At first, you may be wondering what an NHL team may have to do with basketball, but we will clear that up along these lines.
The Florida Panthers have been offering endorsement deals for every female athlete in Florida Atlantic University and other institutions nearby. The Panthers established an "FLA Athlete" program this summer after the state of Florida passed a law that makes sure college athletes are allowed to make money from their names.
This is no news, as STREETOPIA and several media outlets have already unveiled the NIL format we all know about.
The new approach is simple. NHL wants all students somehow involved in sports in any given college to get money along with tickets to Panthers games and other merchandise in exchange for promoting the NHL franchise on social media and at in-person events. The two athletes who generate the most buzz on social media during the season will also receive a four-figure bonus payment.
The program kicked off with females but will soon roll out to all students in the University.
Using part of the funds of the revenue that is increased through this program, the idea is to bring onboard the new NIL rules, not only athletes, but every single person involved in sports and that would potentially increase popularity, and surely enough, revenue to all stakeholders, to all those entitled to the new NIL rules.
Sam Doerr, the Panther executive responsible for this new strategy said this is a wonderful opportunity to all: "We thought this was a terrific opportunity to attract new fans."We already spend money with social media influencers, so we're just shifting that to the athletes and students involved in sports..."
The NBA loved the idea, so much that the league prepares to launch a similar strategy in 2022 involving all colleges across the country, rumor has it, that it will be a much-enhanced version of it.
More popularity on the way to basketball out of a hockey league idea.
