Shoe deals, gender reveals and more. Kentucky players are already cashing in on NIL.
That didn’t take long.
After years of debate, delay and, finally, a rushed agreement on reform, it took only a few minutes for University of Kentucky athletes to start making money off of changes to the NCAA’s name, image and likeness rules.
Thursday marked the first day that college athletes were permitted to enter into money-making ventures while still retaining their eligibility on the playing field, and some of UK’s most visible players were on top of it.
At 12:34 a.m. — less than an hour after the NIL changes went into effect — Wildcats guard and former Mr. Basketball Dontaie Allen announced on Twitter that he had joined up with apparel company The Players Trunk to sell T-shirts bearing his likeness.
“Excited to team up with @theplayerstrunk to come out with my own custom merch. Stay tuned throughout the year for more!!!” Allen said in a tweet announcing the venture.
The link Allen provided took fans to a website where they could buy T-shirts — with Allen’s likeness, holding a basketball and wearing a blue jersey with his No. 11 on it — for $29.99. Hooded sweatshirts are $59.99 a pop, with personalized video messages going for $50 and a 10- to 15-minute Zoom call with the UK guard set at $80.
As a native Kentuckian, a high school star at Pendleton County, and one of the few bright spots on this past season’s UK team, Allen was expected to be one of the program’s most marketable players once NIL reforms went into effect.
He was certainly among the quickest to get his money-making message out there.
It didn’t take long for his teammates to join him.
Incoming transfer Kellan Grady — a 2,000-point scorer at Davidson — announced Thursday afternoon that he had signed an “off-court footwear deal” with ISlide, which specializes in custom sandals. As part of UK’s NIL rules, its athletes won’t be permitted to endorse sports apparel and footwear during team activities, hence the “off-court” designation in Grady’s announcement. UK has a major endorsement deal with Nike.
By lunchtime Thursday, several Kentucky men’s basketball players had set up accounts on Cameo, which connects athletes (and other celebrities, both major and minor) to fans, who can pay a set fee for personalized greetings, birthday shoutouts, and similar video messages.
Each Cameo page includes an intro message from that player. And a price.
“What’s up, guys — it’s Keion Brooks here from Kentucky men’s basketball,” Brooks’ message begins. “And I’m super excited to connect with you through Cameo. I’m doing birthday shoutouts, anniversaries, pep talks, gender reveals. Anything you need — your boy got you. So don’t be afraid to reach out, because we’re going to get it done, and we’re going to get it poppin’.”
Want to let Brooks tell your family or friends whether you’re having a boy or girl? That’ll cost 60 bucks, which is right in line with most of his teammates.
The price on Allen’s page is listed at $90. Jacob Toppin, Lance Ware and five-star freshman Daimion Collins were all at $60. Grady is available for video messages at $50. Walk-on Brennan Canada was listed at $40.
Meanwhile, Davion Mintz created a Cameo page with a listed price at $25 for personalized messages. A couple of hours later, it was announced that Mintz would return to Kentucky for one more season after leading the Cats in scoring and three-point shooting this past season.
Freshman Bryce Hopkins set his price at $15 on Thursday.
For sake of reference, several other UK personalities are on the website, with John Calipari’s page listing his price at $399. Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops is at $200, with women’s basketball coach Kyra Elzy at $45. Brad Calipari and Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones have listings of 50 bucks, with many former UK players also available to connect with through the website.
Kentucky defensive back Moses Douglass announced Thursday that he had joined up with Yoke Gaming, a service that allows for fans to play video games with athletes.
“All athletes DM me and I can help you get set up and let’s get PAID,” Douglass said in a tweet.
UK quarterback transfer Will Levis — a possibility to be the Cats’ starting QB this season — also announced that he had signed on with Yoke Gaming.
“We are COLLEGE ATHLETES…” Levis said on his Instagram page. “We are building our brands and working everyday to be the best student-athletes we can be. We finally have the chance to get paid for marketing opportunities. This is my first paid post announcing I’ve joined @yokegaming.”
Levis included the same message as Douglass, telling other athletes to DM him for more info on how to join up.
Elsewhere in the commonwealth, Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham set up an account through the website Dreamfield.co for personal appearances, with a fee of $300 per hour. The Proactive Sports Agency announced Thursday that it would be representing U of L men’s basketball player El Ellis — the nation’s top junior-college recruit — on all inquiries related to name, image and likeness deals. (Use of agents for such purposes is permitted, under the new rules).
And the Cardinals affiliate for Rivals.com posted that it had reached an agreement with U of L wide receiver and Louisville native Jordan Watkins, who will be doing weekly interviews and advertising segments for the website.
Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order last week making sure Kentucky college athletes would be allowed to pursue NIL endeavors when other states’ legislation went into effect Thursday, and that order — along with a later, more uniform action by the NCAA — left it largely up to the universities to set rules on how their athletes could make money.
UK and U of L both released detailed plans on the subject Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
