Good morning, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.
There are a lot of different types of NIL deals happening right now. Just yesterday, I wrote about the growing camps and private lessons circuit, which includes athletes all the way in D-II and D-III. We've seen NIL deals with fireworks companies, local bars, national brands, even niche newsletters covering the off-the-field forces that shape college sports.
But earlier this week, some friends of the newsletter tipped me off to a type of deal that I don't think I've seen before. An NIL deal with a church.
Here's a post, taken from the church's Facebook page:
It's entirely possible that other churches have paid athletes to participate in charity events or promote initiatives. But this is the first such deal that I'm aware of, and I was curious how the entire thing worked.
I reached out to County Line, a nondenominational church in Auburn, Indiana, (about 20 miles north of Fort Wayne), to better understand the deal. They put me in touch with Mr. Dove, the gentleman who sponsored everything.
