Lindenwood University is expanding its efforts in the NCAA’s image, image and likeness (NIL) space, becoming the latest local university to seek out tools to help facilitate endorsement deals for student-athletes.
Lindenwood, with its main campus in St. Charles, said Thursday it has launched a new digital portal designed to be an online marketplace that connects its student-athletes with businesses, alumni and others regarding potential NIL opportunities. Lindenwood has teamed up with digital marketplace firm Icon Source to create its portal.
“By partnering with Icon Source, we are providing outlets for our student-athletes to take advantage of new opportunities that have been provided by NIL legislation,” said Jason Coomer, Lindenwood’s vice president of intercollegiate athletics. “This partnership demonstrates our commitment to our current and future student-athletes in the NIL space while joining the team at Icon Source, an industry leader.”
The NCAA in July 2021 began allowing college athletes nationwide to earn income from their name, image and likeness, reversing long-held policies that prohibited university students from profiting from their status as student-athletes. Since the NCAA’s policy change, more than two dozen St. Louis-area companies have entered the upstart NIL industry, a figure expected to get significantly larger as the market evolves and gains more clarity.
For Lindenwood, the expansion of its NIL resources for its student-athletes comes as it begins this year competing at the NCAA Division I level, a move that has grown the profile of its athletics program. It is the latest local university to create an online portal to connect student-athletes with businesses. Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri also have pursued online marketplaces to help student-athletes source NIL deals with businesses.
Lindenwood said its new NIL marketplace, called Icon Suite, offers a “seamless, compliant system” for sourcing and closing NIL deals. Businesses, alumni and others seeking out NIL deals will be able review their athletes’ profiles and contact them directly about potential opportunities. The software is designed to manage administrative components of NIL dealmaking, such as contracts, tax documentation and payment services, Icon Source said.
“Not only are we providing outlets for our student-athletes to engage in dialogue with local, regional, national and international businesses, we are also providing a conduit for those businesses to engage our student-athletes through the launch of this new platform,” Coomer said.
© 2022 American City Business Journals. All rights reserved. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated January 1, 2021) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated July 1, 2022). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of American City Business Journals.