Ohio State launches ambassador program for NIL opportunities

Ohio State has launched a new brand ambassador program for student-athletes. The program will provide NIL opportunities to Ohio State student-athletes by helping them to become brand ambassadors for companies around Columbus, Ohio.

Being a brand ambassador typically means promoting a company or product in one way or another. It’s also one of the most common types of NIL deals. Deals like Texas running back Bijan Robinson’s Lamborghini deal are brand ambassador deals. Robinson promotes the dealership via social media.

The brand ambassador program is modeled after another local Ohio State initiative, which was designed to help student-athletes get internships. Ohio State will be facilitating these NIL deals. They won’t, however, be involved in the details of the deals.

“The key to it is the companies are going to negotiate with student-athletes their value,” senior associate athletic director Carey Hoyt told The Columbus Dispatch.

“We’re not saying to a company like, ‘Hey, this student-athlete is worth $10,000 a tweet.’ Nothing like that. We’re really just matching the companies with the student-athletes that could be a fit and letting them determine the details of the contract.”

Hoyt says that the goal is to have 20 companies join the program in the first year. However, there is some hesitancy due to changing NCAA rules and enforcement policies.

“There’s this feeling that the NCAA has to do something, that this can’t go on, so we don’t want to get involved in something that’s going to be pulled back,” Hoyt said.

Ohio State and NIL

Ohio State is a major player in college football, which makes them a major player in NIL. Recently, head coach Ryan Day made headlines by saying that the Buckeyes needed $13 million in NIL money to compete.

Ohio State also has two emerging NIL collectives: Cohesion Foundation and The Foundation. Both of these are working to provide NIL opportunities to student-athletes at Ohio State. Sports Illustrated also reported in January 2022 that Ohio State athletes had made $2.98 million in NIL deals.

The Buckeyes have tons of incredibly valuable student-athletes. Quarterback CJ Stroud, a Heisman favorite, is chief among them. Stroud has an On3 NIL Valuation of $2.4 million. That makes him sixth on the On3 NIL 100 list and third among all college football players.