Clemson athletics unveils innovative new NIL program 'Reign'

As NIL continues to change the landscape across college athletics, universities and athletic departments are coming up with innovative ways to keep the pace. The Clemson Tigers just announced an innovative new NIL program, called ‘Reign.’

Clemson unveiled the new NIL program on Friday, and Director of Athletics Graham Neff believes that the introduction of ‘Reign’ was vital to help student athletes continue to evolve.

“We’ve talked for a while about our intent to become more aggressive in the NIL environment, and I feel that Reign. personifies that notion,” said Neff. “While many of these services have been available to our student-athletes since last year, our department has worked tirelessly to evolve our NIL philosophy. It’s critical that our student-athletes have the education and tools to succeed in this area, and that our coaches have a direct way to address the questions they receive on the recruiting trail. NIL is ever-changing, and we will continue to monitor, adapt and innovate.”

Ultimately, Clemson wants to ensure that its student athletes are in the best position possible to stay on pace with the rapidly changing landscape created by NIL. This program will help student athletes learn more about NIL, and put them in a position to take advantage of those opportunities.

Who Clemson plans to partner with in the new NIL program

The Clemson community is a strong one. Because of that, the Tigers student athletes will have plenty of opportunities to take profit off of NIL. Clemson is one of the strongest brands across college athletics, and the Tigers hope to use that experience in helping their individual student athletes grow theirs, too.

“Clemson has additional vital partnerships in several areas to accelerate quickly for all student-athletes,” the announcement said. “The world-renowned Spiro Institute within The Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, national-leader Altius Sports Partners in education and policy, and CLC, Fanatics and OneTeam in the licensing space. Clemson has also been engaged with Opendorse since 2016 as a platform for students to build their brand. Clemson distributed more than 100,000 pieces of content to student-athletes last year, and is on pace to easily surpass that number in 2022.”

As part of the program, Clemson will be constructing a new 12,000 square foot building that will be dedicated towards this new NIL program. The building will be used to educate on NIL, and will include photo and video studios, office spaces, and media training areas. It will be located by the Poe Indoor Football Complex, per Clemson’s release.