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Florida football coach Billy Napier gave Gator Nation signs of hope by leading UF to a four-game win streak to close the 2024 season.
As a result, Florida Gators fans are starting to open their checkbooks.
After two unnamed Florida football boosters pledged $500,000 each to the Florida Victorious Collective for Name, Image and Likeness funding, it took less than a week for a grassroots campaign to match those funds, resulting in a $2 million boost toward UF’s NIL efforts.
“We were right around half a million in the first day,” Florida Victorious chief financial offer Erick Reasoner said. “It’s probably the biggest (surge) we’ve had. The momentum around the program, everybody jumped on board.”
The NIL funding could prove critical as Florida tries to build around dynamic quarterback D.J. Lagway, who was named a Football Writer Association of America freshman All-American on Tuesday.
With the advent of the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness, college football has become a game of the haves and have nots. Ohio State’s Name, Image and Likness budget reportedly stands at $20 million. Reasoner would not disclose UF’s specific NIL budget, but say the Gators are within the ballpark of blueblood programs when it comes to NIL funding.
“No one shares their actual numbers of course, but we’re almost certain that we’re top ten,” Reasoner said. “We actually think we’re right around top five in collectives around the country, as far as revenue.”
How Florida Victorious has grown as an NIL collective
Florida Victorious was founded in April of 2023, not long after the Jaden Rashada fiasco, in which UF’s former Gator Collective botched a $13.4 million deal in an attempt to sign the five-star quarterback recruit. (Rashada is suing Napier, former UF NIL director Marcus Castro-Walker and booster Hugh…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-fans-generating-more-nil-090334342.html
Author : The Gainesville Sun
Publish date : 2025-01-16 09:03:00
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