Penn State Plans Some Unique NIL Events at the Rose Bowl

An autograph mixer with players and James Franklin's New Year's Eve radio show highlight the bowl-week NIL opportunities.

Penn State fans can meet a host of Nittany Lions, attend James Franklin's radio show and then mingle with the head coach as part of several unique NIL events during Rose Bowl week.

The Lions arrived in Los Angeles on Monday to begin preparing to play Utah in the 109th Rose Bowl on Jan. 2. As part of their more aggressive approach to NIL, two Penn State collectives are hosting events prior to the game.

Success With Honor and Lions Legacy Club will host a two-hour meet-and-greet with 20 Penn State football players on Dec. 28. The list of players is impressive. It includes defensive standouts Curtis Jacobs, Adisa Isaac, Chop Robinson, Kalen King and Zakee Wheatley; offensive players Olu Fashanu, KeAndre Lambert Smith, Tyler Warren and Sal Wormley; and freshmen Kaytron Allen, Abdul Carter, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Drew Shelton and Beau Pribula.

Tickets are $100 per person. Kids 12 and under are free; two may accompany each ticketed adult. The event will be held from 7-9 p.m. on Dec. 28 at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles.

On New Year's Eve, Franklin will conduct a special edition of the Penn State Coaches Show from the JW Marriott. In addition to bowl prep, Franklin will discuss "the power of NIL in the rapidly changing college athletics landscape," according to a news release.

The event is free and open to the public. Following the show, Franklin will participate in a meet-and-greet with fans. Tickets are $500 for the post-show event.

Tickets for both events are available through Success With Honor and Lions Legacy, the leading NIL organizations representing Penn State. All proceeds benefit Penn State athletes.

Franklin said recently that Penn State's NIL initiatives were "way behind" those at some other schools but gradually have made progress. Events like these represent some new ways that Penn State is addressing its NIL future.

"We've made up tremendous ground in a short period of time, but we still got a lot of work to do," Franklin said on Signing Day. "The reality is, we're going to solve this problem like we've solved every other problem in our history, and that's together. That's all of us.

"Obviously we have the power of the Penn State brand. But we also have the power of one of the largest living alumni networks. It's going to take all of us to get to where we want to go."

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