'We're About to Change History for Penn State Football'

Bold statement? Well, Lions Legacy Club and The Mediatwist Group have bold NIL plans for Penn State.

Penn State football players soon will be filming 30-second clips in front of green screens in their dorm rooms, which a Pennsylvania marketing agency will turn into micro-targeted advertising.

They'll have access to the same social-media tools used by Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW. They'll use marketing strategies that have promoted events and concerts worldwide. They might even become avatars in a virtual-reality campaign. 

All this represents what Lions Legacy Club and The Mediatwist Group call a groundbreaking way to leverage NIL.

"We're about to change history for Penn State football," Chris Kurtz said.

Kurtz and his wife Aimee are co-founders of The Mediatwist Group, a Lititz-based digital revolutionary in music and entertainment. Founded in 2006, Mediatwist says it was the first marketing agency to go all-in on social media.

The agency has partnered with brands such as international show producer Feld Entertainment, Monster Jam, Ticketmaster and Disney on Ice. It has worked on virtual concerts for artists such as Jason Derulo, a Netflix series starring chef Roy Choi and events with Marvel Universe Live.

Now, Mediatwist is getting into the Name, Image and Likeness marketplace, partnering with Lions Legacy Club to expand NIL opportunities at Penn State.

Mediatwist and the Penn State football-focused collective have charted an ambitious long-range NIL course that includes a brand ambassador academy, content marketing and financial literacy training. They intend to deliver sustainable financial benefits for players and a legitimate return on investment for companies.

They call this a new NIL frontier, one that companies are eager to explore. Kurtz said plenty of big brands have expressed interest in partnering with Penn State football players, especially if they're getting a deliverable in return.

Through this partnership, Lions Legacy Club and Mediatwist have staked out bold territory.

"Imagine having a $250 million endowment for coach [James] Franklin to be able to operate and compete," said former Penn State linebacker Michael Mauti, business development director of Lions Legacy Club. "That’s the path we’re on track to accomplish, and that’s the way we'll win. And we'll do it the Penn State way."

How It Works

Lions Legacy Club is a Penn State-related, football-only collective that connects subscribers and businesses with players. Former Penn State quarterback Chris Ganter, the organization's executive director, has said that Lions Legacy Club wants to raise $5 million this year to support the football team's NIL efforts.

This fall, Ganter and Mauti connected with Kurtz, a Penn State graduate who says, "I bleed blue and white." Kurtz's agency has worked with THON and Four Diamonds to produce a 2020 virtual concert with Andy Grammer. Mediatwist also hosted a 2020 virtual watch party of the Penn State-Ohio State football game with LaVar Arrington and Micah Parsons.

Kurtz wants Mediatwist to employ the same "machine" it used in those campaigns to generate NIL opportunities for Penn State football players. It will train players in social media, messaging and content creation to become brand ambassadors. It will help them target content, through geofencing and other digital tools, to specific audiences. It will create experiences for players and companies.

This, Kurtz and Ganter said, will change the NIL space. Plenty of athletes are skilled at content creation and influencer marketing. But Mediatwist and Lions Legacy Club want to leverage their digital experience and corporate contacts to create value for both sides.

"We’re working on some very intricate and unique deals with some companies that have not been offered or executed yet around the country," Ganter said.

Further, Lions Legacy Club wants players to build empires rather than simply cash checks. Mauti said the program's financial-literacy component includes four elements: LLC creation, a corporate bank account, access to tax advisers and education in storefront-building, or how to create and sell products.

This, Kurtz said, contributes further value for prospective business partners.

"When I started talking to our network of high-net folks who don’t have any problem giving to Penn State football, the big question that kept coming up was, how is this money going to be used?" Kurtz said. "The overarching elephant in the room was, nobody’s going to give a million dollars to a 17-year-old unless you prove some type of sustainable machine. That’s what people will buy into and that’s what people will support. That’s the sustainable piece of this.

"... The train stations we make the player stop at before they get their NIL bonuses from us, those are things that assure their money will be put to good use."

What's In Store

Mauti recently visited Mediatwist's home in Lititz, where the company is working on some leading-edge digital content. For instance, Mediatwist has entered the metaverse, helping musicians capture performances through avatars and 3D holograms. The project could change how artists create and distribute content and interact with fans.

Imagine, then, interacting with a hologram version of Penn State's 2025 quarterback. No wonder Mauti and Ganter call Kurtz "captain."

"The brand value of Penn State is getting recreated in this modern era through the lens of the Grand Experiment," Mauti said.

Kurtz knows he's pushing a boundary here. Mediatwist hired Jason Grilli, the former Pittsburgh Pirates all-star closer, as its NIL Director. Kurtz says he wants to build a platform that will "create generational wealth" for Penn State players. "That's a bold statement," he said after making a particularly bold statement.

Everyone knows they still must deliver Penn State fans a short course on NIL's necessary value in college football. In the meantime, they're pitching to brands that Penn State football players are open and ready for business. And in turn...

"We're ready to deliver the war chest that we think is going to help us bring a championship to Penn State," Kurtz said.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.