BYU players don T-shirts promoting ‘lifetime’ NIL opportunity during spring scrimmage

BYU-focused collective CougConnect – the same group that introduced the first-ever “NIL cruise” – continues to come up with some of the most creative deals in the college sports market.

At BYU’s spring scrimmage and alumni game on Friday, 13 Cougar football players wore T-shirts that featured a QR code that when scanned, directed fans to subscribe to CougConnect. A QR code on a T-shirt isn’t an entirely new approach. But what happens when a Cougar fan subscribes to the collective through the scan is.

CougConnect director Jake Brandon told On3 that 10% of the money generated from the QR code creates a monthly payment for the specific player – in perpetuity.

“Essentially, anyone who uses the QR code from the player’s shirt to join CougConnect will also create a royalty for that player that will be paid to them monthly – even beyond their time here as a football player,” Brandon said. “As far as we know, it’s the first NIL deal ever to pay players in perpetuity. It’s a big deal. We’re planning on taking the deal teamwide in the coming weeks.”

The players that participated in the NIL deal during the spring scrimmage included:

• Zion Allen
• Miles Davis
• Dom Henry
• Jake Retzlaff
• Cade Fennegan
• Evan Johnson
• Nick Billoups
• Aidan Robbins
• Hinckley Ropati
• Malik Moore
• Ethan Erickson
• Masen Wake
• Anthony Olsen

BYU players excited to be part of 1^st lifetime NIL deal

The T-shirts featured CougConnect’s logo on the front, along with the player’s number. The back included the player’s name and the QR code. There were roughly around 10,00 fans in attendance at the spring scrimmage in Provo, Utah. Plus, the scrimmage was televised on BYUtv, the network operated by the university that can be found on cable and satellite distributors across the country.

Robbins, a heralded running back transfer from UNLV who is expected to compete for immediate playing time, praised CougConnect for thinking outside of the box with the NIL opportunity.

“I truly think that the NIL royalty with CougConnect is an excellent opportunity to not only expand our personal brand for a lifetime but CougConnect’s as well,” Robbins told On3. “It’s an honor to be able to participate in something like this let alone be the first to ever do it.”

Retzlaff, who is competing for the starting quarterback spot, thanked CougConnect for the creative NIL opportunity. “It’s great that CougConnect is providing us an opportunity to create off our NIL while giving the fans a way to interact with us players,” Retzlaff said.