Florida Panthers
Florida Panthers offer NIL deal to all FAU female athletes
The Florida Panthers plan to add a large number of college athletes to their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) program as they will offer a marketing contract to every single eligible female student-athlete at FAU.
Florida Atlantic University, based in Boca Raton, has over 200 female athletes participating in a variety of sports including basketball, volleyball and softball.
The โFLA Athleteโ program started by signing University of Miami quarterback DโEriq King, the first major professional sports team to sign a college player to such a deal.
King is cofounder of Dreamfield Sports which is an NIL-based program which is focused on โbooking live events and creating marketing campaigns for collegiate athletes and brands.โ Floridaโs deal with FAU will be handled through Dreamfield Sports.
Sam Doerr, Floridaโsย Chief Strategy Officer, told the Associated Press that the Panthers have budgeted for each and every FAU female athlete to take advantage of the program.
According to the Panthers, โeach female athlete at FAU will be invited to attend Panthers hockey games and engage their local fanbase through social media posts. Each athlete will receive a Panthers t-shirt to show support for the partnership.โ
โThere are a lot of businesses out there that are doing deals with full teams, but theyโre all on the menโs side of things,โ Doerr told AP.
โAnd we said, โWhy not do that on the female side of things?โ We talked about basketball and a couple other sports at FAU, then decided we didnโt want to leave anyone out and said weโd just make the offer to everybody. โฆ We talked about this from Day 1. We really, truly believe there is a market out there for female athletes.
โWeโve got 200 athletes we can work with in different ways and grow the brand. And at the very least, as a community member, we feel really positive about the impact weโll be able to have with a school right up the road.โ
