Brian Kelly's million-dollar match raises $3.2 million for LSU's Bayou Traditions NIL collective

LSU head coach Brian Kelly’s million-dollar challenge campaign has resulted in a win for the Bayou Traditions NIL collective. The LSU football program announced Thursday that the match was met and raised $3.2 million to support the NIL collective.

The million-dollar challenge was launched in December when Kelly and his wife, Paqui, announced they would donate up to $1 million to LSU’s foundation, the Tiger Athletic Foundation’s AD’s Excellence Fund, for dollars raised to Bayou Traditions. That match was met and some.

Bayou Traditions has revamped itself in the last year. The Tiger Athletic Foundation created a new subsidiary, TAF Services Corporation (TAFSC) in July 2024. TAFSC now provides fundraising services for the official LSU collective.

Donors can now also receive corresponding membership benefits and Tiger Athletic Foundation priority points by contributing to Bayou Traditions. Boosters receiving priority points in exchange for dollars is one way for collectives to combat donor fatigue.

LSU announced last August that the LSU Gold premium content subscription service had been rebranded as LSU+, with a portion of proceeds going directly to Bayou Traditions. It’s all part of a push for the Tigers to become more competitive in the NIL space.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say that, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, this is a new landscape that we are in in recruiting,” Brian Kelly said at December’s Early National Signing Day press conference. “‘New,’ when I say it’s not just about finding the right fit academically.

“It’s not just about finding the right fit where you can develop holistically and graduate and play for a championship. It’s about [what’s] the most money I can get, and that’s unfortunate. But it’s the world we live in, and you have to be able to adapt, and you have to be able to realign and be prepared.”