Eight Florida Gator athletes sign NIL deal with dermatology platform Honeydew

Eight female athletes at Florida entered NIL partnerships with the New York-based telehealth dermatology platform Honeydew, which connects patients with licensed specialists. The athletes represent four Gators athletic programs: women’s basketball, soccer, track and field, and volleyball.

They include shooting guard Aliyah Matharu and center Ra Shaya Kyle. Kyle averaged 9.4 points per game for the Gators last season, which ranked fourth on the team. Matharu sat out last season after transferring from Texas, where she averaged a team-high 12 points per game in the 2022 season.

Four soccer players are part of the campaign, including midfielders Madison Jones, Emily Yaple and Julianne Leskaukas, and defender Madison Young. Track and field middle-distance runner Vanessa Watson, plus volleyball libero/defensive specialist Gaby Cornier, setter Kennedy Muff and defensive specialist Trinity Adams are also involved.

Honeydew co-founder and CEO David Futoran said college students have been a target demographic since he founded Honeydew with dermatologist Dr. Joel Spitz. Futoran credited Spitz for clearing his own acne.

“Students are disproportionately affected by these conditions, as well as the access issues,” Futoran said. “They’re leaving behind their family environment, where they might have their network of doctors. They’re balancing class schedules. Athletes, especially, also have sports to balance.”

Honeydew timed the launch of the NIL campaign with the start of the school year in hopes of catering to students who need to find a dermatologist. Futoran believes athletes can serve as valuable spokespeople who can relate to their peers’ skincare issues since they are patients themselves.

“It’s the whole reason we’re doing it this way,” Futoran said. “From the very origin of the company in the first place, that authenticity has been critical. We literally have a patient-and-physician-founded company. That’s allowed us to build something that directly reflects what the people using the service actually want as opposed to just being about building a business.”

Why Honeydew picked Florida

Futoran described Spitz as a major sports fan who has followed the NIL landscape “pretty closely.” Futoran said Spitz has served as the dermatologist for the US Open Tennis Championships for roughly a decade.

“We’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while versus just running Instagram ads, for example. It’s a lot less authentic,” Futoran said, citing the corresponding timing of the NIL era and the development of the company.

Florida is the second state where Honeydew made its services available. It’s where the company has its largest user base, according to Futoran.

“We were very interested in Florida,” Futoran said.

Futoran had a few meetings with Florida Director of NIL Strategy Ben Chase, dating back to the spring, to discuss Honeydew’s campaign.

“We decided we’re not focusing on any specific sports,” Futoran said. “We’re not going to be looking for one or two really big-name athletes but we would much rather be making this mainstream and accessible to all athletes.”

Chase said he shared the opportunity with every female athlete at Florida.

“They’re telling real stories about their issues with skincare,” Chase said. “It’s one of those things where it was a natural fit, but only athletes that it resonated with them.”

NIL campaign offers multiple compensation options

The contractual relationships are for one year. Honeydew provided athletes with a few compensation options.

Every athlete gets free access to Honeydew for at least one year. If the relationship between the company and an athlete continues longer than one year, then so does the athlete’s access.

Athletes could choose upfront cash compensation plus commission, or exclusively commission but at a higher rate. Each athlete receives a unique coupon code to be included in social media posts.

“Anytime a company wants to take a chance, if you will, on partnering with our athletes here at Florida, my goal is for them to get the maximum ROI on that and come back and double it,” Chase said. “I can’t promise anything to these companies but my role is to make it as easy for them to work with our athletes as possible.”

Honeydew asked the athletes for a minimum of two social media posts. Athletes can post more frequently to try to increase their commissions.

“It’s a lot of the ‘get ready with me’ style videos,” Chase said.

Adams, a defensive specialist, posted a video on TikTok showing a day in her life during the preseason.

“Honeydew is an online dermatology program that’s been really helpful for me, especially being a college athlete, not really being able to go to a dermatologist and having that time,” Adams said in a voiceover.

Athletes can receive a commission on a recurring basis for a year. Adams’s video featured her unique code.

“They’re taking a chance,” Chase said. “They’ve never done NIL and so it’s really cool that they came to the flagship, as we call it – Florida.”