Playfly Brings New NIL Initiative to Penn State

Penn State's new multimedia rights partner to launch Playfly Max at Penn State

A general view of Penn State's Beaver Stadium. / Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Playfly, Penn State's new multimedia rights partner for athletics, is bringing an NIL initiative to the Nittany Lions as well. Playfly announced that it will launch its new Playfly Max NIL platform at Penn State, LSU and Baylor this year. The company said that Playfly Max will "drive new NIL strategies" for the athletes at the schools and create "incremental revenue" opportunities.

Penn State announced in June that it had agreed to a 15-yard agreement with Playfly for its multimedia athletic rights. Playfly took over for Learfield, Penn State's longtime partner with which the athletic department broke with last year. Penn State and Learfield recently settled a legal dispute over their long-term multimedia rights deal, according to Sportico, after Penn State moved on to its new deal with Playfly.

In announcing the multimedia rights agreement, Playfly, a company based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, said it would drive "commercial growth for Penn State Athletics through an expansive variety of channels, including fan engagement, content creation, premium game day programming, and the development of new partnerships, events and experiences, and fan data activations." Part of that includes producing sports broadcasts, launching a podcast network and "introducing a host of new new media and technology offerings," the company said in a news release.

"This wide-ranging partnership marks a new chapter for Penn State as a leader in the ever-changing collegiate landscape,” Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft said in a statement. "We are proud to partner with a Pennsylvania-based company which has demonstrated it has the experience, expertise and passion to tap into Penn State’s athletics ecosystem on a level that has never been done before.”

Playfly Max represents an NIL arm of the deal between Penn State and Playfly. The company described its strategy as "actualizing untapped revenue opportunities that have been underdeveloped in college sports and that have only been enhanced by the advent of NIL." Playfly said it will leverage its experience and understanding of multimedia rights to connect programs, athletes and commercial partners.

In a news release, Playfly said it developed the Playfly Max concept "in response to legislation earlier this spring that allows schools to generate NIL funds and reinforced by the NCAA v. House settlement likely requiring schools to share revenue with student athletes, creating a heightened focus on new income streams."

“The early years of the college NIL era have made it painfully clear to the industry that nothing replaces the ability to sell brand partnerships effectively or to actually generate new revenue streams," Christy Hedgpeth, president of Playfly Sports Properties, said in a statement. "A professionalized, dedicated, and strategic approach is required to maximize today’s commercial opportunities, and that’s the distinct advantage Playfly Max offers schools and student athletes alike. “The beauty of Playfly Max is it is specifically designed to be fully flexible, so it can add value to any school and/or collective and readily adapt to the ongoing change we’ll continue to see in college athletics.”

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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.