Chatting with Passes founder Lucy Guo on what new NIL venture will bring to Michigan
Michigan Athletics last week announced a partnership with the Passes platform, giving fans access to behind-the-scenes content from U-M athletes and exclusive merch drops, premium content, group chats and more to benefit NIL efforts in Ann Arbor.
Several prominent athletes, headlined by LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne, are on the platform and have generated quite a bit for themselves. Passes also hopes to work itself into the conversation when it comes to the pursuit of five-star 2025 quarterback Bryce Underwood.
“All Michigan student-athletes are uniquely positioned to benefit from Passes, which currently features several On3 top 10 athletes earning 6-7 figures on the platform,” the initial release said.
“From exclusive merchandise and signed memorabilia to post and pre-game livestreams, Passes’ versatility allows for total customization to best reach the unique interests of diverse audiences.
“For example, fans and donors can subscribe to the Team 146 Tier. Proceeds from this tier will be directed towards ensuring that the football team, through recruiting, retention, and portal transfers, will remain in contention for national championships year after year. The goal of the Team 146 Tier is to demonstrate that individual donors of any size can have a meaningful impact on Michigan’s ability to be successful in today’s dynamic college landscape.”
Passes founder Lucy Guo, a Michigan fan and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, joined TheWolverine.com podcast to discuss the platform and give us an inside perspective from what to expect from the partnership.
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“Passes is a creator-to-fan experience, and we’re working with Michigan to help build these athletes from signing day to draft day on their brand with Passes to better monetize their brand,” Guo told The Wolverine. “Now that NIL is allowed, there are different ways to monetize from subscriptions to DMs to selling merchandise to being able to offer meet and greets. We’re even working with Michigan to be able to provide special experiences during games, for example. So I’m really, really excited to see, like how these athletes do.
“We are working closely with them to determine how much time they have and how they think the best monetize. For example, some athletes are probably gonna be doing better off of merchandise. Others are going to be doing post-game live streams. It is really up to them, but we’re here to help support them in any way possible.
“We’re essentially trying to bring structure to what I would call the Wild West of NIL.”
Our full chat with Guo on how Michigan and Passes will work together and how the platform hopes to evolve can be seen watching the embedded player above, on our YouTube channel, or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
More information on the Passes platform, including different membership tiers you can join, can be found on their official website.
