The Knights of the Raritan have been successful over the past month in their most recent fundraising initiative. A second round of fundraising was completed which raised an additional $25,000 for student-athletes.
The Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) collective is the most visible extension of Rutgers in this collective space. The Knights of the Raritan (KTR), while not operated by the university or the athletic department, serve an important role for the future of Rutgers athletics in the ever-changing world that is NIL and the NCAA.
The second round of fundraising is now completed, meaning that two matching gifts of $25,000 have been secured. The next round, KTR said, is dedicated for men’s basketball:
Last year, KTR undertook an ambitious challenge to raise $1 million for the NIL collective. It is a vitally important undertaking if Rutgers is going to be competitive in the Big Ten.
Thanks #Rutgers Nation, you unlocked our SECOND $25,000 match of the @KnightsRaritan Scarlet Ticket campaign.
Soon we’ll announce another match, this one specifically for @RutgersMBB.
If you want to get a jump on that match you can join or upgrade herehttps://t.co/cJhVsolHb5 pic.twitter.com/52kqlEVPoj
— Jon Newman (@jonnew) March 18, 2024
Greg Schiano, the Rutgers football head coach, has said that NIL is paramount to his team’s ability to continue the rebuilding process. Especially in the Wild West landscape that is college football right now.
[lawrence-related id=36527,36488]
“It’s paramount in what we are doing right now. That is where college football is, and you have to be able to be competitive in that landscape, and we have to be able to be competitive in that landscape. And it’s not going to get less. It’s going to only get more,” Schiano said this past November.
“We have guys that have performed at a high level. Well, you know what, they are going to be people that’s trying to get them off our team. That’s the facts. And there’s going to be guys, we are not only going to want to keep our own guys here, but we are going to want to go out and pursue; and we have to do the things that Big Ten teams do to be competitive and eventually be champions. Every bit helps but we need every bit.”
Two years ago, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum echoed these sentiments in acknowledging that every recruiting conversation is centered on NIL:
[lawrence-related id=36407,36405]
“NIL is everything right now there’s not a conversation that goes on in a living room with a player that doesn’t start then with what am I getting? It’s the new world,” Finebaum said in a 2022 nterview with Rutgers Wire.
“I talk to coaches all the time and they mask it as if it’s just part of a conversation but it’s the entire conversation. And so you have to find a way to get around it and if you don’t, you’re going to be out of business.”