Mercury expands to Oklahoma, launches digital platform

Oklahoma has become the latest institution to partner with the digital experience platform Mercury.

As part of the agreement, Mercury has launched the Oklahoma-centric platform, BoomerSooner.io. The website will provide tailored team experiences. Exclusive, officially licensed digital collectible will also be released.

This marks the fifth school to join forces with Mercury. The company has platforms already launched at Kentucky, Kansas, Clemson and UCF. Villanova‘s platform is set to launch this basketball season.

“As a department that prides itself in being a first-mover, we are extremely excited to partner with Mercury and introduce a new experience for the best fans in the nation,” Oklahoma external engagement director Leah Beasley said in a statement. “We were impressed by Mercury’s mission to highlight our student-athletes as the individuals and leaders they are, and to help us blend our well-known history with the success and momentum our teams are experiencing.” 

On top of the collectibles and experiences, Mercury is in the process of signing NIL deals with Oklahoma student-athletes to add to the user experiences. This will include athlete-led conversations and appearances on the platform’s Discord chat. They’ll also be able to release their own NFTs.

BoomerSooner.io will feature team news and discussion forums. Digital collectibles will focus on featuring athletes and big-time moments.

Mercury building NIL foundation with Sooners

Before announcing the formation of BoomerSooner.io on Monday, Mercury signed tight end Kaden Helms and wide receiver Nicholas Anderson to NIL deals.

The two athletes will co-host “The Oklahoma Football Experience” show. The monthly podcast’s first episode launched last week, with freshman defensive lineman Gracen Holten joining as a guest.

Mercury has also launched the Oklahoma Softball ring collection to commemorate the program’s sixth national title. Only 59 will be created — in honor of Oklahoma’s 59-win season. Twenty have already dropped. Each Ring has a point total tied to it that will correlate to the Boomer Sooner Leaderboard.

“Oklahoma has some of the top teams, standout student-athletes and one of the most loyal fan bases in the country,” Mercury CEO Porter Grieve said. “We are thrilled to team up with the university’s athletic department and highlight the most dynamic student-athletes and teams in college sports today while adding specialized content that captures OU’s traditions and history.”

What this Mercury partnership means for Oklahoma

Mercury strives to enable universities to create innovative digital fan experiences to make selling digital collectibles seamless and customized. For universities, it aims to simplify the process of developing a marketing strategy and design to ultimately drive fan engagement. For players, it creates an easy way to put NIL dollars in their pockets. And for fans, it enables supporters of the tradition-rich program to enhance what it means to be a fan. 

It’s also a time-efficient way for athletes to monetize their NIL. They can promote these discussions and collectibles on their social media channels. Athletes don’t need to worry about hustling to a photoshoot or attending an in-person event.

Details on the revenue distribution model have yet to be disclosed. But in past deals, the company has brought on as many athletes as possible from football and basketball teams.

“We’re not going to market with everyone we see, everyone we talked to,” Grieve previously told On3. “We’re really focused right now on bringing to market some core iconic schools and brands and partners.”