As the Oklahoma Sooners and the rest of collegiate athletics venture into the new world of name, image and likeness, the universities have had to innovate, helping students take advantage of these new options to earn revenue through NIL.
Earlier this year, the OU athletics department launched The Foundry, which would help student-athletes understand and grow their personal branding. Earlier this month, in conjunction with INFLCR, the Oklahoma Sooners announced the formation of OU Exchange, “the latest innovation to help student-athletes and businesses work closely together in developing name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements” per a release from the University of Oklahoma.
Per the release, “OU Exchange, a free service to student-athletes and the commercial enterprises that use it, will help the athletics department customize and manage NIL reporting, while providing approved businesses, collectives and individuals with a customized portal for communicating with student-athletes and fulfilling NIL transactions.”
About the new initiative, athletic director Joe Castiglione said, “This new platform creates a process that is easy, effective, and compliant. It’s much like a job fair that never ends. Businesses and our student-athletes can hold two-way conversations that result in new efficiencies.”
Interested individuals or businesses can apply for approval to OU Exchange and once there can communicate directly with student-athletes about opportunities. INFLCR has created a new software service called INFLCR+ Local Exchange. This NIL registry is a customized program that is tailored for each universities’ needs while providing direct payment to the student-athlete. All transactions will create a direct payment to the athlete, with no transaction fee, and send a disclosure to the university.
It’s a new day in college athletics and OU Exchange is paving the way for Oklahoma athletes to take part in capitalizing off of their name, image, and likeness.
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