The Foundation announces plans for Ohio State NIL booster event

Booster gatherings featuring coaches and student-athlete appearances have been going on for years. The opportunity for athletic departments to raise needed funds is an age-old tradition in college athletics. Those booster events will look much different this summer.

With Year 1 of NIL in the books, athletes are now able to receive cash for their appearance at these gatherings. That’s the plan for Ohio State‘s NIL collective, The Foundation. The organization announced Wednesday that Buckeyes head coaches Ryan Day and Chris Holtmann will be on hand for the exclusive event on Aug. 22 at the Blackwell Hotel in Columbus. Both coaches will speak about leadership and how NIL has impacted Ohio State athletics.

Collectives, which are independent of a university, can serve a variety of purposes. Most often, they pool funds from boosters and businesses, help facilitate NIL deals for athletes and also create their own ways for athletes to monetize their brands. The Foundation is a crowdsourced collective, which accepts donations from fans.

Former Buckeyes quarterback and The Foundation’s co-founder Cardale Jones will be in attendance, along with current Ohio State players C.J. Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, Denzel Burke, Paris Johnson, Julian Fleming and Cam Brown. Brian Schottenstein, The Foundation’s co-founder, told On3 that wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba will also be on hand.

The price points for admission to attend the event have also been released. Two tickets to the event will run $1,000. A table for 10 including a photo with Holtmann and Day can be purchased for $10,000. Schottenstein previously told On3 all profits from the event will go directly to student-athletes.

Addressing Ohio State’s $13 million warning

The event is just the latest in a string of moves from The Foundation to directly address Ryan Day’s $13 million warning. The Ohio State football coach warned fans and boosters in June that to keep Ohio State at the top of college football, the Buckeyes will need to raise that pile of cash annually.

If anything, the alert served as a rallying cry for boosters. The Foundation’s August event is a step in the right direction.

“I totally agree with Coach Day,” Schottenstein previously told On3. “In order to compete with other schools in the South, we need to continue to raise money.”

August’s event is a step in the right direction. It’s also another sign of the sweeping changes NIL has caused across the college sports scene.