Nunez Launches Apparel Store
Here's the store... https://adriennunez.com
And here's the context: https://247sports.com/college/michigan/Article/michigan-wolverines-basketball-adrien-nunez-nil-merchandise-store-167271692/
Someone called it in the previous thread that his IG following would make him a prime candidate to pursue this. Go get that bread, young man.
Building a social media following seems to be a great way to maximize NIL $$$ for players.
This is why women's gymnasts are sneakily about to become among the highest earners in college sports. Giant built-in social media followings of tween girls whose parents have disposable income.
Based on your rationale, I would expect college field hockey and lacrosse players to follow suit. Because they likely didn't have enough $$ to begin with, right?
Probably volleyball moreso than those sports. The Nebraska and Penn State volleyball players could really rake it in with the vast followings those programs have.
Nebraska consistently sells out an 8,000 seat arena for women's volleyball. Apparently, they have a sellout streak of 268 games.
That's really not what makes a following. The individual players have to have a social media presence, whether it be Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. They have to have an appeal, outside of their sport to their peers and demographic. That's the only way those non revenue (no tv) sport athletes will cash in. The new age advertising is pay these kids way less than Kevin Hart, the Rock, etc to promote their product or website, but way more than they would get anywhere else.
One of the first major deals any athlete has gotten is two twin sisters that play basketball at fresno state signing with Boost mobile. I think people are really underselling how much this is going to mean to female athletes, for someone like a michigan womens softball player, their four years in school are probably the most marketable, they are the individuals who will the most, not the already NBA/NFL bound athlete
Just wonder how much Quinn Nordin would have made, I mean he was the #1 kicker coming out of high school and all!
Not to mention Space Emperor Zoltan Mesko.
Not to mention, there's Paige Bueckers and Hailey Van Lith. Both have a huge following thanks to YouTube on following them for high school basketball. They should command a lot of money once they leverage their NIL to their advantage.
They have 3.3m TikTok followers and 70k YouTube subscribers, and people know who they are. Not because of basketball, because of social media. My daughter didn't even know they were college basketball players. I don't think any Michigan softball player has that kind of recognition.
This is great for them. If the girl you know from HS can make money off social media, pyramid schemes, and sponsorships then why not these young ladies! I agree that this will be yuge for womens sports and a lot of people don’t realize it yet
A lot of non-revenue athletes are also going to make bank running clinics for wealthy people's kids.
I'd buy whatever Sierra Brooks is selling.
Had to Google her. I think Paige Spiranac has already tapped that market.
There's only room for 1 hot girl on the internet.
Yeah, I think people greatly underestimate how popular a lot of female athletes are on social media and how they can translate that into income while in college. 538 did an analysis last year and used Nebraska as an example and the most popular athletes weren't always who you thought they'd be. High-profile football and basketball players will likely make out the best but there are lots of women who have significant followings (and are generally more engaging on their feeds) that will be able to command more money.
Articles have mentioned a LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne with something like 4 million tiktok followers. If she can sell merchandise to even 0.01% (400) of the followers, that is a decent amount of money for a college student; and I figure they will find a way to use micropayments, so have 10,000 kids each give a buck each etc.
With a pic of him on the 3 t-shirts, would he be the only one to buy these?
He's internet famous.
I did not realize this. How so may i ask?
He's super popular on TikTok. This article explains some of his rise but it does seem pretty random:
Honestly he's doing it wrong. These shirts should be triple the price.
The only people buying that shirt are people who want to buy THAT shirt. No one is browsing and thinking "hmmm...that looks nice and reasonably priced, I think I'll purchase one for myself."
People buying it want HIS shirt. Just like Kanye West can sell dried poop with an Adidas logo and call it a shoe and people will fight for it.
Good for him being prepared.
Not only does he sell his items, he can definitely help his teammates and student athletes in other sports at Michigan.
A+
I have to think that, around the country, a fair number of such stores were prepped and ready in anticipation of this day. Good on Nunez and anyone else who was ready for this moment.
Over a million people watch his videos consisting of 5-10 second clips of him doing dance moves with his girlfriend? He is also selling $30 t-shirts emblazoned with an outline of his hair?
Good for him, get that bag. I don't understand it even one single iota, but good on him.
"Over a million people watch his videos consisting of 5-10 second clips of him doing dance moves with his girlfriend?"
I will never understand the draw to TikToc...
you haven't seen someone just stare at their phone and keep scrolling through videos have you? this doesn't answer the question. i guess it's kind of like eating another potato chip hoping to get another really salty one. you're just hoping for another really funny video.
I've seen it, and I don't understand it. Don't you have anything else to do? Something, anything, that could have some value? I don't live on my phone, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why anyone would want to. I know people who watch TV on their phones, despite having a perfectly good HDTV hanging on the wall. WTF, man???
Yeah, absolutely. Why don't you go spend hours reading threads about college football....lol just kidding. I don't get tik toc either.
How dare you!
Maybe this will encourage players to play harder...
Love the decision to take on the giants early. Leverage that niche brand through your followers and then sell to nike/adidas/UA/etc.
beat me to it ... well done
I am curious about Hutch's shirt, and how it relates to the stipulation about not using the UofM brand as part of a player's NIL. Obviously the shirt doesn't have the block M logo anywhere, but what about the colors? Could the fact that it is navy and yellow at all be construed to be leveraging the UM brand?
I'm not a lawyer but I think if a site like this is allowed to exist without paying royalties to UofM, matching colors is okay.
Looks like Blake Corum and Mike Sainristil signed on with Yoke Gaming
I can see AN as a recruit marketing director at UM. Him, or someone like him needs to jump on this. This is the way to attract top talent.
Wonder how many of these companies will never ship the product ordered? Let the fun begin.
Go Blue!!
So Michigan's NIL pitch to recruits is "...if Adrian Nunez can do it, imaging what you can do!"?
But seriously, good on Adrian for taking advantage of what he can take advantage of.
Not crazy about the logo, I was ready to pick one up but I think I will wait.
i find this all fascinating. i have never bought a product or service purely because it was promoted by a sports figure or celebrity. in fact, athlete and celebrity advertising to me is usually a signal that the actual product or service is lacking and needs focus taken away from its shortcomings. it nust work as businesses continue to employ such tactics...i suppose if nothing else it is an ineresting measure of the sophistication of consumers.
You've never rocked a pair of Air Jordans?
What is the possibility of schools being able to influence deals that might entice elite players to stay in school longer?
I couldn’t imagine anything more pointless than his collection of TikTok clips.
Welcome to the digital wasteland of social media!
Not so pointless if he monetizes the channel. Or if it leads to purchases at his website.
Or if he converts them to NFTs and sells em for billion Bitcoins or Schrute Bucks, or whatever.
I'm not sure I could have been organized enough to be a big-time college athlete.
I KNOW I couldn't have been organized enough to ALSO be an entrepreneur.