Learfield, the leading media and technology company powering college athletics, announced it has introduced an expansion of its Compass NIL platform. The enhanced NIL platform will serve as a comprehensive exchange to deliver school intellectual property (IP) activation, endorsements, social influencer, content creation, and other business opportunities to student-athletes through a single-source integration with all Learfield Multimedia Rights (MMR) brand partners.
Compass currently serves as the athlete opt-in platform of choice for large-scale NIL merchandise licensing programs for universities through industry leaders such as Fanatics and EA Sports, with more than 30,000 student-athletes already on the platform.
The enhanced Compass NIL application will exclusively integrate with Learfield’s database of over 12,000 unique brand partners, creating a seamless connection between existing Learfield university brand partners and the student-athletes of those institutions. This first-of-its-kind integration will help create simpler sponsorship and endorsement connections with the brands already supporting universities nationwide, enabling collectives and Learfield property teams to deliver more value than ever for student-athletes.
“Compass NIL has quickly become the hub for NIL licensing within college athletics, and with this game-changing integration with our Multimedia Rights database of brand clients, the same will soon be the case for NIL endorsements and deal-making,” said Cole Gahagan, Chief Executive Officer at Learfield. “Learfield is at the center of delivering brand opportunities to student-athletes, driving over $13.6 million of cash and trade value to student-athletes this year alone. Now we have the only platform to connect over 12,000 brand partners with student-athletes along with integrated school intellectual property, making it easy to source, execute, and track all NIL activity in one location.”
Learfield also provides expertise and resources to target and amplify NIL commercial campaigns through original content created by Learfield Studios. The company delivers content and engages fans through a digital distribution network that connects with over 150 million college fans nationwide.
Learfield’s collegiate licensing division, CLC, originally built Compass as a disclosure platform, leveraging the company’s proven experience managing millions of licensing deal points and business-to-business exchanges annually. Compass NIL will now serve to aggregate transaction requests from corporate sponsors, collectives, licensed merchandise companies, and institutions while also providing real-time disclosure and reporting of all Learfield NIL dealmaking activity to school partners.
The following school properties are the first to leverage the full power of this expanded Compass NIL platform: The Ohio State University, University of Alabama, University of Oklahoma, Colorado State University, and the University of Wisconsin. Over the summer, additional school properties will join this group to use Compass NIL.
Many leading organizations are excited about the benefits of the enhanced Compass NIL platform:
“Our student-athletes are at the heart of everything we do. We are excited to provide them with a powerful tool that will connect them with new NIL partners and unlock opportunities to elevate their college experience,” said Joe Castiglione, Vice President & Director of Athletics at the University of Oklahoma.
“We’re excited about our partnership with Learfield, which facilitates powerful brand sponsorship and NIL opportunities for our student-athletes. We look forward to leveraging all the tools that Learfield offers, including Compass NIL, to help connect more brands to our student-athletes and drive NIL opportunities,” said Bubba Cunningham, Director of Athletics at the University of North Carolina.
“Compass NIL is a game-changer. The student-athlete profiles help us to connect brands with student-athletes based on their lifestyles and interests to create authentic connections that drive powerful sponsor activations,” said Ben Lucas, General Manager of Rams Sports Properties.
“We look forward to our continued collaboration with Learfield and Compass NIL and are excited to help drive more NIL opportunities for Alabama student-athletes,” Tripp Powell, Yea Alabama- Managing Partner.
ABOUT LEARFIELD
Learfield is the leading media and technology company powering intercollegiate athletics. The company unlocks the value of college sports for brands and fans through an omnichannel platform with innovative content and commerce solutions. Learfield services include trademark licensing and branding; collegiate sports properties’ multimedia sponsorship management; NIL solutions; publishing, audio, digital and social media; data analytics and insights; ticketing software; and ticket sales, premium seating, and fundraising services; campus-wide business and sponsorship development. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for NACDA’s acclaimed Learfield Directors’ Cup, recognizing athletic departments across all divisions.