Rutgers Athletics announces NIL store partnership

Rutgers athletics announced a partnership with Campus Ink for a Rutgers NIL store on Thursday. The store run by Campus Ink will feature NIL merchandise for student-athletes. More than 90 Rutgers student-athletes are already participating.  

Student-athletes will receive direct payments for merchandise they are associated with. The Rutgers NIL store is part of Campus Ink’s NIL Store Network. Other Big Ten schools included in addition to Rutgers are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue and Penn State.

“The partnership with Campus Ink provides our student-athletes with a tremendous opportunity to harness the power of the personal brands they have built and capitalize on their athletic success,” said Rutgers Athletic Director Pat Hobbs. “It also an opportunity for our fan base to show their Rutgers pride while supporting our student-athletes through officially licensed merchandise.”

All of the merchandise featured by the Rutgers NIL Store promoting student-athletes is officially licensed by Rutgers University. 

Following Thursday’s launch, the long term goal of the Rutgers NIL store is to “create unique core products and custom merch drops, while also adding jersey options at a later date.”

In addition, “Each student-athlete’s locker room includes a collection of core products which feature personalized names and numbers for applicable athletes.”

Campus Ink  is financially backed by Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Despite being founded in 1947, Campus Ink rebranded in 2021 as a direct link for student-athletes to maximize their NIL potential. 

The latest NIL focused initiative is one of several by Rutgers. They are also currently in search of hiring a NIL General Manager with the purpose to “promote all-encompassing NIL endeavors that will equip Rutgers’ student-athletes with the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources to take full advantage of opportunities and make informed decisions about their name, image and likeness.”

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