Houston volleyball team inks ‘historic’ NIL deal after earning NCAA tournament invite

LinkingCoogs, a Houston Cougar-focused collective, continues to make a big splash in the NIL world.

On the same day the UH volleyball team received an invitation to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 22 years, LinkingCoogs revealed to the entire roster they had earned a NIL deal with My Eyelab.

The reveal was caught on camera by KIRV Fox 26’s Mark Berman.

Troy Kyle, #LinkingCoogs prez,surprised @UHCougarVB w/1st team-wide Name,Image & likeness deal for UH women’s sports..w/ My Eyelab which has 10 locations n Houston.LinkingCoogs is an NIL collective benefiting @UHCougars.UH volleyball headed to NCAA Tourney for 1st time since 2000 pic.twitter.com/TaCrkGJvQs

— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) November 28, 2022

“This is the first teamwide NIL deal for a volleyball program that we know of in the country,” LinkingCoogs co-founder Troy Kyle told the team in the reveal.

The deal, orchestrated by LinkingCoogs, partners the players with 10 My Eyelab franchises in the Greater Houston area. My Eyelab president Ryan Galvez is a 1996 UH graduate, and he worked with LinkingCoogs to create the “historic deal.”

Kyle said the partnership “emphasizes increasing opportunities for female student-athletes.”

The structure of the opt-in deal requires UH volleyball student-athletes to do meet-and-greets at some point after the season. They will also be required to make two different posts promoting My Eyelab on their personal social media accounts.

“This comes out to roughly about $1,000 per player,” Kyle told the team.

Additionally, Kyle believes the deal could be a great example to businesses looking to invest in women’s sports.

“It sets them up for success of being able to prove that in the future you can actually get more return on your marketing dollar by using women’s sports than you can out of the men’s sports,” Kyle told The Daily Cougar.

Houston (28-3) earned its first American Athletic Conference Championship and the league’s bid to the tournament. The title is the first since capturing the Conference USA Regular Season Championship in 1999. As five seed in the Creighton Regional, UH faces South Dakota at 3:30 p.m. CT on Friday.

Houston basketball players receive 7-figure NIL deal

The deal with the Houston volleyball team isn’t the first teamwide deal facilitated by LinkingCoogs.

Last week, it was revealed the collective worked with Houston’s Gallery Furniture, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale to pledge seven figures to the UH men’s basketball players through a NIL deal. The Cougars are coming off their first back-to-back Elite Eight appearances since the early 1980s.

LinkingCoogs, which launched in October, is dedicated to serving as a pathway for Houston businesses to connect with athletes.

The terms of the agreement with the men’s basketball team were not disclosed. But for a new collective in the Houston market, receiving backing from one of the largest names in the Space City is a step in the right direction.

“This builds credibility,” LinkingCoogs spokesperson Landon Goesling told the Houston Chronicle. “It pole vaults us to get this thing rolling. To get a company like Gallery Furniture to support the kids … it’s just the beginning. This is a call for all Cougars to hop on the train.”

The collective has generated $1.6 million in deals since its launch, according to Goesling.