Friends of the University of Notre Dame becomes official NIL sponsor

The name, image and likeness collective Friends of the University of Notre Dame announced this week that it’s an official sponsor of Notre Dame Athletics through an agreement with Notre Dame Global Partnerships. Former Notre Dame quarterback and current FOX Sports personality Brady Quinn is part of the nine-person board of directors.

“We are so proud to be able to work with a tremendous organization and board of directors at Friends of the University of Notre Dame,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. “The work of this organization is critical to our pursuit of national championships and we couldn’t have found a better supporter of that vision. Lastly, a tremendous thank you to Brady Quinn for his dedication to this endeavor to create opportunities for our student-athletes.”

There are several examples of NIL collectives nationally that have signed an agreement with an institution’s multimedia rights holder, which can allow a collective to use institutional marks or logos, and provide more visibility for the collective.

“We are proud to work with Notre Dame Athletics through Friends of the University of Notre Dame to further advance, empower and enrich Notre Dame student-athletes to be a ‘force for good’ by promoting charitable causes they are passionate about,” Quinn said in the statement.

The news release said Friends of the University of Notre Dame has worked with more than 150 Notre Dame student-athletes, who have partnered with 10 charities. The collective “will also provide donations to the non-profits,” according to the release.

Friends of the University of Notre Dame has IRS approval

In April 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent a letter to Friends of the University of Notre Dame, a nonprofit corporation, indicating that it determined the organization is a public charity that is exempt under IRS Section 501(c)(3).

Kevin Klau serves as the executive director of the Friends of the University of Notre Dame. Megan Whitt works as the COO.

In addition to Quinn, the other members of the Friends of the University of Notre Dame’s board of directors include former Notre Dame football players Pat Eilers and Tracy Graham, former men’s basketball player and ESPN personality Jordan Cornette, former women’s basketball player Karen Keyes, Greg Dugard, Jimmy Dunne, Jay Flaherty and Chris Reyes.

In March, Swarbrick wrote a guest essay along with Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins for The New York Times that was titled, “College Sports Are a Treasure. Don’t Turn Them Into the Minor Leagues.”

“Unfortunately, the new NIL rules have proven to be easy to abuse,” the two men wrote. “To avoid the NCAA prohibition against directly paying athletic recruits, many schools funnel money to recruits under the guise of a supposed third-party licensing deal – regardless of whether a player’s name, image and likeness have any market value whatsoever. We must establish and enforce regulations that allow legitimate transactions while barring those that are recruiting enticements or pay-for-play.”