The Illinois Men's Basketball team creates an NIL partnership with NextName. The company will sell digital collectibles for the team. | Image courtesy of NextName.
The entire University of Illinois Men’s Basketball team signs with NextName to sell their digital collectibles. Fighting Illini fans can now purchase digital collectibles, also known as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), to support individual players or the entire team at nextname.io.
The Illini players have all signed an NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) agreement with NextName to offer fans the opportunity to show support through the sale of the athletes’ digital collectibles. The tokens are unique media files with images, music, and the school logo. The majority of proceeds from NextName token sales are given directly to the student-athlete or, in the case of a team token, are split evenly among team members. The university also receives a portion of the proceeds.
A limited number of digital collectibles have been produced, each with a unique blockchain ownership code. Buying options include player tokens for $25 and three levels of team tokens including Classic ($30), Gold ($100), and Platinum ($999).
Terrence Shannon, Chicago, IL
Sencire Harris, Jr, Canton, OH
Connor Serven, Prairie City, IL
Jayden Epps, Norfolk, VA
Luke Goode, Ft. Wayne, IN
Brandon Lieb, Deerfield, IL
RJ Melendez, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Ty Rodgers, Saginaw, MI
Paxton Warden, Glen Ellyn, IL
Matthew Mayer, Austin, TX
Coleman Hawkins, Sacramento, CA
Dain Dainja, Brooklyn Park, MN
Skyy Clark, Los Angeles, CA
NextName is a platform designed to support college athletes, college teams, and collegiate legends through the sale of digital collectibles. With just a few clicks, fans can purchase collectibles bearing the name, image, and likeness (NIL) of their favorite players and teams. In doing so, NextName provides fans an opportunity to help student-athletes maximize their personal band and share in the success of college athletics. The company plans to expand its digital collectibles platform to include athletes and universities across the country.
