North Carolina Considers NIL Collective Unification

UNC administrators exploring a unified approach to boost NIL support

The University of North Carolina has promoted several Tar Heel focused name, image, and likeness collectives and programs, encouraging fans to financially support its student-athletes in the new era of NIL. However, according to multiple sources, there is now interest within UNC's administration to consolidate these collectives under one umbrella. 

According to a recent message from The Rams Club executive director, John Montgomery, and UNC athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, there is anticipation that universities may soon have a greater role in NIL. The NCAA is set to vote in April on whether athletic departments and universities will be allowed more involvement in facilitating NIL for student-athletes.

Heels4Life, a football-focused collective, and Secondary Break Club, a basketball-focused collective, are NIL collectives for Tar Heel student-athletes, along with North Carolina Hall of Fame, Inc. - a section 501(c)(3) charitable organization. UNC athletes are also capitalizing on NIL through the Carolina NIL Exchange, which serves as an online marketplace connecting athletes to businesses, and Tandem, which sources and structures group licenses for athletes on both Carolina basketball teams. 

UNC's football coach, Mack Brown, recently urged UNC to increase its presence in the NIL space, encouraging fans and alumni to financially support the student-athletes. 

"It's something we all have to embrace," said Brown. "It's something that I'm asking our fans jump on board. Whether it's our websites, our grassroots fans, our season-ticket holders, our alumni association, all North Carolina fans need to align and get on board because it's here, it's real and it's fair. And our guys need to be treated to the same opportunities with NIL like everybody else in the country."

Bringing the NIL collectives under one umbrella could also help address some of the Title IX concerns that NIL raises, providing more opportunities for female student-athletes to land deals with the collective. 

During a recent interview with Inside Carolina, former UNC chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz commented on the idea of combining UNC's NIL efforts into one business model. 

"I think that it's likely that we're going to need to probably pull these collectives together here and get them all under one sort of enterprise because we have to be able to support women's field hockey and men's and women's lacrosse and soccer along with men's and women's basketball and football," said Guskiewicz.

"The landscape is changing," Guskiewicz noted. "I could respond differently to this a year from now, but I think for now what we know is that getting it all under one collective makes sense. I think it will help us also with some of the Title IX challenges that NIL is creating and has the potential to create even greater challenges for Title IX."

Guskiewicz is leaving UNC and starting a new position as Michigan State University's 22nd president on March 4.