USA Triathlon Foundation launches NIL collective to support women’s collegiate triathletes

Collectives have swept the nation and dramatically reshaped the NIL landscape. The vast majority of collectives are run by influential supporters focused on helping create NIL deals at a particular school.

Collectives are starting to form to support specific sports at school, too. Take Occupy Left Field, which supports the Texas Longhorn baseball program, for example. Plus, there are countless basketball-specific collectives, such as Home of the Brave at Bradley, Dayton 6th at Dayton, Friends Of Spike at Gonzaga and Turtle NIL at Maryland.

However, Thomas Lenneberg, the executive director at the USA Triathlon Foundation hopes to broaden the definition of what a collective is even further.

Lenneberg and USA Triathlon Foundation have launched the Watch Us Thrive Collective. The collective pools funds from supporters of triathlon and NCAA women’s triathlon to provide financial support directly to student-athletes in the form of NIL payments.

In return, Lenneberg told On3 that NIL recipients will promote the NCAA women’s triathlon movement and engage with multi-sport communities.

“This is a really unique way to say we’re putting skin in the game,” Lenneberg said. “We’re trying to raise money and help the sport. And obviously, one way to do that right now is NIL and supporting these individual athletes.”

Triathlon rapidly expanding with NCAA schools

In February, triathlon hit a key milestone in the process of becoming the newest NCAA sport – 40 schools have now officially signed on with varsity women’s triathlon teams.

Since women’s triathlon was first approved in 2014 as an NCAA emerging sport for women – a program that creates an easier pathway to NCAA status in an effort to grow women’s sports –  supporters been steadily funding and working toward having 40 schools by 2024. Now that they’ve hit that criteria, it will trigger a recommendation and eventually a vote to officially add women’s triathlon as an NCAA championship sport.

Lenneberg said the growth of triathlon in the college ranks proves there’s a growing interest in the sport.

“We’re seeing a lot of interest in it,” he said. “There was a New York Times article recently that touched on an increase in college athletes participating in Iron Man distance races . We’ve seen it across the board and across different distances. We’ve seen huge growth with our young adult membership program from 18 to 23-year-olds. We’re also seeing the infrastructure grow at the grassroots level.”

Supporting student-athletes participating in the booming sport seems like the next logical step for the USA Triathlon Foundation.

“There are a number of us that are currently working here or previously worked here that worked in college athletics,” Lenneberg said. “So, we certainly understand the need for NIL and the importance of supporting student-athletes. They’re putting a lot of work in. They’re full-time employees on top of being full-time student-athletes, on top of being full-time community ambassadors, on top of everything else they face.”

Watch Us Thrive Collective generating donations for NIL

Lenneberg said Tuesday the USA Triathlon Foundation has done early solicitation around funding for the collective. He said the group has “seen a good initial response.”

The next step for the USA Triathlon Foundation is to open submissions for student-athletes to indicate interest in the collective. That’ll take place in the spring. Then in August 2023, the USA Triathlon Foundation will announce the inaugural class of NIL recipients.

According to the USA Triathlon Foundation, eligible student-athletes will be selected by the group. They can’t be nominated by their coach or other athletics department staff member. Recipients will be asked to promote the NCAA women’s triathlon movement through their social media and digital channels. They’ll also be asked to submit a letter outlining their involvement.

Student-athletes will receive funds from the NIL deal directly from the USA Triathlon Foundation at the end of the fall and spring semesters. Student-athletes must submit proof of each social media post before funds are distributed.

Timing for triathlon-focused NIL collective makes sense

Tim Yount, Chief Sport Development Officer of USA Triathlon, said it’s an incredibly exciting time for women’s collegiate triathlon, and the timing is perfect for the launch of the collective.

“The Watch Us Thrive Collective will allow NCAA women’s collegiate triathlon fans and supporters of the sport a tangible way to help current and future triathlon student-athletes, while the athletes can help spread the word about the virtues of our sport, community and NCAA women’s triathlon,” Young said.

“It also shows USA Triathlon is committed to being a long-term and active partner in the development of this sport at the NCAA level.”  

Supporters interested in furthering the goals of The Watch Us Thrive Collective can donate here. All donations to the collective are tax-deductible. 

The 2022 women’s collegiate triathlon season concludes on Nov. 12 in Tempe, Arizona, for the 2022 Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships, hosted by Arizona State. This summer, Arizona became the latest school to announce it would add varsity women’s triathlon to its sports programs.