Five separate Texas NIL collectives combine to form Texas One Fund
Five separate University of Texas athletics related Name, Image, and Likeness collectives with focuses in different sports have combined to form the “Texas One Fund,” it was announced Thursday. According to a press release, the Texas One Fund, which also announced its launch, “will seek to maximize community impact and be the preferred NIL fundraising collective for Texas student-athletes.”
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The Texas One Fund consolidates the five major NIL collectives currently in the Texas athletics ecosystem. That includes Clark Field Collective, Horns With Heart, the baseball-focused Occupy Left Field, the basketball-centric 40 Pack, and the golf-oriented National Championship Golf Foundation. Those entities now operate as one under the Texas One Fund name.
The stated goal of the fund is to “create positive community impact, through a one stop fund, that assists Texas athletes in cultivating and facilitating NIL opportunities and ensures collegiate athlete success year after year.”
“We are very pleased with the formation of Texas One Fund,” Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte said in a statement. “As a 501(c)(3) organization, it provides our fans, donors, and supporters a way to contribute to NIL opportunities for our student-athletes and for our student-athletes to support important community programs. We believe this is the best way to bolster NIL initiatives for our student-athletes and support the meaningful interactions they can make in the charitable community.”
Those involved with the individual collectives celebrated the move.
“After executing numerous NIL deals, we were able to see the need for a bigger positive community impact and a streamlined setup,” said Nick Shuley, founder of Clark Field Collective. “Texas has the luxury of having so many organizations that want to help, but we quickly saw the need to get everyone in the community together. We wanted to make giving easily accessible to everyone and create a bigger connection to the athletic programs, athletes, and community. Whether you are giving $5 or $5 million, we want to make this something for every Longhorn.”
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According to the release, Clark Field Collective, previously the leading Texas NIL organization, will become an NIL activation agency.
Patrick Smith, an Austin-area attorney, will serve as president of the Texas One Fund.
“This is a huge win for the contributors and donors as it will create a simple streamlined process for everyone and all sports,” said Smith, the former head of the 40 Pack. “We aim to do this the ‘Texas Way’ and to make NIL opportunities available for every student-athlete at the University of Texas.”
The release states donors, fans, contributors, and businesses will have the ability to direct tax-deductible donations to the sport of their choice, with the option to support a general fund for dissemination across sports.
The new fund will be comprised of an executive board featuring alumni, donors, and business leaders; and individual boards representing each Texas sport program that will ensure all partnership opportunities are maximized and available for athletes in each respective sport program, according to the release. Information can be found on its website, www.TexasOneFund.org.
