Courtesy of North Carolina A&T State University
In partnership with Teamworks’ Influencer (Influencer), Greensboro, NC HBCU North Carolina A&T has launched the Aggie Exchange to connect student-athletes and businesses for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities.
Free to student-athletes and commercial enterprises, the Aggie Exchange provides a customized portal for communicating with student-athletes to fulfill NIL transactions. Interested parties and businesses can register through the online portal and partner directly with A&T student-athletes.
“North Carolina A&T has always embraced the principles of competitive excellence, sportsmanship, diversity, and amateurism while having our student-athletes excel in academic achievements,” said North Carolina A&T Director of Athletics Earl M. Hilton III. “The Aggie Exchange supported by the Influencer platform positions all our student-athletes to work toward taking advantage of their Name, Image, and Likeness potential. Influencer provides a model for a student-athlete-centered approach and will significantly enhance our NIL efforts.”
“It is exciting to see A&T Athletics supporting their student-athletes by providing a fee-free platform to monetize their personal brands with NIL,” said Sean Kelly, Influencer Director of Partnerships “The Aggie Exchange will empower every A&T athlete the opportunity to create powerful connections with the local community, leading to partnership and NIL deals.”
After being approved, registered businesses can search, filter, and initiate conversations directly with the HBCU student-athletes regarding NIL opportunities. Student-athletes can view all companies in the exchange and negotiate terms on any NIL deals they would like to pursue, and they can also initiate conversations with registered businesses in the Aggie Exchange.
Once the NIL deal between a registered business and a student-athlete is completed, the company will use the Aggie Exchange to create a transaction that will directly pay the student-athlete and automate a disclosure to the A&T Compliance Office. A&T and Influencer do not get involved in the deal, and all transactions with Aggie Exchange are consolidated into one 1099 at the end of the year for easier tax reporting purposes for registered businesses and student-athletes.