Georgia athletes to profit from NIL solution with Classic City Collective

Georgia athletes are the first in the country to benefit from a new NIL monetization solution.

Classic City Collective‘s website now offers short-form videos that provide original content while overlaying advertisements from companies.

The platform combines technology from Firework with local, regional and national sponsors through relationships the marketing agency Innovative New Media cultivates. Innovative New Media is the official reseller of Firework technology for NIL collectives. Urban Edge Networks will help drive website traffic and customers.

The platform also provides users the ability to browse custom merchandise alongside the videos as they play.

“Our whole goal is to bring human connections to any webpage,” said Firework Vice President of Retail & Sports Media Dan Wallace.

Classic City Collective launched a new NIL solution that offers short-form videos alongside ads and shoppable merchandise.

“I really believe the dollars that we’ll be able to generate is significant.“

Story from @AndyWittry: https://t.co/tHMpHyJovN pic.twitter.com/6gjenlHY6M

— On3 NIL (@On3NIL) June 22, 2023

The NIL solution launched Wednesday. Classic City Collective CEO Matt Hibbs said Tuesday that 43 athletes are on board and 32 athletes have gone to the collective’s office to film content in the last two and a half weeks.

“Classic City Collective under the leadership of Matt and Steven (Farmer) have developed many concepts and support for our players,” Georgia football coach Kirby Smart said in a statement provided to On3. “This new collaborative effort with Innovative New Media is cutting edge and will provide tremendous opportunities for growth going forward.”

Innovative Group partner Michael Saks said there are plans to launch a similar platform for athletes at almost 50 schools.

“Obviously, there was a ton of work that we’ve done over the last six months, having a lot of discussions with university collectives, as well as athletic department people we know,” Saks said. “They all kind of said the same thing. ‘We all need help.'”

Athletes receive ‘more than a majority’ of revenue

The collective will facilitate the payments and content production while assisting with the outreach to prospective business partners.

“If a pie’s 100%, we’re providing more than a majority of that pie to the collective and we’re keeping a small portion of that 100% for our overhead,” Saks said.

While those involved declined to publicly comment on the potential revenue the platform can generate, they’re incredibly optimistic in large part because of the agreements completed already.

“The dollars that we can generate have never been generated in these NIL programs ever and more importantly, I believe it will be a game-changer for the student-athletes,” Saks said. “Hopefully, it’ll keep a lot of them in school, not just in football and basketball, but in baseball, track, women’s soccer and lacrosse. It’ll keep them in school because we’re going to provide ample dollars for them across the board, not just in a couple of sports.

“I really believe the dollars that we’ll be able to generate is significant. I would characterize to say that’d be in all-caps.”

Classic City Collective focuses more on retail

There are nationwide concerns about donor fatigue. Those concerns are aggravated for nonprofit collectives that have applied for 501(c)(3) status, following a recent memo from the IRS.

“We’ve been very heavily donor-based and we would like to swing the pendulum to the other side and be very heavily retail-based with this program,” said Steven Farmer, the chief revenue officer of Classic City Collective, which is an LLC.

The companies behind the platform target sponsorships from businesses, some of which have already committed to sponsorships prior to the public launch. Brands can choose whether they want to partner with a specific athlete or athletes from a particular sport.

“I think this is just an extension of something that’s been a part of our DNA from the beginning and it’s always trying to find alternative revenue streams,” Classic City Collective CEO Matt Hibbs said. “Like from day one, I mean we could all anticipate that you cannot survive on donor dollars for 10 years.”

That pitch has landed with some early adopters.

“We’ve kept donation out of the conversation and we’ve looked at, ‘Hey, I’m investing in a marketing campaign. What’s the value?’ and we want to pay what the value is,” said Brad Akins, the owner of Akins Ford, which says it’s the No. 1 Ford dealer in Georgia and No. 8 nationally based upon retail sales. “They’ve had to bring value to us to match our investment in the marketing that we’re doing. We feel like from a marketing perspective, we are paying a fair value for the marketing that we plan on getting out of it.”

More than 40 UGA athletes on board

Classic City Collective’s website features brief videos featuring running backs Kendall Milton and Rod Robinson II, defensive linemen Jordan Hall and Ty Ingram-Dawkins, wide receivers Anthony Evans, Tyler Williams and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, and cornerback A.J. Harris.

Hibbs said if businesses in the region incorporate Georgia athletes, they’re going to drive traffic.

“It’s been proven over time,” he said.

Akins and his family have had a longstanding relationship with the university, especially its football program. That helps explain Akins Ford committing marketing dollars through the platform. He said his family got Georgia season tickets in 1971 and his father met football coach Vince Dooley and men’s basketball coach Hugh Durham in 1978, when Akins was 12 years old.

“We started furnishing the head football coach – him and Barbara (Dooley) – their vehicles that year and still continue that to this day,” Akins said. “We’ve been through all the coaches.”

Times have changed. Akins specifically referenced modern NIL demands.

“That’s a vital part of college athletics these days,” he said.

The collective onboarded athletes to the new NIL solution starting with football players.

“We had the same premise going into it, saying you can’t just have a press release saying, ‘Oh, we’re doing this and we hope to be successful,'” Saks said. “What we wanted to do was when we went out to launch a big program like Georgia to say, ‘Look, we’ve got people in place. We’ve got brands excited about this and we’re ready to go.'”

‘Exciting part’ about NIL platform is evaluating ROI

Sponsored content is intermixed on the platform with the original content on a carousel of videos.

“We are in an age where I call it the microwavable customer,” said Urban Edge Networks founder member and Chief Revenue Officer Hardy Pelt. “The customer does not want to be inconvenienced to spend money on what you’re selling so we’ve tried to simplify the process and expedite the opportunity for someone to purchase your product by putting it right in your hand or at your fingertips without having to go over an overly complicated navigation systems.

“Simplicity at this age and stage of technology is paramount and we think we’ve mastered that.”

The platform tracks key performance indicators (KPIs), such as impressions, time on site and number of transactions.

“The exciting part about this is bringing in value that you can actually put an ROI on possibly and also support Georgia football and Georgia Athletics,” Akins said.

Farmer said several marketing managers have asked for specific analytics. Hibbs said the collective will also receive analytics twice per month regarding the website’s views.

“We’ve kept donation out of the conversation and we’ve looked at, ‘Hey, I’m investing in a marketing campaign. What’s the value?'” Akins said. “We want to pay what the value is. They’ve had to bring value to us to match our investment in the marketing that we’re doing. I can say that we feel like from a marketing perspective, we are paying a fair value for the marketing that we plan out getting out of it.”

This story was updated to reflect the Georgia athletes who are featured on Classic City Collective’s website.