Sprouts Farmers Market signs 50 NIL deals for Title IX's anniversary

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Title IX on Thursday, several companies signed 50 female college athletes to NIL deals to celebrate the culmination of landmark changes, both old and new.

The dating and social networking app Bumble was one, as was Sprouts Farmers Market.

Earlier this week, Sprouts Farmers Market became the official grocer of the Big 12 and Pac-12. Sprouts Farmer’s Market saw an opportunity for synergy across its corporate sponsorships and marketing campaigns. The grocery chain sought to sign NIL deals with 50 women from the two conferences. It did so in about a week with the help of the marketplace Icon Source.

“They were [from] diverse backgrounds, different sports, different schools across the Big 12 and the Pac-12,” Drew Butler, EVP – Collegiate at Icon Source, told On3.

“Almost unanimously, they all said yes,” he said.

Butler described the NIL deals as paid activations that also involved free product and gift cards. UCLA gymnast Emma Malabuyo did a handstand in front of a Sprouts Farmers Market location and she later shared the picture on Instagram.

“As we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Title IX, we are reminded of the progress that has been made in women’s sports over the past five decades,” Timmi Zalatoris, senior vice president of human resources at Sprouts Farmers Market, said in a statement about the grocer’s investment in women across sports. “When we think about the next 50 years of gender equality, Sprouts is committed to building on this momentum and remains invested in growing and changing the landscape of women’s sports for years to come.”

NIL deals show the ‘power of…a platform that is built for scale and efficiency’

As the first year of the NIL era comes to a close, the activation of marketing campaigns involving dozens of athletes on just a week’s notice shows how far the industry has come and where it could go next.

Butler said Sprouts Farmers Market and its media agency reached out to Icon Source after representatives of other marketplaces said they were unable to source enough athletes or complete the NIL deals quickly enough.

Butler said many of the 50 athletes who were selected were already active on Icon Source.

“It just goes to show the power of being on a platform that is built for scale and efficiency,” Butler said, “to where one of our partners comes to us and said, ‘Hey, we need to activate and get these players in the contract immediately. Let’s get it done.’ Using our technology, they can get done.”

If athletes are on the go, they have the ability to sign contracts on Icon Source through their face ID.

The 50th anniversary of Title IX was a popular occasion for large-scale marketing campaigns involving a clean, round number of 50 NIL deals. However, it could also be representative of large companies’ potentially newfound willingness to sign agreements with numerous athletes, not just one or two.

“I think if you can’t do that in this day and age, when you’re understanding that brands don’t just want to do one or two deals, they want to do 50 or 100 deals, that’s how you can really make a mark for yourself,” Butler said, “in what’s gonna be a really awesome Year Two of NIL.”

We're celebrating 50 years of Title IX with a BIG announcement about our commitment to women's sports. We're taking it to the next level! Check it out, and watch for a special guest who's all about that base 🥎@JennieFinch @pac12 @Big12Conference pic.twitter.com/9Cje6wTUqt

— Sprouts (@sproutsfm) June 21, 2022

The Big 12 and Pac-12 athletes are listed below:

— Quincy Bonds, Arizona
— Jaelyn Hodge, Arizona
— Olivia Coleman, Arizona State
— Sydney Kim, Arizona State
— Sydney Erikstrup, Arizona State
— Meg Newman, Arizona State
— Rachel Rosen, Colorado
— Sydney Zimmerman, Colorado
— Morgan Zimmerman, Colorado
— Katie Brooks, Kansas
— Karli Schmidt, Kansas
— Lexy Farrington, Kansas
— Kennedy Farris, Kansas
— Avery Smith, Kansas
— Kate Dreyer, Kansas
— Hanna Hawks, Kansas
— Raena Childers, Kansas
— Marisa Weichel, Kansas State
— Ella Pappas, Oklahoma
— Skylar Vann, Oklahoma
— Gabi Barrera, Oklahoma
— Danae Fletcher, Oklahoma
— Audrey Davis, Oklahoma
— Macie James, Oklahoma State
— Hannah Chance, Oklahoma State
— Jordan Snyder, Oregon
— Kelly Kem, Stanford
— Nicole Goot, Stanford
— Sadie Englemann, Stanford
— Nicole Mossmer, Stanford
— Knisha Godfrey, TCU
— Claire Chahbandour, TCU
— Paige Bradley, TCU
— Kaeli Thompson, Texas
— Emily Goll-Broyles, Texas
— Kennedy Adams, Texas Tech
— Kalyany Steele, UCLA
— Emma Malabuyo, UCLA
— Dominique Onu, UCLA
— Lauren Brzykcy, UCLA
— Audrey Nourse, USC
— Nicole Nourse, USC
— Christine Wang, USC
— Kennady McQueen, Utah
— Maddy Vergura, Utah
— Michelle Zhao, Washington State
— Logann Golden, Washington State
— Grayson Lynch, Washington State