TCU baseball's Tre Richardson, IHOP partner for "Tre Winning Trio"

Tre Richardson‘s record-breaking season continues to pay dividends, this time resulting in an NIL deal with IHOP.

The TCU infielder hit two grand slams among his three home runs and tied an NCAA postseason record with 11 RBIs in last month’s NCAA Fayetteville Regional. The Horned Frogs eventually advanced to the College World Series, as Richardson finished the year with a team-high 84 hits.

Now the International House of Pancakes is paying homage to Richardson. To honor his standout year, the restaurant chain is celebrating “TreDay” this Wednesday with the “Tre Winning Trio.” The one-day promotion will include IHOP’s three strawberry cheesecake pancake tacos and six pieces of bacon.

Tre’s Winning Trio will only be available at the Fort Worth location, according to a tweet from IHOP. “TreDay” is not a new saying around TCU circles. After his 11 RBI performance, he turned the moment into an NIL opportunity by releasing T-shirts with Hell’s Half Acre Stadium Goods featuring the slogan.

IHOP is helping take “TreDay” to the next level this week. A former Baylor transfer, Richardson had a significant impact in his first season with the Horned Frogs. He finished the year with 60 RBIs, while boasting a .452 slugging percentage and a .392 on-base percentage. The shortstop and utility infielder recorded 25 stolen bases, which led TCU.

To congratulate star second baseman, @_trerichardson_, on a record-setting season, IHOP is celebrating #TreDay this Wed. July 12th. For one day only, we’ll offer the “Tre Winning Trio” ft. our new Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Pancake Tacos 🍓🥞🌮+ SIX pieces of bacon! See below 👇 pic.twitter.com/B9HFtAmHpU

— IHOP (@IHOP) July 10, 2023

The Horned Frogs finished the season with a 44-24 record, knocking off three national seeds on their run to the College World Series semifinals.

Restaurants, food brands continue to enter NIL space

When Kansas walk-on tight end Jared Casey caught the game-winning two-point conversion in the Jayhawks’ first-ever win at Texas in 2021, he turned around and shot a commercial with Applebee’s. At that point, it was one of the first endorsement deals with a major restaurant to feature a college athlete.

Since then, more and more companies in the restaurant and food categories have used NIL as a marketing tool. Wake Forest basketball player Tyree Appleby signed with Applebee’s in February. Reese’s agreed to partnerships with 12 football players back in October. Buffalo Wild Wings followed it up by signing eight college football players to create the “first-ever All-Sauce team” in January.

Cheez-It also worked with four athletes in December, signing them to NIL deals for “Feelin’ the Cheeziest” hotel rooms. McDonald’s and Dunkin‘ have each launched full-scale marketing campaigns, too.

Drake Maye and six North Carolina wide receivers agreed to terms on an endorsement deal with the Baltimore-based Jimmy’s Famous Seafood and Jimmy’s Famous Meals last month. As part of the agreements, each athlete will promote the meal prep service on their social media channels. In exchanged, they will receive weekly meals from Jimmy’s Famous Meals through December 2023.