Ohio State NIL collective, The Foundation, unveils plans to launch Florida chapter

Brian Schottenstein has no plans of slowing down the Ohio State-focused NIL collective, The Foundation.

When the lifelong Ohio State fan and real estate developer announced the formation of The Foundation last fall, it was rooted in the want to keep the Buckeyes competitive on the field and in recruiting. Since then he’s pieced together a board of directors, which includes Urban Meyer and J.T. Barrett.

The football and basketball-centric collective secured $550,000 worth of deals for four players earlier this offseason. And at the collective’s season kickoff event, 13 experiences were auctioned off for a combined $140,000. That’s in addition to the cost of admission and sold out tables, which were sold at $10,000 a pop.

The next step for Schottenstein and his co-founder Cardale Jones is to take The Foundation outside of Ohio.

Plans are in place for a Florida chapter of the collective, with the hope of having an annual fundraiser in the Miami area. Some of the top talent in the country resides in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, a place where Ohio State fans also love to flock to in the wintertime. That should be a win-win for The Foundation.

“We’re always adapting, we have to,” Schottenstein told On3 on Thursday afternoon. “We already have the biggest brand of any collective in Ohio, have raised the most money and have partnered with the most student-athletes. This just continues to build our brand even bigger.”

The Diamond and Deshe families will head up the new branch of The Foundation. Each have ties to Columbus and are notable Ohio State supporters. Schottenstein said The Foundation has already secured an endowment in the hundreds of thousands committed to the Florida venture.

Possible ideas for fundraisers include a golf outing. The Foundation could fly down Ohio State athletes and compensate them for their appearance at events.

“In the past, you haven’t been able to do things for athletes when they’re in school,” Elie Deshe said. “And finally, now you can, and it’s well deserved. And so being in South Florida, where really my whole family has relocated to, we wanted to get involved more and try to do something first-of-its-kind. Having an out-of-state foundation supporting players to go to a university that’s not in the state that you’re based in — that’s a testament to Buckeye nation.”

How Florida branch will work with The Foundation

The Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit with no plans of changing. The Florida chapter will not register as a new non-profit, but instead, file any necessary documents and tax paperwork under the main collective’s umbrella.

Conversations have already started about even having Ohio State wide receiver coach and former Miami Dolphins wideout Brian Hartline come down for an event. For Deshe and Schottenstein, making sure the Buckeyes have a presence in the recruiting hotbed is the real factor.

The current 2023 class has 56 recruits from Florida ranked in the On300. And in the last five years, 144 athletes from the Sunshine State have heard their names called in the NFL Draft. It’s the second highest, only trailing Texas.

“Once we have this in place, it will be an even better pitch for when Ohio State is talking to a Florida high school student,” Schottenstein said. “That we’re really focusing on Florida athletes and the Buckeyes that are from there.”

Deshe uses last week’s game as his example of how strong the Buckeyes’ presence is nationally. The top-five matchup between Ohio State and Notre Dame averaged 10.53 million viewers on ABC in primetime on Saturday to lead television viewership for all Week 1 games.

The Ohio State fan effect is very real. And The Foundation plans on tapping into that in Florida.

“I think that this is one of those shots across the bow right now,” he said. “In NIL, everything is so new. Anytime something happens, it captures some momentum. Ohio State’s very relevant right now, as much as they are always. It’s just another way that we’re going to stay relevant.”