Mark Cuban-Backed Campus Ink Launches NIL Store Awards
To celebrate the upcoming third anniversary of NIL on July 1, Campus Ink's NIL Store - the leader in officially licensed NIL merchandise - has launched a series of awards highlighting their top athletes, administrators and school partners. The fan vote officially kicked off on Monday with more award nominations to come this week.
The first round of nominees include "Moment of the Year" recognizing the best apparel launch from a moment during the past school year to "Hustler of the Year" honoring the athlete who displayed the greatest entrepreneurial spirit when marketing their NIL Store apparel.
NEW: The NIL Store powered by Campus Ink is proud to announce the First Annual NIL Store Awards, celebrating the best and brightest athletes, schools, moments & more from the 2023-24 academic year! š
ā The NIL Store (@nil_store) June 12, 2024
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Moment of the Year:
- Duquesne Men's Basketball - Dancing Like It's 1977
- Jack Gohlke - GOATKE - Oakland Men's Basketball
- Lance Jones - Lance Dance - Purdue Men's Basketball
- Hunter Poncius - Bozeman Block - North Dakota State Football
Hustler Award:
- Gabe Cupps - Indiana Men's Basketball
- Flau'jae Johnson - LSU Women's Basketball
- Illinois Men's Basketball Team
- Jacob Kava - North Dakota State Football
Additional award categories include NIL Director of the Year with more to come soon, such as Best School Activation of the Year, Highest-Earning Male and Female Athletes and School Partner of the Year, among others.
Fans can vote for the awards exclusively on www.nil.store/awards and receive a 20% discount for participation.
Backed by Mark Cuban, the NIL Store hasĀ over 65 store open - and projected to open 100 by the end of 2024 - with more than 10,000 athlete partners. Earlier this year, NIL Store surpassed $1 million in athlete payouts through officially licensed NIL merchandise sales across their network.
MICHAEL EHRLICH
Michael Ehrlich is a seasoned sports marketing executive with experience across the global sports brand, athlete representation, media and education sides of the business. The Founder and CEO of Playbook Marketing, Ehrlich consults with brands on all things NIL and athlete partnerships, advises student-athletes on their personal brand building endeavors and is an adjunct professor at his alma mater, the University of Southern California where he teaches a course on athlete communications and marketing. As a writer, his previous bylines include Boardroom, Business of College Sports, DIME Magazine and UPROXX, among others. You can follow him across social media at @MichaelEhrlich and reach out via michael@playbook-marketing.com