Penn State NIL offerings expand with new partnership

Ahead of the most marquee opponent on Penn State’s 2022 schedule, the program’s NIL landscape is expanding. In partnership with The Family Clothesline in downtown State College, new personalized Nittany Lion shirseys (t-shirt jerseys) are available for purchase.

Starting with true freshman quarterback Drew Allar in recent weeks, the collection of replicas is expanding to include Nicholas Singleton, Abdul Carter, and Joey Porter Jr. And, in the process of providing new offerings for fans hoping to support their favorite stars, Penn State players are expected to reap in some of the rewards from it.

“We’ve had a very positive response from all the athletes and their families, and everyone that’s supporting the athletes,” said Caroline Gummo, chief operating officer for The Family Clothesline. “It’s just a very new market for the product. The goal is to build that relationship with the fans and the players. 

“So many times we see little kids, their idol is one of the players on the football team and they want to show their enthusiasm by wearing the product or a jersey of a player that wasn’t ever available before. So this is going to connect the fans to these athletes more than it ever has been before.”

Penn State’s new NIL endeavor

For Gummo, who has been with The Family Clothesline since 2006, the initiative is a new frontier the store is enthusiastic to bring to fruition. 

Though one of the premier sellers of officially licensed Penn State clothing for decades, only the onset of the new name, image, and likeness legislation in 2021 opened the door to partnering with current Nittany Lion athletes. Having always understood and respected those prior rules, that limited selling opportunities to former Penn Staters in the past. But with those rules now out of the way, and the necessary time elapsed to get a feel for how and what NIL partnerships can look like, Gummo said the opportunities at hand are exciting.

“We always erred on the side of caution with the NCAA rules. And we didn’t ever want to put anyone in a position doing something that would jeopardize their eligibility to play,” Gummo said. “We had worked with lots of former Penn State athletes after they were done with Penn State. But, we never really had envisioned those many years ago that this was going to be an opportunity that would come about. It was just how things were. 

“Once NIL came about, there was a lot of uncertainty of how this is all gonna play out. How do you make this work in different business environments? And how do we support the football program? We were very excited. We were hoping that there would be a way that we could support the program and these athletes. It did take us a little bit to get to this point. This is all new ground and we were just navigating it with everyone else that was involved. How does this landscape look for us?”

Next NIL steps

With Allar, Singleton, Carter, and Porter Jr. now aboard, the hopes are clear moving forward.

Offering a better cut of the revenue than the Fanatics deal, which has been reported nationally to be just under $4 for the sale of each $130 replica jersey, Gummo is confident that the local partnership can be a boon for everyone involved. Though unable to disclose its specific terms for Penn State’s first participants in the partnership, the goal is to provide a “win-win-win” for the players and their families, the fans that support them, and the retailer. 

“Our goal was to make this a really good fit for the athletes and support the athletic program here. That in turn allows them to develop and continue with recruiting and retention of these players,” Gummo said. “The goal of this whole program is to be a good supporter of the athletic program. So the deal is very good for these players.”

Calling the arrangement “the tip of the iceberg,” the retailer intends to expand participation to the whole team. Already, the store hosts one-hour autograph signings for a rotating cast of football players on home football Sundays. It has generated a positive response, she said. 

Setting an example

With an expanding and open-minded approach to other opportunities that could exist, Gummo added that The Family Clothesline would like to help set an example to the local business community of what’s possible moving forward.

“This is all new for everyone. Everyone’s kind of watching to see what we’re gonna do with it. So hopefully that opens up other opportunities for these guys. Hopefully we make this very comfortable for other businesses to say, ‘Hey, this is what they’re doing. How do we get involved?’” Gummo said. “I think everyone’s just looking to see how we do it. Then hopefully guys continue to grow their brands and their reach on NIL. Hopefully, we help open a lot more doors for these guys.” 

The new shirts are being sold for $39.99 and are available in-store or online.