Oklahoma Sooners women’s basketball team signs NIL deal with 1Oklahoma
As the college basketball season hurdles toward March Madness, more and more NIL collectives are stepping up to support student-athletes with team-wide deals.
1Oklahoma’s announcement on Monday is another perfect example of this trend. The nonprofit collective founded by a group of businessmen and Hall of Fame Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer said it has signed the entire Sooners women’s basketball team to NIL deals.
Sooner players Beatrice Culliton, Jordan Moser and Taylor Robertson were the first to announce the partnerships on their social media accounts.
“The entire OU women’s basketball team just signed on, and they’re doing great work in the state with local nonprofit partnerships,” Robertson said announcing her NIL deal.
The 1Oklahoma Foundation is a nonprofit organization “committed to collaborating with and serving some of the most impactful nonprofits throughout the state of Oklahoma through the Name, Image, and Likeness of OU athletes.”
When it launched, 1Oklahoma said it hoped to pay football players between $40,000 and $50,000 for NIL partnerships. But the terms of the agreements with the women’s basketball student-athletes were not revealed.
NIL collectives competing in Oklahoma market
Regardless of the terms, it’s another major move in the Sooners’ NIL space.
It’s become clear over the past few months that there’s major competition for donor dollars in the Oklahoma marketplace. Currently, there are two major collectives supporting Oklahoma – 1Oklahoma and Crimson and Cream.
Crimson and Cream has generated a lot of headlines over the past few months, including an announcement in early January that it struck NIL deals for the entire football roster – walk-ons included. Crimson and Cream has also been active in its support of Sooner female student-athletes. Plus, it also absorbed Strengthening Oklahoma, another OU-focused collective in December.
There were even whispers that 1Oklahoma and Crimson and Cream could also merge. But the signings by 1Oklahoma suggest that the collective is still full speed ahead with its support of student-athletes at Oklahoma.
The OU women’s basketball team is 20-4 on the season and 10-3 in the Big 12 Conference. The Sooners are currently in second place in the league behind Texas. OU is projected as a six-seed in the latest NCAA bracketology. Senior forward Madi Williams ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 16.2 points a game.