Inside The Panthers

Pitt Players Will Receive Cut of Impending Jersey Sales

Pitt athletes could be earning royalties from licensed jerseys soon, according to the star defensive tackle.

Stephen Thompson

Pitt Players Will Receive Cut of Impending Jersey Sales
Pitt Players Will Receive Cut of Impending Jersey Sales /
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PITTSBURGH -- Walk into the bookstore of any high major Division I, football-playing school in America and you will see some variation of the same thing - a replica of that school's jersey with a blank nameplate and generic number one stitched onto the back. But according to Pitt Panthers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, some more variety could be coming to the shelves of retailers selling officially licensed Pitt merchandise. 

Replying to a Pitt fan that wanted to know when an officially licensed Kancey jersey - one that Kancey himself would receive a cut of the proceeds from - would be available, he said they are coming soon. 

Some of Kancey's teammates like defensive end John Morgan and running back Israel Abanikanda launched their own line of personally-branded apparel but Kancey's most recent announcement indicates something wholly different - that officially licensed and branded apparel with player names and numbers on them is inbound.

For decades, the NCAA used a loose definition of amateurism to handicap a college athlete's right to earn money based off their own name, image and likeness. In 2020, with state laws challenging its authority to govern athletes in such a way, the NCAA backed down and officially allowed the players to make money off of NIL rights. 

Jersey sales, which was assumed to be one of the first steps that schools would take with new, liberalized NIL deals in place, has taken longer to catch on. Only a handful of schools - Penn State, South Carolina and LSU to name a few - have actually put the idea into motion. The Nittany Lions and Tigers have made football jerseys available for purchase while the Gamecocks released the first line of player-specific women's basketball merchandise at the tail end of this past basketball season.

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper.  He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press.  During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general.  You can reach Stephen by email at stephenethompson00@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his latest work:

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