Penn State pushes NIL auction as Avalon event arrives
Penn State football’s biggest NIL event is set for Thursday evening in Avalon, N.J. “We Are! At the Shore” will feature Nittany Lion head coach James Franklin, current and former players, all aiming to push support for the program’s name, image, and likeness endeavors.
But, one of the night’s biggest draws isn’t limited to attendees of the event.
Thanks to the support of multiple donors, an online auction is running through Thursday evening featuring multiple unique Penn State football experiences and more. The auction is set to take bids until 9:30 p.m. EST.
Penn State high-profile NIL auction
In total, seven Nittany Lion football experiences are available for bidding, as well as seven pieces of autographed player memorabilia. Highlights of the auction include a behind-the-scenes day with Penn State football during the Class of 2024 National Signing Day in December, with bids starting at $10,000.
Also available are a Penn State Pro Day experience, with bids starting at $5,000, an afternoon spent with former Nittany Lion linebacker Michael Mauti watching the Indiana game on Oct. 28 at Beaver Stadium ($3,000), and sideline passes for West Virginia ($1,250) and Delaware ($2,100) on this year’s schedule.
Additionally, a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the Dream Finders Homes chalet on the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass for the 2024 Players Championship in March, and four Hall of Fame Club passes to the Philadelphia Phillies game against the Cardinals on Saturday, August 26, are available for auction.
Pushing NIL support
Ahead of the NIL event in Avalon on Thursday evening, Franklin continued to explain the push for donor support he’s urged publicly in recent months.
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Noting in April that the Nittany Lions’ NIL efforts still had “a ton of work to do” to catch up to national peers, his read at this week’s Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis remained urgent. Signaling his thanks to Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft for work in the NIL space, Franklin told reporters that this isn’t the time for the program to take its foot off the gas.
“Pat has come in here and made a significant impact and emphasized this, more to what we’re competing against, not only within the conference but also on a national level,” Franklin said. “I just felt like, although we had made progress, it had leveled back off again and we needed to take that next step at a time where the collectives were merging, which was also an important point for us. But while that was happening, we weren’t making the progress that we needed to make.
“I think the combination of all those things – Pat’s leadership, the merging, and then trying to emphasize it where we could as a program and where I could as a program – I think has helped maybe speed up that maturation process in this specific area.”
The Penn State football program will get the feedback of its litmus test on Thursday evening in Avalon.
