September 08, 2022 01:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–From the football players to the women’s bowling team, history has been made with a one-of-a-kind name, image, likeness (NIL) deal. Every student-athlete from Grambling State University (GSU), a D1 athletics historically black college/university (HBCU) located in rural Louisiana, has been offered a NIL deal to appear, individually, on an ad in Times Square for HBCU League Pass+, a 24/7 live and on-demand sports network focused on HBCU athletics. The facilitation of this unique and groundbreaking NIL deal is through the combined efforts of Urban Edge Network’s HBCU League Pass+, the ATHLYT NIL platform, Blip Billboards, and Grambling State University, whose active participation made this all possible.

“President Gallot and I believe strongly in supporting our student-athletes, on and off the field. This NIL opportunity is uniquely aligned with our school’s official motto: ‘Where Everybody Is Somebody’.”

Dr. Trayvean Scott, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics at GSU

Dr. Trayvean Scott, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics at GSU, stated, “President Gallot and I believe strongly in supporting our student-athletes, on and off the field. This NIL opportunity is uniquely aligned with our school’s official motto: ‘Where Everybody Is Somebody’.”

With this NIL deal, over 300 student-athletes have the opportunity to be paid to have their image featured, individually, on an ad located in the heart of Times-Square. Not only their image, but in their official Grambling State University school photo with school logo and apparel, something few schools allow under NIL deals. “We didn’t ask for anything special, we just worked with HBCU League Pass+ and ATHLYT to make sure the images were used correctly. Our number one goal was to help provide our students opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have. That’s one of the many reasons we enjoy working with the team at ATHLYT,” Grambling’s Scott stated.

In addition, every participating athlete will have subsequent opportunities to further promote this campaign, as well as others, through the ATHLYT platform. Ray Austin, co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of ATHLYT, the platform that facilitated the deal, is a former collegiate standout himself who turned NFL pro. “Equity is often a word used in the diversity and inclusion landscape, identifying ways that we can strive to provide a more even playing field for those who have been disenfranchised,” Austin stated. “Bringing NIL opportunities to historically black colleges and universities is a great first step in rewriting the narrative that you have to make it to the ‘big leagues’ in order to be successful.”

The ads start running in early September on a digital-billboard located at 1540 Broadway, in the heart of Times Square, through ATHLYT’s partnership with Blip Billboards. Every participating athlete’s image will be displayed at least once, for fifteen seconds, as part of the campaign.