Valiant launches Michigan NIL T-shirt commemorating Big Ten title

Michigan delivered its second consecutive Big Ten championship this past weekend.

Valiant Management is now making sure players reap the NIL benefits. The sports marketing agency has launched a T-shirt commemorating the conference title in partnership with The M Den.

Currently on sale for $35, roughly 50% of Valiant’s profit margin will be kicked back into a team royalty pool. From there, the cash will be distributed evenly to each member of the team who wants to participate in the deal.

Valiant founder Jared Wengler told On3 the T-shirts will be on sale for as long as fans are purchasing them. The sports marketing group plans to make the payouts as part of its quarterly payout for athletes, which also includes sales from their jerseys, trading cards and jersey T-shirts.

Companies such as the The Players Trunk and BreakingT have capitalized in the NIL Era, launching businesses that help create merchandise for athletes to profit on. And group licensing deals are not hard to come by, but Valiant’s move following the Big Ten title is unique.

It follows a similar strategy to what Tennessee’s Volunteer Club constructed following Jalin Hyatt’s performance against Alabama. The collective signed Hyatt to a deal where he received all the profits of new membership he drove into the club and another 20% following the first month.

Providing new, innovative NIL opportunities to athletes continues to be the chief goal of collectives. Valiant Management also helps operate a Michigan collective, Champions Circle, which is donor-based.

“We have a group of prominent boosters at Michigan that came together, and we helped them shape what we’re calling Champions Circle,” Wengler previously told On3. “It’s a collective. It’s partnering with Valiant, essentially, to structure and create a NIL deal to maximize opportunities for the current University of Michigan student-athletes.

“Valiant is essentially steering the ship and deciding on which players we’re doing deals with.”

Michigan’s athletic department has been slow to adapt to NIL. Jim Harbaugh stated at Big Ten Media Days this summer he supports the idea of athletes sharing TV revenue and the possibility of doubling Ohio State’s estimated NIL needs. At the same time, the institution has been weary of entering the NIL recruiting wars.

Valiant has taken on much of the NIL duties around Ann Arbor. And the decision to launch the Big Ten title T-shirt is just the latest example of how it is pushing forward opportunities for Michigan athletes.