Collegiate Merchandise Without Logos ... How and Why?

Student-Athletes make more $ when school trademarks aren't inIvolved, upwards of 5x more in some cases.

What is NIL?

NIL is a shorthand term for Name, Image & Likeness legislation that passed in the summer of 2021, granting student-athletes the legal right to monetize their social influence.

However, the bill prohibits universities from directly providing or conducting funds to an athlete, leaving only third party businesses and organizations to present athletes with independent sponsorship opportunities.

What about merch?

Traditional collegiate licensing is a system that’s been in place for decades, is notoriously expensive, and requires diligent compliance with the school’s guidelines. When NIL was introduced, it opened opportunities for Athletes to earn compensation from licensing deals- including Jerseys, Merchandise, and other memorabilia.

Collegiate licensing requires anywhere from a 10-15% royalty go to the school for the right to use their marks (logos) on any sort of merchandise. When combining this with brand-new NIL licensing, athletes are left with a small leftover percentage, in most cases less than 2-4%.

Limelight’s solution - independent licensing

Unlike other apparel stores that co-license from both the University and Athlete (reserving the school the majority of the revenue), Limelight Apparel licenses NIL directly from Athletes. This is why you’ll never see a School’s logo on any of our merchandise, in order to pay the full royalty to the Athlete.

Student-Athletes that work with Limelight receive a 15% royalty on all sales made, and are presented with additional monetization opportunities to capitalize on their influence and stardom.

Through exciting designs and premium quality products, we aim to help Athletes connect with fans through authentic merchandise, and do our part empower them in the merchandise realm of the NIL era.

Questions? Reach Out!

We hope this summarized everything! NIL is still a very new concept and can be difficult to understand, so if you have any questions of hesitations, feel free to reach out to us, or check out our FAQ page. We’re happy to answer any questions, anywhere from NIL to our return policy.

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* 2-4% is in reference to Fanatics' co-licensing arrangement with athletes for NIL jerseys. Different merchants may have higher royalty rates for athletes in different cases.