Hartford Business Journal

16 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 5, 2022 Students at UConn's Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which has launched a new Championship Labs program to help student-athletes monetize their name, image and likeness. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Building A Brand UConn's new Championship Labs helps students monetize NIL, following recent rule change By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com A s student-athletes ink deals with sponsors for the first time since an NCAA rule change, Joss Tillard-Gates, who played football for UConn's successful team from 2006 to 2009, remembers when it was verboten for an athlete to merely think of using their NIL — an acronym for name, image and likeness. Players were told not to accept gifts worth more than $20. They were often reminded of the NCAA's prohibition against athletes receiving compensation, other than scholarships. Fast-forward a decade, and the times have changed. Following a revision to NCAA regulations last year and a change in state law that went into effect July 1, student-ath- letes can capitalize on their personal brand, using social media, sponsor- ships and other means to build a business based on their collegiate athletic pursuits. Though Tillard-Gates was redshirted for most of his college career, he was known as a star in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, and an inspiration to countless kids. He often wonders what could have been, if he had been able to receive a sponsorship from his favorite pizza restaurant or a local car dealership. "It would have given me an oppor- tunity to create some startup capital, or a down payment for a real estate purchase, whether that be multifamily, or a duplex, or single family for myself when I graduated," Tillard-Gates said. But he can experience the entre- preneurial potential of NIL vicariously, through a newly established program at UConn's Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, called Championship Labs. Tillard-Gates — who sits alongside former UConn men's basketball star and current Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay on Championship Labs' advisory board — said he wants to help students use NIL to their advan- tage. He sees the program as an "entrepreneurial ecosystem" that will connect students, student-athletes and alumni. Through Championship Labs, which launched this fall, advisers work one-on-one with UConn students to create a "blueprint to monetize their personal brand while empowering them with the skill sets of an entrepreneur," according to the school. Until recently, that would have been against the rules. In 2021, following two high-profile Supreme Court cases, the NCAA was forced to enact new regulations allowing college athletes to accept compensation for use of their NIL. While the NCAA change applies to student-athletes across the country, Connecticut has made its own legislative changes. In May, Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill that allows student-athletes in Connecticut to use their school's names, logos, trademarks, mascots, unique colors, copyrights and other defining insignia in endorsement contracts. The change was requested by UConn, as an update to an existing law the state enacted in 2021 allowing student-athletes to receive money for their NIL. The initial law prohibited them from using school logos and other insignia. Until the new law took effect on July 1, 2022, Connecticut was one of two states in the country that banned student-athletes from using their school logos — a prohibition that opponents argued constrained students' ability to obtain endorse- ments, putting the school at a disad- vantage when it came to recruiting top athletes. Genuine mentorship Many students already have a large following on social media. Cham- pionship Labs is helping them turn their personal TikTok and Instagram accounts into professional ones that can generate income. "One thing we do is we help them understand how the platforms work, how to build content, what kind of content people are looking for," said David Noble, director of the Werth Institute. "How to understand their own brand, and how to transform and translate and communicate that brand into social. The way an 18-year-old uses TikTok is dramatically different than the way a celebrity trying to monetize their TikTok uses it." Until recently, student-athletes who were drafted had to rely mainly on their agent for advice. Noble said David Noble Joss Tillard- Gates

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