UConn Women’s Basketball Uses Custom NIL Jerseys to Raise Money for Cancer
Amidst the ever-changing and uncertain landscape of NIL, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team is using its power for good. The most iconic brand in women’s college basketball - with eleven national titles, ten of which taking place after Y2K - it is challenging to find any sports program that has been able to maintain success at such a high level of competition. Through the prestige of the Husky brand and star power of players like 2021 AP Player of the Year, Naismith Player of the Year, and Wooden Award Winner, Paige Bueckers, the program is leveraging their prowess to help create meaningful change.
Through their NIL merchandising partner, the NIL Store, a NIL focused arm of collegiate apparel industry leader Campus Ink, UConn women’s basketball players will be offering custom pink jerseys for their upcoming game on February 4 against in-conference opponent St. John’s.
UConn, like many programs around the nation, will be taking part in the 19th Annual Play4Kay Game tradition. Teams across the nation will wear pink jerseys to honor late North Carolina State Coach Kim Yow. In 2009, Coach Yow passed away after a 22-year public battle with breast cancer.
While very stylish, the new player licensed jerseys offer more than an exclusive look; part of the proceeds from every pink jersey sold by the UConn NIL Store will go to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The charitable organization has given over $8.2 Million in grants to fund cancer research and help those battling cancer in underserved communities. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund partners with the V Foundation, an organization with a parallel mission started in honor of another legendary North Carolina State Coach basketball coach, Jim Valvano.
