On Tuesday, June 6th, Chamber members and Ohio Athletics staff gathered at the Hardwood House, inside of the Ohio University Convocation Center, for our quarterly Business After Hours event. This quarter, the BAH was focused on the Benefits of NIL, which is the term used to describe a college athlete receiving financial compensation in exchange for the use of their Name, Image, and Likeness in marketing and promotional endeavors.
OU Men’s Basketball Coach Jeff Boals
Ryan O’Connor, Ohio University’s Associate Athletics Director for External Engagement, encouraged Chamber members to sign up for the Ohio NIL Exchange, which is a centralized platform that connects student-athletes with interested businesses and organizations (read more about the Ohio NIL Exchange here). Henry Konzen, OU’s Assistant Coordinator for Athletic Director Operations and External Engagement, then presented examples of how NIL has been used for marketing purposes by local businesses around the country, including featuring student-athletes in commercials and having them hold autograph signing and meet-and-greets at local businesses or during local events. Closing out the presentation, OU Men’s Basketball Coach Jeff Boals spoke about the benefits of the NIL for the student-athletes, the businesses who take advantage of NIL, and the community as a whole, and he encouraged interested businesses and organizations to come to a practice and get to know the student-athletes.
If you have any questions or are interested in using NIL to help market your business or organization, please reach out to Henry Konzen at hk144421@ohio.edu or Ryan O’Connor at oconnorr@ohio.edu.
The crowd was engaged and interested in the topic, and some great conversations happened before and after the presentation. Thank you to our sponsors: Jackie O’s for providing complimentary beer to attendees, Keystone’s Mac Shack for catering the event with 4 different types of mac-n-cheese and cookies, and to CEC Turf and Tractor for providing the registration incentive.
Check out some moments from the night:
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