Georgia Southern Athletics announced its enhanced partnership with Opendorse to provide a dedicated Name, Image and Likeness marketplace for its student-athletes, one of the first licensed school marketplaces in college sports.
The Opendorse-powered marketplace, named GATA Spotlight, will maximize NIL support for student-athletes through a single, streamlined platform that affords Eagle Nation and local organizations the opportunity to best support its student-athletes. Now, Georgia Southern fans, brands, sponsors and donors can browse, book, pitch and pay any Georgia Southern student-athlete for NIL activities in one compliant platform built specifically for the athletes’ needs.
“We are excited to partner with Opendorse on GATA Spotlight,” Director of Athletics Jared Benko said. “We are committed to providing our student-athletes with the best resources possible to maximize their NIL opportunities. Combined with our other NIL initiatives, GATA Spotlight affords our student-athletes the ability to grow their brand and provide an efficient platform to connect them to potential partnerships in a branded marketplace.”
Georgia Southern is among the first programs nationwide to provide a single marketplace to send supporters to access student-athletes and offer compliant opportunities. The department has worked with Opendorse since 2021, equipping student-athletes with educating, assessing, planning, sharing, creating, measuring, tracking, disclosing, regulating, listing, browsing, booking, and more NIL-related best practices. Opendorse tested six school-specific NIL marketplaces in the spring, and student-athletes at those institutions experienced a 193% increase in NIL opportunities in the first month after the marketplace’s launch.
“Georgia Southern alumni, fans and supporters better be ready for the unprecedented access they now have to support their favorite student-athletes,” said Opendorse senior director of collegiate partnerships Tim Pederson. “This partnership with Opendorse displays the commitment Georgia Southern has in supporting its student-athletes on their NIL journey.”
The site can be found at https://opendorse.com/georgiasouthern-eagles.
Student-athletes from all 17 GS teams will receive a profile, which can be customized and promoted on their personal social media channels while also highlighting their interests and preferences for potential partnerships.
It’s now easier than ever for Georgia Southern supporters to pitch student-athletes a deal in just a few clicks. After receiving a notification of a deal on the marketplace, an athlete can choose to accept, complete and receive payment for the opportunity, all on Opendorse’s secure platform. Once an agreement is completed, the activity is automatically disclosed for compliance purposes and tax documentation is automatically generated.
In addition to the marketplace, Georgia Southern continues several other areas of its partnership with Opendorse, receiving full access to the all-in-one NIL platform. Southern will continue to provide its student-athletes and staff with Opendorse’s best-in-class compliance, content and education tools:
- Compliance: upon completing a deal, athletes can automatically disclose activity details to their institution to ensure eligibility.
- Content: athletes have on-demand access to share photos and videos from games, practice and more.
- Education: athletes receive in-person and on-demand virtual education sessions from industry leaders at companies including Meta, Overtime, Players’ Tribune, Opendorse and more.
About Opendorse
Opendorse, the NIL company, is the leading technology provider in the athlete endorsement industry. More than 80,000 athletes use Opendorse to understand, build, and monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL) with support from thousands of brands, fans, sponsors, donors and partners, including Team USA, PGA TOUR, NFLPA, MLBPA, WNBPA, LPGA, over 100 professional and collegiate sports teams.
This is a press release from Georgia Southern University
