College sports are in a completely different world than they were three years ago, much in part to athletes finally being able to profit off their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
We’re seeing college athletes getting paid a lot of money, and for some like LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, even millions, whereas only a few years back that was completely illegal.
Of course, colleges have been profiting off the production of athletes since the beginning of sports, so it was probably time for the athletes to reap the benefits of their success.
Sure, it’s caused a lot of controversy and tampering, but NIL was only inevitable.
Nevertheless, we’ve still seen some wild and innovative ways NIL money has been racked up…
And this may be the wildest, and best I’ve seen yet.
Back in May, the SWARM Collective teamed up with Exile Brewing Company in Des Moines, Iowa, and their first Golden Ale was produced back in June. The catch is that 20% of the revenue goes to the Collective, which raises NIL money for University of Iowa athletes.
Exile Brewing Company owner and co-founder R.J. Tursi told On3:
“We have lots of runway down here at Exile to make really tens of thousands of cases of this beer and if we start getting up into those numbers – tens of thousands of cases or even more than that – if this beer gets on the level of popularity as like our most popular beer Ruthie, you’d be looking at a donation for The Swarm of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from Exile.”
So, what happens when you have a bunch of Iowa fans who love drinking beer, and are willing to help their athletes in the best way they know how?
They’ve raised $58,500 in NIL, just in the month of July alone.
I say that this should be a more common trend… I mean c’mon, drinking beer and watching college sports go hand in hand, and this is a win-win situation for both the fan and the college athlete.
