PROVO, Utah – HBO doesn’t watch BYU football often. But the wave of name, image, and likeness deals that the Cougars landed, particularly the team-wide Built Bar deal, caught the attention of the Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel network.
The NIL deal with Built Bar hit the headlines when it was announced in August. Since it was the first of its kind to provide practically every football player with a scholarship.
Each of BYU’s walk-ons suddenly had their classes courtesy of Built’s NIL deal. In addition, scholarship players who signed up for the support received money from Built.
BYU’s support, along with the Fresno Women’s Basketball Women’s Cavinder twins and Georgia Football’s JT Daniels caught the attention of HBO in a story they called the “NIL Gold Rush.”
On July 1, the NCAA suspended its rules of amateurism, which prevent student athletes from making money from their name, image, and likeness. Since then, student athletes in a wide variety of sports have been earning more money than ever before.
For BYU’s unique team-wide support for the football program, they meet Nick Greer, CEO of Built Bar.
Greer, a BYU alum and a member of the BYU Marriott School of Business Advisory Board, has put his brand first with the BYU soccer program. He even told the BYU soccer team, “Florida has Gatorade, Oregon has Nike, BYU has Built.”
HBO highlights BYU football sponsorship with Built Bar
“If you increase the game of running – of running – you will increase the game of everyone else around them,” Greer told HBO.
Prior to BYU’s first game against Arizona, the BYU football walk-ons who signed with Greer received their first built bar checks and totaled up to $ 12,000 in tuition fees. Scholarship recipients also received checks for $ 2,000.
Built-in bar stickers appear on BYU soccer training helmets. There is a built bar wall in the locker room at LaVell Edwards Stadium, a gas station in the Student Athlete Building, and sponsorship with the BYU corporate sponsorship team on radio and television broadcasts through the school.
But Greer doesn’t just stop at BYU.
“We now want to power every entire college sports team in the United States,” Greer said on HBO’s Real Sports. “When they eat our bars, they eat our products; they eat everything we create. They are like, how would I spend a day without them? “
In June, BYU announced Built4Life, a name, image, and likeness program for all BYU student athletes to network with CEOs, improve their brand, and make money from their NIL.
BYU athletes have signed individual agreements along with other team-wide agreements. Many of the athletes are represented by an agency called OhanaX. Players representing OhanaX have done deals with cryptocurrency companies. Some athletes have signed individual agreements ranging from small businesses to weekly radio hits.
The full episode is available on HBO and HBO Max.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Track Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday, 12pm – 3pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
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