KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — More national attention for Vols football means more companies are interested in investing in athletes through Name, Image and Likeness deals, according to Spyre Sports. They are a sports marketing agency that represents several professional athletes.
NCAA rules now make it possible for athletes to profit off of their Name, Image and Likeness, opening up possibilities for college athletes to make endorsement deals.
Spyre runs a "Volunteer Club," designed to connect fans with athletes. Fans can pay to attend tailgates, host birthday parties and go to other events with UT athletes.
Brandon Spurlock from Spyre Sports said Volunteer Club membership has increased by up to 20% after the University of Tennessee beat LSU and Alabama.
"The next evolution of Spyre Sports and the Volunteer Club is to do more national deals," said Hunter Baddour, the co-founder of Spyre Sports.
This week, Spyre announced a deal with several UT athletes and AT&T.
Spurlock said because of the attention the Vols are getting, companies are starting to show more interest in UT athletes. However, he said, that means athletes and fans have more expectations.
For example, after a breakout game against Alabama, Jalin Hyatt's NIL valuation, calculated by On3.com jumped more than $500,000.
"We capitalized on the moment with Jalin Hyatt," Spurlock said.
However, he said NIL deals are still in the neighborhood of between $5,000 and $50,000 for athletes.
James Clawson from Spyre Sports said Spyre has several big national deals in the works because of UT's recent success, and they hope to announce them in the coming weeks.
"The offense is electric, it scores a lot of points," Clawson said. "That's gotten a lot of people's attention."
Clawson said he thinks the possibility of a college football playoff team would be lucrative for Tennessee athletes.