The University of Maine is offering fans, alumni and partners a new way to support the student-athlete experience: The Black Bear Student-Athlete Experience Fund.
According to Go Black Bears, the fund is established in conjunction with the university’s foundation and exists independently of other name, image and likeness structures. It allows people to financially support UMaine student-athletes through funding scholarships, nutrition, travel and even direct payments. This focus, of private funds, rather than university subsidies or state tax dollars, is UMaine athletics' focus as it continues to navigate the era of revenue sharing and NIL.
"We are excited to offer these new opportunities for our incredible fans to further support their favorite Black Bear teams," said vice president and director of athletics Jude Killy. "As the college sports landscape rapidly evolves, UMaine is committed to securing new private and philanthropic funding that enables us to creatively and compliantly support our talented student-athletes and ensure Maine's leadership and excellence in an increasingly competitive Division I landscape."
UMaine will still offer the Bear Down Collective, an NIL collective of Black Bear athletics that includes membership levels and additional incentives for contributing.
Fans who are contributing to the Black Bear Student-Athlete Experience Fund may specify which team they would like the funds to go toward or label the funds as “unrestricted.” UMaine allows for one-time or recurring payments through the Black Bear Student-Athlete Experience Fund. These funds bridge the gap for UMaine between the $20.5 million revenue sharing cap and growing budget deficits found at many DI programs.
“What we want to do is hopefully continue to draw people into the university, that positive exposure that hopefully goes well beyond athletics and towards our state. These are private and philanthropic dollars. We’re not using tuition. These aren’t state-funded dollars, not taxpayer dollars, (private fundraising is) the route that we’re headed,” Killy said.
