Doritos announces first NIL deals ahead of Sweet 16

Doritos has announced its first NIL activations ahead of Friday’s Sweet 16 games.

There are signed partnerships with Houston guard Marcus Sasser and Texas guard Sir’Jabari Rice. Virginia Tech‘s Georgia Amoore is also involved in the endorsement deal, but it is unclear if she will be compensated since she is an international athlete.

Buick, Continental Tire and Goldman Sachs are businesses that have entered the space in the past few weeks. Now the Frito-Lay product has made its first move, opting to enter during college basketball’s busiest season.

Sasser’s agreement was brokered by the Houston-focused NIL collective LinkingCoogs. After spending the first five years of his college career at New Mexico State, Rice transferred to Texas this past offseason. His deal with the chip company appears to be one of his first NIL activations.

Dubbed the “Own The Three” campaign, Doritos has aligned with some of the top 3-point shooters in the college game. Sasser is shooting 37% from beyond the arc entering No. 1 seed Houston’s Sweet 16 matchup with No. 5 seed Miami on Friday night.

Rice is also accurate from 3-point range at 36% while averaging 12.9 points per game. The Longhorns are set to play No. 3 seed Xavier on Friday night.

The MVP of the ACC tournament this year, Amoore became the first Virginia Tech women’s basketball player to record a triple-double in December. Entering the Sweet 16, she is shooting 35% from 3-point range. She’s also averaging 15.7 points and 5.1 assists per game.

The top-seeded Hokies meet No. 4 seed Tennessee on Saturday night.

Marcus Sasser, Sir’Jabari Rice’s On3 NIL Valuation

Sasser has an $801,000 On3 NIL Valuation entering Friday night’s game. Sasser signed deals with Little Woodrow’s, Bose and Athletic Brewing Company leading into the tournament. He ranks No. 41 in the On3 NIL 100, which is the first of its kind and a de facto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

Rice holds a $126,000 On3 NIL Valuation, which ranks in the top 60 of college basketball. The evaluation has seen significant growth in the past two weeks after he scored 13 points in Texas’ win over Penn State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value

While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career.

The On3 NIL Valuation accounts for an athlete’s roster value and brand value. Roster value is the value an athlete has by being a member of his or her team at his or her school, which factors into the role of NIL collectives. Brand value factors in an athlete’s personal brand and the value it could bring to regional and national brands outside of the scope of NIL collectives.