Utes’ student-athletes will benefit from one-stop NIL marketplace to power their NIL activity
From Utah Athletics:
Utah Athletics is taking its Elevate U student-athlete NIL program to the next level with the announcement today of a significant expansion of its partnership with industry leader INFLCR. The Elevate U Exchange is a powerful tool that launched today to help connect interested businesses, collectives or individuals with Utes student-athletes to accelerate and streamline the process of generating business activity related to their Name, Image and Likeness.
Through the Elevate U Exchange, student-athletes benefit from INFLCR’s proven technology that allows businesses to access a school-specific directory to filter and contact specific student-athletes by team, sport, and many other options, including automated NIL transaction compliance and tax reporting. For student-athletes, all NIL business conversations can live in their existing INFLCR account with automated payments and streamlined reporting for tax purposes, all free to student-athletes.
“The launch of the Elevate U Exchange gives our student-athletes a significant advantage in accelerating their NIL opportunities locally and beyond,” said Mark Harlan, Director of Athletics. “Nearly a year after the creation of our Elevate U NIL program, we are seeing our student-athletes benefit from NIL opportunities in very meaningful ways, and the business community has shown incredible interest in engaging with our student-athletes to expand their reach. We’re excited to take both our Elevate U program and our INFLCR partnership to the next level with the Elevate U Exchange, and look forward to seeing our student-athletes benefit tremendously from this powerful resource.”
Through this innovative technology, a business, collective or individual may register on the Elevate U Exchange, then immediately access a searchable database of Utah student-athletes which can be filtered by several different criteria. Messages may be sent directly through the app, or student-athlete’s contact information, or representative’s contact information, may be requested to initiate a direct inquiry about an NIL transaction, without involvement or negotiation by INFLCR or Utah Athletics.
Register can be completed now at UtahUtes.com/exchange. Student-athletes will be opted in, and they may opt out if they do not wish to participate.
“Utah is taking great steps to strengthen their NIL strategy as a department to benefit current student-athletes as well as those coming in next season and beyond,” said Jim Cavale, INFLCR founder. “I am encouraged by them taking the initiative to provide their student-athletes with the necessary resources to monetize effectively and compliantly, setting the standard as we embark upon year two of NIL.”
The launch of the Elevate U Exchange is also boosted by a number of other new enhancements undertaken by Utah Athletics to equip student-athletes with the most robust and comprehensive NIL tools and harness the most important resources to generate NIL activity. Those additions include:
- Upgrade and redesign of the Elevate U website
- Enhancements to student-athlete bios on UtahUtes.com to display social media, merchandise, and NIL-related information
- Increased brand-building and NIL-related resources, tools and training to maximize business and community opportunities
Utah Athletics has been at the forefront of providing resources, training and tools in brand-building to its student-athletes both before and since the establishment of opportunities related to NIL. The department’s all-sports partnership with INFLCR began in the fall of 2020 to provide photos, content and brand-building education to each student-athlete, for free, positioning them to establish the strongest foundation possible to benefit from the implementation of new NCAA NIL policies in July 2021.
INFLCR Plus Local Exchange: How It Works
INFLCR provides a school-customized NIL exchange as an extension to their athletics website where the school can send any business, individual or collective seeking to bring NIL opportunities to its student-athletes. Once registered, businesses can search, communicate, pay and report on behalf of student-athletes they’re transacting with, streamlining the student-athlete’s compliance and tax reporting responsibilities in their existing INFLCR app experience.