City of Oxford and Lafayette County are starting a NIL program
- Thread starter Leeshouldveflanked
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Sounds like donors will be able to donate to the program and then that money gets distributed to specific athletes or as a whole
The new era of “Name, Image and Likeness,” more commonly known as NIL, is an opportunity for student-athletes to claim their name, image and likeness as a marketable item.
The Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce announced a new program Wednesday designed to connect student-athletes at Ole Miss with career development opportunities and NIL benefits.
This new program will be managed directly by the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce.
Donors into the program will have the opportunity to invest in a fund that can benefit all student-athletes at Ole Miss.
The Chamber of Commerce offers an opportunity to provide benefits to all student-athletes to participate in the financial benefits that are usually available only to the “stars” of the top-level programs.
“We want to include all our athletes, whether it’s someone on the golf team or the star quarterback,” said Chamber president and CEO Jon Maynard.
What makes the program developed in Oxford different from other programs is that funds will be made available to all participating student-athletes on a regular basis.
Student-athletes will take part in community service or other such activities in order to receive financial benefits, such as visiting the Boys and Girls Club.
“The Chamber’s philosophy is that better college athletics produces a stronger economy,” Maynard said. “The Chamber wants the student-athletes to feel as though the entire community has come together to support them in their efforts.”
The secondary distinction with the Chamber’s NIL program is that participating student-athletes will have opportunities to find internships, mentorship and career development in the chosen career paths relevant to their degree programs.
“All student-athletes will go pro in something, so let’s set them up to have success in their chosen career path,” Maynard said. “We believe that this program is the first of its kind sponsored through a local Chamber of Commerce. We want to set the standard for making the NIL era as truly beneficial for the entire community as possible.”
Chamber of Commerce Chairman Quentin Brewer conceived the program late last Fall.
“We want to support our athletes as much as we can in order to create a more resilient economy in Oxford and Lafayette County. Our community grows when Ole Miss Athletics does well,” Brewer said.
The plan is to offer programs that will allow large and small donors to contribute to the fund. The Chamber will develop a portal in which the donor can contribute as little as $10 per month into the NIL program.
Larger, one-time donors can contribute directly to the Chamber of Commerce program and they can make specific requests of where their funds should go. For example, they can request their donation to go toward the athletes on the volleyball team.
The third opportunity for donors will come in the form of payment to specific athletes for specific promotions or endorsements. This plan offers flexibility to both the student-athletes as well as the donors.
The Chamber will be looking to hire a new director of the program and will begin accepting donations into the program by May of 2022. The program is expected to be fully funded and ready to make offers of participation to student-athletes but Aug. 1.
“Donors into the program can be assured that they are benefiting the athletics programs that they love as well as the community that they adore,” Maynard said.
Anyone wishing to donate to the program can currently send an email to [email protected].
The new era of “Name, Image and Likeness,” more commonly known as NIL, is an opportunity for student-athletes to claim their name, image and likeness as a marketable item.
The Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce announced a new program Wednesday designed to connect student-athletes at Ole Miss with career development opportunities and NIL benefits.
This new program will be managed directly by the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce.
Donors into the program will have the opportunity to invest in a fund that can benefit all student-athletes at Ole Miss.
The Chamber of Commerce offers an opportunity to provide benefits to all student-athletes to participate in the financial benefits that are usually available only to the “stars” of the top-level programs.
“We want to include all our athletes, whether it’s someone on the golf team or the star quarterback,” said Chamber president and CEO Jon Maynard.
What makes the program developed in Oxford different from other programs is that funds will be made available to all participating student-athletes on a regular basis.
Student-athletes will take part in community service or other such activities in order to receive financial benefits, such as visiting the Boys and Girls Club.
“The Chamber’s philosophy is that better college athletics produces a stronger economy,” Maynard said. “The Chamber wants the student-athletes to feel as though the entire community has come together to support them in their efforts.”
The secondary distinction with the Chamber’s NIL program is that participating student-athletes will have opportunities to find internships, mentorship and career development in the chosen career paths relevant to their degree programs.
“All student-athletes will go pro in something, so let’s set them up to have success in their chosen career path,” Maynard said. “We believe that this program is the first of its kind sponsored through a local Chamber of Commerce. We want to set the standard for making the NIL era as truly beneficial for the entire community as possible.”
Chamber of Commerce Chairman Quentin Brewer conceived the program late last Fall.
“We want to support our athletes as much as we can in order to create a more resilient economy in Oxford and Lafayette County. Our community grows when Ole Miss Athletics does well,” Brewer said.
The plan is to offer programs that will allow large and small donors to contribute to the fund. The Chamber will develop a portal in which the donor can contribute as little as $10 per month into the NIL program.
Larger, one-time donors can contribute directly to the Chamber of Commerce program and they can make specific requests of where their funds should go. For example, they can request their donation to go toward the athletes on the volleyball team.
The third opportunity for donors will come in the form of payment to specific athletes for specific promotions or endorsements. This plan offers flexibility to both the student-athletes as well as the donors.
The Chamber will be looking to hire a new director of the program and will begin accepting donations into the program by May of 2022. The program is expected to be fully funded and ready to make offers of participation to student-athletes but Aug. 1.
“Donors into the program can be assured that they are benefiting the athletics programs that they love as well as the community that they adore,” Maynard said.
Anyone wishing to donate to the program can currently send an email to [email protected].
All these things are cool, but they will amount to little. It's the corporate ones that will blow up. And we've got the balls to do it- About 2 years after everybody else.
Y'all act people will get big money with that. It's not like they can funnel taxpayer money to it.
I agree and disagree. The money won’t be significant, but what IS significant is the culture. They are basically advertising that Oxford takes care of football players. That’s been the case forever, and our biggest hindrance. We just don’t have a football culture.
I really don’t know how one changes the culture. You may not be able to do it, at least in the short term. Might just have to embrace that and try to attract players a different way (like with a system offense).
Small business are being killed everywhere the last couple years. There's no big money there.
You realize that a lot of high school football players (maybe not the 4 and 5 stars) consider $1,000 life-changing money, right? I've heard of guys that get their gas money paid (or their parents' power bill) and they will be loyal to a school that takes care of relatively small stuff like that. Well, it may seem small to adults with jobs, but to a 17 year old who has no money and his single parent mother is struggling to make ends meet, that's a damn big deal.
I'm just saying, you may think there's "no big money" there, but even small amounts will make a difference in recruiting at some level.
I'm just saying, you may think there's "no big money" there, but even small amounts will make a difference in recruiting at some level.
Exactly.. just had this conversation with my wife. Hell, I'm balking at sending my kid to MSU when Ole Miss is ~ $2,500/year cheaper.
What do you think happens when we have no NIL system in place and another school's yearly offer is $10K...$20K.. or even higher?
What do you think happens when we have no NIL system in place and another school's yearly offer is $10K...$20K.. or even higher?
^^^THIS^^^ And you have to consider how big a business can be and still be a "small business". The businesses that throw off several million dollars of income a year to their owners are the ones that are most important to recruiting, because they are small enough that one person or a few people can spend money how they want to. Granted those businesses are probably not going to be contributing through a chamber initiative.
But I will concede that Oxford and its retail and hospitality establishments are much more supportive of students and the university than the ones in Starkville. They tend to understand and appreciate that the students and universities are the reason they exist. Too many people in starkville see the students and university as necessary evils.
I'm pretty confident that our existing network of boosters can take care of most of our needs, at least to the level that we had before. If you want to get to the next level, sure, we'll need to organize and most of the average joe types will need to start donating. Very similar to what the BDC was doing back before TV money exploded, like back in the 2005-2006 timeframe. They essentially wanted every alumnus to give like $100 minimum, so we could build facilities and keep up. I don't know that it ever happened.
Well, fast forward to now - most of our facilities have been taken care of for the immediate future, and we have plenty of TV money to maintain/build additional/pay coaches. So the fan money is about to go toward NIL (if the NCAA allows it - I personally think they will curb a lot of the blanket stuff).
I would take a guarantee of the same spot, rather than the alternative. I think we have to do it for defense more than making progress.
I.e. CULTURE. Another great example of football culture is Clemson. And really, more than anything, is the measure of the potential of the program. It's why Alabama wins games with less money than say, Oregon/Michigan/Texas A&M. It's not JUST about money. Although Texas A&M may be figuring it out. I'm still skeptical.
Now don't get me wrong - Ole Miss is not in Clemson or Alabama territory, as they have some other hindrances that those schools don't (population, state, overall fanbase size). But they punch well above their weight in the football culture.
That one is going to be the big money NIL money provider. Started by David Nutt. Guess he'll have the athletes lined up to provide "services" at Reunion
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