for subject matter experts from Syracuse University and the corporate world to deliver practical knowledge to student-athletes on entrepreneurship, brand building, creating a business, finance, accounting, contracts, and agents. The bootcamp sessions will help student-athletes further develop their own personal brands and prepare them for the real-world implications of starting their own personal business.