Braves become first MLB team to ink NIL deals with college athletes

The Atlanta Braves are the first Major League Baseball team to sign college athletes under the new NIL rules. Georgia gymnast Rachel Baumann and Georgia Tech quarterback Jordan Yates are now “Braves Athletes.”

“We are excited to welcome Rachel and Jordan to the Braves family,” said Greg Mize, Atlanta Braves Senior Director of Marketing and Innovation in a statement. “As soon as the new NIL guidelines were set last month, we knew there was an opportunity to highlight the convergence of Braves Country and strong local athletes. For our first partnerships, we wanted to focus on schools in our backyard, and the hope is the program will continue to expand to include student-athletes from throughout Braves Country.”

The Braves used Instagram in early July, just after the July 1 passing of the new NIL rules, to ask if any student-athletes would be interested in working with Atlanta. They asked that athletes be located at a school in the Braves’ footprint, be Braves fans, and be active on social media. There were over 40,000 responses to the Instagram post. 

The athletes will attend Braves home games and use their social media accounts to showcase their time there. Georgia Tech’s campus is located just 10 miles from Atlanta’s Truist Park and the University of Georgia is 70 miles away. 

Baumann and Yates will receive a stipend of approximately $500, a commission on Braves tickets sold through links in their social media accounts, VIP treatment at games and team merchandise.

The Braves have said they plan to make additional deals with other athletes in the Southeast, as there is a lot of overlap between Southeastern college fans and Braves fans. There are no MLB teams in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana. 

Baumann is a senior at Georgia who won three beam events and recorded five scores of 9.900 or better in the event during her sophomore year. Yates is a redshirt sophomore for the Yellow Jackets who has played in six games over two years at Georgia Tech.

The deal appears to be the second of its kind

Miami quarterback D’Eriq King became the first college athlete to ink a deal with a professional team when he partnered with the NHL’s Florida Panthers in early August. King will have a similar role as Baumann and Yates, attending Florida Panthers games and documenting his experiences on social media in conjunction with the team’s social media office.