LOOK: Florida green-lights custom Jordan brand Gators jerseys in NIL deal

Starting this fall, Florida Gators fans will be able to customize Jordan branded jerseys with their favorite players’ names and numbers. In the first deal of its kind for Florida since NIL passage, athletes will be compensated for each sale.
 
Fanatics and OneTeam Partners joined with Gators athletics in the venture that begins prior to the 2022 season.

Coming this fall: Player jerseys 🐊

Gator Nation will get to order customized Jordan branded jerseys of their favorite Florida football players, while athletes will be compensated for each sale!#GoGators | #UFuture

— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) February 7, 2022

Fanatics is working with Jordan, the official uniform partner of Gator football, on the blanks, and fans will be able to order jerseys with the name of any players that opt into the group licensing program through OneTeam Partners.

Florida joins fellow SEC program LSU in this jersey NIL deal with players. LSU’s deal is also in conjunction with OneTeam and Fanatics.

There’s one big question Fanatics and players will have to deal with. What happens when the player decides to enter the transfer portal after one year? Will there be some sort of Jersey Assurance? That will be interesting to see how that’s handled moving forward.

But college football fans across the country have every reason to be excited about the program. The neat part is all of the players who opt-in to the program will be available, not just the stars.

Napier gives surprising take on NIL impact

In his National Signing Day press conference, Billy Napier discussed how he feels the Gators are prepared for the current NIL landscape, as well as what needs to change.

“This name, image and likeness concept, I think we’re all wrapping our heads around it and trying to figure out what exactly this entails,” the coach said. “The issue right now is there’s really no parameters. There’s no guidelines outside of the laws in each state. I think each university is trying to solve that problem and come up with the best strategy.”

Many coaches such as Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin have echoed the sentiments of Billy Napier on NIL regulation. The hope is eventually, a federal bill will be passed providing a set of guidelines for the entire country.

Until then, the Gators coach is going to do his best to work within the state laws.

“It’s an area where we’ve been very aggressive. I’m certainly thankful for the partnership with Gator Collective and their ability to get that worked out. But the players create a tremendous amount of revenue for these universities. This college football deal is major entertainment. They show up to watch the players. They don’t show up to watch anybody else. I think there’s an avenue here where we’re moving toward revenue share. We’re moving toward the player getting a piece of the pie. I think that’s a good thing. I think the players are deserving given supply and demand. We need guidelines, consistency across the board relative to what there is to offer. But I think it’s also an opportunity for us. I think it can be a strength.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.