Virginia Tech basketball guard Sean Pedulla to cohost cooking class

Virginia Tech guard Sean Pedulla will cohost a cooking class at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday, April 11 at Gourmet Pantry & Cooking School through a name, image and likeness activation facilitated by the sports marketing agency Triumph NIL. As a sophomore, Pedulla started all 34 games for the Hokies. He averaged 15 points per game, which ranked second on the team and represented an increase of 9.6 points per game compared to his freshman season. Depending on the future of teammate Grant Basile, who has one year of eligibility remaining that he could choose to use, Pedulla could be the team’s leading returning scorer entering next season.

Pedulla will host the cooking class alongside Roya Gharavi, who’s the owner of Gourmet Pantry. The two-and-a-half-hour event is sold out, according to Gourmet Pantry & Cooking School’s website. Tickets were available for $130.

“At the event, the two will discuss, prepare and share Italian cuisine with ticket holders in attendance,” according to a news release. Attendees will make pastas, meats and sauces.

Pedulla is the second Virginia Tech athlete to cohost a cooking class at Gourmet Pantry & Cooking School through an NIL opportunity facilitated by Triumph NIL. In January, center Elizabeth Kitley, who was recently named a second-team All-American and ACC Player of the Year, teamed up with Gharavi on a night when the Hokies didn’t have a game. They hosted an “All-American cooking class.”

Triumph NIL creates partnerships for Virginia Tech athletes

Last September, Pedulla and some of his teammates partnered with CMG Leasing through Triumph NIL.

“This gives me the opportunity to leverage my #NIL rights to promote specific #CMG properties through a variety of personal appearances, content development programs, social media posts and live events,” Pedulla tweeted. He also made an appearance at an event called Gobblerfest, which Virginia Tech Student Engagement and Campus Life hosted. CMG Leasing had a booth at the event.

After Triumph NIL signs a marketing agreement with an athlete, one of the sports marketing agency’s partners will provide the athletes with a questionnaire so the partners can better understand the athlete’s interests outside of sports.

“We warn them ahead of time, like, ‘There’s a lot of questions on this. A lot of it’s going to seem irrelevant but just go with it. Be honest,’” Triumph NIL COO Robyn Jones previously told On3. “So we want to know about their interests. What are the things they like doing off the court?