Virginia Tech announces 3 major NIL partnerships

Virginia Tech Athletics forges ahead in evolving NIL space.NIL collectives in marketplace align with Tech and #Hokies also set to financially reward academic progress.— HokieSports (@hokiesports) April 14, 2022

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Virginia Tech Athletics continues to explore additional avenues for its student-athletes to monetize their visibility as representatives of the Hokies' brand. In March, Tech Athletics announced an enhanced partnership with INFLCR, launching the Hokies Exchange platform for student-athletes and businesses to interact and arrange a variety of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) endorsement deals.

Once a business, collective or individual has registered and been approved for Hokies Exchange, it will be put into a database where student-athletes and the entity can connect for potential NIL deals. Businesses can filter through the index of student-athletes and narrow down selections using different criteria.

Additionally, director of athletics Whit Babcock, has confirmed that a trio of NIL collectives have offered their services to Virginia Tech student-athletes, businesses and donors. Babcock indicated the following three organizations have chosen to align with the Hokies:

• Commonwealth NIL
  Commonwealth NIL is a New River Valley based company founded by former Virginia State Delegate Nick Rush and Tech alum Forrest Rush. Commonwealth NIL specializes in comprehensive, diverse, and innovative NIL solutions. Commonwealth NIL is raising resources for NIL contracts through events, activities and special sales with a unique focus in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
• Hot Route Marketing, LLC
  Hot Route Marketing has taken a different approach than other organizations in the NIL space. Under the leadership of Virginia Tech alum Kelly Woolwine, Hot Route Marketing, LLC represents a vehicle in which business, donors and fans can invest into a consolidated pool of resources from which NIL opportunities can be arranged for student-athletes.
• Triumph NIL, LLC
  Triumph NIL seeks to partner corporate clients with Tech student-athletes to build compelling campaigns that drive real results, in addition to offering platforms for donors and fans to support their favorite Hokies. This group is led by James Cowan, chairman at CowanPerry PC and also includes former Tech All-America running back, Kevin Jones.

Along with this, Tech also announced a financial rewards program for academic success for athletes:

Virginia Tech Athletics also announced on Thursday that it plans to make financial awards available to student-athletes as a result of the Supreme Court's decision last June in the Alston vs. NCAA case.

"We are pleased to be able to offer this financial incentive for our student-athletes to make the type of academic progress that will benefit them for years to come after graduation," Babcock said. "We are currently finalizing our criteria for this program and plan to roll out the details to student-athletes, their families and our coaching staffs this summer. We anticipate beginning this financial reward package beginning in Fall 2022. Thanks to the tremendous success of our Drive for 25 campaign and the generosity of our Hokie Club donors, we intend to be very competitive in this space to ensure Virginia Tech remains a very attractive destination for the nation's top student-athletes."