Horizon League announces new NIL market partnership with Opendorse

The Horizon League announced Tuesday a NIL partnership with Opendorse that makes it the first league to have a conference-wide marketplace exclusively for its student-athletes.

In addition, the Horizon League said the partnership provides participating member institutions with access to Opendorse’s NIL products. This includes a school-specific marketplace for each individual institution and educational content.

“This groundbreaking partnership with Opendorse continues to showcase the Horizon League’s commitment to innovation within college athletics,” Horizon League Commissioner Julie Roe Lach said in a news release. “We remain committed to every aspect of the student-athlete experience. This will allow our student-athletes an unprecedented opportunity to capitalize on their Name, Image and Likeness while providing them in-depth information on brand building and financial literacy.”

Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence said the partnership positions the Horizon League as a NIL leader at the conference level.

“As we enter the second year of NIL, it will become vital for schools and conferences to engage their local markets to support student-athletes,” Lawrence said in the release. “The conference-wide marketplace and access to school-specific marketplaces will do just that. I’m proud that Opendorse can empower the Horizon League and its student-athletes to better understand and maximize the opportunities that NIL brings.”

Additionally, the new agreement continues the Horizon League’s current partnership with Opendorse’s content solution. It also expands the relationship to include all Opendorse resources including compliance, education, insights and the marketplace.

Opendorse recently announced plans for overhaul of NIL marketplace

In mid-June, Opendorse announced its NIL marketplace will soon look significantly different. The company announced plans to launch school-specific marketplaces at 75 partner schools throughout fall 2022. The move will give fans, brands, donors and sponsors easier, direct access to student-athletes.

Opendorse announced back in March the release of the product in the Oregon, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oregon State and Memphis markets. The new marketplaces were released this past spring. Athletes at these institutions have experienced a 193% increase in NIL opportunities in the first month after the marketplace’s launch, per Opendorse.

The marketplaces keep much of the same previous infrastructure in place. But with the school-specific marketplaces, athletic departments can streamline the platform straight to boosters and businesses.

Opendorse will release the revamped NIL marketplaces starting this summer. In addition, the hope is to have it all in place by the start of football. These schools include Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, BYU and Jackson State.

Furthermore, a number of schools from across the Power Five along with the Big East, Mountain West, MAC, C-USA and AAC will see the NIL platform put in place.