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Last Updated on March 25, 2022
Division Street, the University of Oregon-focused NIL company formed by Phil Knight and former Nike executives, is partnering with Opendorse to launch the Official NIL Marketplace of the Oregon Ducks. The first curated marketplace of its kind in college sports, it will enable Oregon athletes to connect with individuals and companies to facilitate NIL partnerships.
Oregon fans and supporters will use the Opendorse-powered marketplace to book appearances, autograph sessions, video shoutouts, social media content and more.
Division Street was founded to assist University of Oregon student athletes with monetizing their NIL by leveraging the decades of experience across its team to give branding, marketing, sponsorship, digital and creative support. Former VP and GM of NIKE Women NKE, Rosemary St. Clair, is the CEO of Division Street and says Opendorse was a perfect fit for their mission.
“We’re built to serve student-athletes, so naturally we want to make the experience as simple as possible for them. Their lives are busy enough as it is, and Opendorse provides a seamless approach, from term sheet to tax form.”
Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence says the partnership will revolutionize the way collectives look to assist student athletes.
“The curated NIL Marketplace creates the most clear-cut, accessible NIL experience for athletes and supporters in college sports. It will change the way collectives and programs look to market their athletes. Beyond the marketplace itself, this partnership brings together two of the most proven, innovative leaders in athlete marketing. Adding Opendorse’s technology to Division Street’s ability to secure valuable partnerships will add simplicity and safety to the Oregon athlete’s NIL experience. Now they can maximize their opportunity by managing deals, compliance disclosures and even tax prep in one app.”
Lawrence believes we’ve only seen the beginning of school-specific collectives like Division Street.
“NIL collectives will soon be a standard across all of DI athletics, not just the Power 5. Supporters and sponsors of every program want their favorite student-athletes to maximize their opportunities, but NIL is still a relative unknown to many. Many would-be top supporters may not know where to get started–and the NIL collective model works to help them and enhance support of college athletes.”
Collectives have already started to support student athletes of other schools, such as Auburn University, University of Florida, University of Miami, University of Michigan, University of South Carolina, and University of Washington.
The Opendorse marketplace for Oregon student athletes is set to launch in the first quarter of 2022 at oregon.opendorse.com. Until then, Division Street will use Opendorse to provide a streamlined experience for brands to coordinate and facilitate partnerships with Oregon student athletes.
This piece was originally published on Forbes
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