Nick Greer, co-founder of Built Brands, left, and BYU football coach Kalani Sitake greet each other during a press conference at the BYU Student Athlete Building in Provo on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021, where they discussed Built Brands’ name, image and likeness agreement with BYU. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
PROVO — Built’s not done with BYU yet. Not by a long shot.
Turns out, the American Fork-based protein bar company has a lot more planned for the athletic department and football program, courtesy of its BYU alum and superfan CEO.
The company announced Tuesday it is re-upping its team-wide name, image and likeness agreement day with the BYU football team, a deal that essentially pays the tuition of every walk-on football player that opts into the deal in exchange for social- media promotion and some events for its popular energy snacks.
Under terms of the new deal, though, Built will also produce a new CougarTail bar with 15% of the proceeds going directly to athletes who have an NIL deal with the company, CEO and co-founder Nick Greer said.
All 36 walk-ons have opted into the agreement, BYU said, including the new agreement to pitch the Built Bar puff modeled after the 16-inch CougarTail maple bar sold at BYU athletic events that has become something of a viral sensation.
“At the end of the day, anyone that loves the Cougars are emotionally attached to them and now get emotionally excited by our brand and our products,” Greer told ESPN radio in Utah County. “There’s a commonality that we both love the Cougars, so let’s love them together over a Built bar.
“There’s a bit of a romantic relationship, I guess you could say; a match made in heaven. But it’s been awesome. It’s been fun to watch it grow, and we’ll watch it continue to grow. We want to continue to do this across the nation, create other bars for other schools, and create other things that are exciting and different.”
The inspiration for COUGARTAIL comes from a 16″ maple bar donut that has fans waiting in concession lines long before the game even starts. We have joined with BYU and made this one of a kind protein bar that makes every day feel like game
day!🐾🤙#imbuilt#byu#byufootballpic.twitter.com/JnFQtKvTz3
— Built Brands (@Built_Bar) August 23, 2022
Built’s NIL agreement with BYU was initially probed by the NCAA back in December, but after “communicating with the NCAA,” the investigations team has not contacted the athletic department further about the deal, athletic department representatives told KSL.com.
Greer introduced the new deal Saturday morning at LaVell Edwards Stadium when Cosmo parachuted onto the field following BYU’s penultimate scrimmage of fall camp to unveil the new agreement with the football team.
Part of that agreement now includes a service element. Through the company’s Built for Good program, a portion of all sales will go to the Five 12 Foundation to end childhood hunger. Greer said the company provides around 2,000 backpacks filled with food every week for elementary-aged school children on the Wasatch Front who struggle with food insecurity, and BYU football players will be asked to promote the program at least once a month as part of the NIL deal.
“You’d be blown away by how many kids go hungry over the weekend, and come back to school starving. They aren’t able to learn,” Greer said. “What we try to do is nourish them, give them food that is nutritious, that feeds them, is good for them, and helps them have that good start to the week.
“We’re hoping that the football team can help contribute to this cause in a much larger way.”
As part of the corporate sponsorship, Built branding will be placed on the team heating and cooling benches on the field at LaVell Edwards Stadium for every home game this year. Previously, the football team had Built logos on the back of their helmets, as well as two Built-branded “fueling stations” inside LaVell Edwards Stadium and the locker room inside the Student-Athlete Building on campus.
BYU coach Kalani Sitake added his hope is the expanded partnership will “change name, image and likeness” and put the focus on serving others rather than earning money for one’s self.
“I like that they are using our players to promote service,” Sitake said after wrapping up fall camp Tuesday in Provo.
“This is going to be a really cool program for our players to get involved with, and not just about making money but helping people. That’s right in line with what we want our program to be known for, our school, our university and our churches.”
Greer has repeatedly said that he hopes to expand Built’s partnership with universities across the country, with Tuesday’s CougarTail puff an example of the “creative ways” his protein bar industry can enhance a college athletic program.
“We want to fuel every entire college athletic team in the United States, right now,” Greer told HBO’s Real Sports last October in a long-form feature about NIL around the country. “When they eat our bars, eat our products, eat everything that we create, they’re like ‘how would I go a day without it?'”
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A proud graduate of Syracuse University, Sean Walker has covered BYU for KSL.com since 2015, while also mixing in prep sports, education, and anything else his editors assign him to do.
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