GBMWolverine
Fansided

Another reason to be optimistic about NIL for Michigan football

There is a new agreement announced between the Valiant Management Group which could benefit Michigan football NIL offerings in a big way.

By Chris Peterson

U-M's new men's basketball head coach Dusty May shakes hands with head football coach Sherrone Moore during an introductory press conference at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
U-M's new men's basketball head coach Dusty May shakes hands with head football coach Sherrone Moore during an introductory press conference at Junge Family Champions Center in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
facebooktwitterreddit

We have heard about how NIL is getting better for Michigan football and other U-M programs. Objectively, this is 100 percent fact.

The Wolverines are in a much better position in regards to NIL than ever a year ago at this time. The Champions Circle has been huge. It helped keep players for the 2023 Michigan football team that eventually won the national championship and also played a vital role in making sure the Wolverines didn't lose any impact players to the portal this spring.

Following the departure of Jim Harbaugh, and a bunch of other assistant coaches and staffers, the Wolverines only lost Keon Sabb and DJ Waller. With all of the NIL money being thrown around, that tells you something about the Michigan football culture. It also tells you that the Champions Circle made real progress.

Even more progress for Michigan NIL

According to Jared Wangler, co-founder of Valiant, there are even more changes on the horizon as he told Chris Balas of The Wolverine about an agreement with an outside ad agency that should boost the NIL efforts of Michigan.

“There will be a relationship between Champions Circle and this agency similar to what they have at Ohio State and Texas. The objective is to continue to bring a ton of marketing deals for Michigan student-athletes,” Wangler said to Balas of The Wolverine. “There’s going to be a retainer relationship between Valiant, Champions Circle, and the agency, similar to what we nearly contracted with them about a year and a half ago. We’re going to use this retainer relationship to bring more marketing opportunities to Michigan student-athletes. 

“The retainer we sign with them is going to go toward support staff to be sourcing out deals, and it will tie into not just commercial opportunities, but unique events and different opportunities to bring more donors in, bring more fans in. It’s similar to what we’ve been doing but working with a professional national outlet to bring more opportunities to the market.”

Any NIL program that is similar to "Ohio State and Texas" would be a positive thing. You don't want to go all pay-for-play. But Michigan football should be able to take care of its guys as well as any other team does, which is what Dusty May has said about basketball.

feed

May wants his players taken care of and this new agreement, according to Valiant, should do just that.

Home/Michigan Wolverines News