UK Athletics launches NIL business registry "BBNIL Exchange"

Kentucky is taking the next step in breaking into the new world of name, image, and likeness (NIL).

On Thursday afternoon, UK Athletics announced the BBNIL Exchange, described as “a student-athlete NIL business registry, custom-designed for businesses, donors, alumni, and any other interested NIL dollars wishing to connect with student-athletes.” The BBNIL Exchange will allow businesses to apply for registration where, once approved, they can search through a catalog of Kentucky Wildcats student-athletes, reach out to them, and discuss potential NIL deals.

“We are committed to working on behalf of our student-athletes in every way we can, including and especially in the NIL space,” Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said in the press release. “The BBNIL Exchange is another exciting step for both our student-athletes and the local businesses that are such an important part of our community. Our young people are leaders in our region and therefore great brand ambassadors. This next step in building on our NIL empowerment programs will be beneficial for our great student-athletes and local businesses looking for excellent leaders to serve as their representatives.”

According to UK Athletics, once a student-athlete and business agree upon a NIL deal and complete it, the payment will then be sent directly to the student-athlete.

We are launching the “BBNIL Exchange,” a safe and easy-to-use portal to connect student-athletes with businesses to make #NIL deals.

Interested parties can register for the #BBNIL Exchange now at https://t.co/Sc5hSYbku1.

📰🔗 https://t.co/DtBBxMmUW2 pic.twitter.com/0WpOnVmv1B

— Kentucky Athletics (@UKAthletics) September 1, 2022

Here are some other small notes from the BBNIL Exchange website:

• University of Kentucky employees, which includes coaches and members of the athletic department, are not permitted to get involved in the negotiating aspect of potential deals. That being said, those same employees can at least “direct” a student-athlete towards a NIL opportunity.
• Neither the school nor INFLCR will take a cut of the revenue generated from NIL deals.
• Businesses do not need to be official university licensees in order to register, but they will not be allowed to use any Kentucky logos or marks until they do secure a license.
• In the business/entity portion of the application, it states that “Entity can be used to refer to a business, collective, individual, donor, etc. All of these groups can be approved subject to University Compliance for access to the Exchange.”

If you’re a business interested in applying, you can learn more about the program by clicking the link here.