Ohio State University student-athletes who opt into the group licensing agreement with The Brandr Group “will be able to use their NIL alongside and in conjunction with Ohio State’s trademarks and logos that have been licensed to Ohio State trademark licenses if TBG enters into agreements with OSU trademark licenses to do so,” according to a statement by the OSU athletic department this week.
This differs from other schools navigating the first months of the name, image and likeness era in college athletics. In some cases, team logos and other school marks are off limits to student-athletes.
“This is a unique opportunity for our student-athletes,” Carey Hoyt, senior associate athletics director, said in the statement, as reported by Saturday Tradition. “We are passionate about educating and providing opportunities for student-athletes to take advantage of their Name, Image and Likeness, and co-branding them with Ohio State’s official trademarks and logos is going to be an exciting new way for them to monetize on their NIL.”
As reported by Sports Illustrated, the agreement will start with jerseys and then grow to include merchandise such as apparel, bobble heads, trading cards and video games.
Since 2015, Ohio State fans have been able to purchase officially licensed jerseys with only the No. 1 or the last two digits of the current year (No. 21, for example) in order to avoid infringing upon a player’s name, image and likeness.
It’s unclear at this time what percentage of the sales student-athletes will receive, however a recent agreement between football players at Michigan and the Wolverines’ official retailer, The M Den, will result in the student-athletes receiving more than $10 per jersey sold.
