We first launched the INFLCR+ Local Exchange with 9 early adopters at the beginning of 2022. Since then, 35 of our more than 200 NCAA Division I client schools have signed multi-year agreements to add their own school-customized exchange, with 27 school exchanges live and experiencing early success with business registrations and reported transactions.
“The Local Exchange is the delivery system for all third-parties (businesses, collectives, etc.) that want to connect with student-athletes through one unified school-focused system that automates all the reporting for the IRS and the compliance department,” said INFLCR Founder Jim Cavale.
“INFLCR’s tech is ‘the pipes’ for everything that happens with NIL at their institution and for their student-athlete body, and our INFLCR+ Local Exchange is a large portion of that.”
Within each INFLCR client school’s Local Exchange platform, businesses can connect with student-athletes directly, propose NIL deals, share content, and send payments. Those payments are then tracked in INFLCR for each student-athlete where compliance staff for their respective institution can monitor and approve all NIL activity.
Over the last 6 months, our Local Exchange schools have been working to promote their platforms and grow the database of businesses available for their student-athletes to work with.
Attracting Businesses
The number of businesses across all 27 Local Exchange platforms is 770. With the highest number coming from school’s like Michigan, UCLA, and Oklahoma. A launch plan can go a long way, and each of these three Power 5 schools had full strategies in place to go public.
Michigan pre-populated their Victors Exchange with businesses, spread the word through media, influencers and leaning on their collective Valiant Management. The effort led to 38 businesses registered in the first 24 hours after launching, and have since grown to 87.
Oklahoma used a full playbook strategy to launch their OU Exchange. They developed a promotional video to be distributed across digital platforms, in-venue activations at sporting events, and managed to be featured on the local news. Oklahoma now has 81 businesses registered.
UCLA took a page from OU’s playbook and launched an in-venue activation to release their Local Exchange publicly. During their spring football game, they printed flyers to pass out with all necessary info to register for their platform. Since launching on April 21, UCLA has added 78 businesses to their Westwood Exchange.
Local Exchange In Non-Power 5
We’ve discussed many times that NIL is for all levels of elite athletics, and our clients outside of Power 5 have shown just that. Two Local Exchange platforms for institutions in non-power 5 have been performing at a high level.
Boise State launched their Local Exchange in our original cohort of platforms. The Broncos have 31 businesses registered, but have had the 4th highest number of transactions disclosed from NIL activity from all Local Exchanges.
Western Kentucky, having only launched within the last month, has the second largest business database across non-power 5 schools in their Hilltopper Exchange with 27 businesses.
Taking Care Of Business
The Local Exchange isn’t successful without student-athletes and businesses carrying out NIL deals. As of May 19, student-athletes have disclosed 429 transactions from businesses in their respective Local Exchanges. That’s roughly 2.5 deals being disclosed a day since releasing the Local Exchange platform.
Find An Active Local Exchange
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