Sweetgreen enters NIL space with launch at TCU

The fast-casual salad shop sweetgreen has entered the NIL space.

The publicly traded company has more than 158 stores spanning from California to Massachusetts to Texas. Serving up a variety of salads and warm bowls, sweetgreen continues to expand its brand.

And now it is using Name, Image and Likeness to promote a new store in the Fort Worth area. Using the NIL platform Opendorse, sweetgreen has signed multiple TCU athletes. Basketball player Micah Peavy is part of the campaign along with volleyball player Madi Cole and high jumper Jill Johnson. All three posted on Instagram as part of their activation.

Plans are in place for the salad shop to bring on Big Ten athletes into its NIL program soon, too. The state of Indiana is set to opens its first of the fast casual spot later this month.

“Sweetgreen was founded by three college students who were simply looking for a healthier way to eat,” the company said in a statement to On3. “All the options were either cheap and unhealthy or slow and expensive.

“Now, more than 15 years later, the concept of partnering with college athletes moved by the same mission feels like we’re paying homage to the company’s roots. Younger generations are more inspired than ever to support the brands that align with their values, and for us, that means making healthy food more satisfying and accessible.”

It’s not a major surprise as Opendorse has seen some major brands sign athletes to campaigns this fall. Amazon, Activision, Capital One, Foot Locker, Garmin, Pepsi, Snapchat and Well Fargo have all been active on the platform.

“Nobody knows more about the importance of fueling your body with healthy food than student-
athletes,” Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence said. “Sweetgreen partnering with student-athletes in the
community is a no-brainer and win-win for all involved.”

Need for Opendorse revamped NIL marketplace

Lawrence remains adamant that the revamped, school-specific NIL marketplace remains a necessity. The data backs up his theory, too.

In the most recent data released by Opendorse, which runs through August, the average compensation for a D-I athlete is $3,063. Additionally, there is a major drop-off following Division I. The Division II player makes $709 on average while a Division III athlete is compensated $309.

Furthermore, Opendorse has seen promising NIL returns in women’s volleyball, softball and a number of Olympic sports. With the launch of the new, streamlined marketplace, Lawrence hopes to see numbers jump up is coming together.

“Helping athletes use technology to make money for a decade, we’ve seen a lot of things,” he told On3 earlier this summer. “One of the more real things is athletes with representation. It’s got to make economic sense for a person to get involved in a transaction. If that person is earning a 10% commission on a NIL deal, it takes them the same amount of work to do a $1,000 deal as it does a $10,000 deal. If given the chance, a person working on NIL opportunities may turn down or not put effort into helping a student-athlete get a $100 deal.

“The majority of student-athlete NIL activities are those deals. There’s a gap in most markets of smaller-dollar deals. Without a technology partner, these athletes have no access to capitalize.”