‘The 15 Fund’ launched to facilitate NIL opportunities with UK athletes
Name, image and likeness opportunities for University of Kentucky athletes could become much more lucrative, and streamlined, in the near future.
The Virtus Brand, an independent player management company that’s been involved with several large NIL deals involving UK athletes, has partnered with an organization called “The Big Blue Legacy” to manage a fund to which NIL funds will be allocated “with the goal of creating a marketplace” supporting athletes in all of UK’s 29 men’s and women’s sports programs, according to a news release Wednesday.
The Big Blue Legacy, according to the release, is comprised of “prominent business leaders” from Kentucky and around the country. The NIL fund, dubbed “The 15 Fund,” will have a board of directors including former UK athletes and will be led by The Virtus Brand CEO Fred Johnson.
“The 15 Fund enables the commonwealth to show how much they care about these student-athletes,” said Tom Bower, co-founder of The Virtus Brand. “It’s a dream come true for me to see the student-athlete being rewarded for all their hard work through NIL. The 15 Fund allows that to happen based upon their market value. The University of Kentucky is a gold standard in many ways; The 15 Fund in combination with Virtus helps keep everyone safe and affords the opportunity to do NIL at the highest level. We look forward to working with current and future supporters of the Big Blue Legacy.”
The 15 Fund — named after the fact that Kentucky was the 15th state admitted into the United States of America — is similar to Clark Field Collective, an NIL fund launched recently by University of Texas boosters and former Longhorns athletes. That fund was launched with an initial pledged commitment of $10 million; an initial pledge amount and list of business parties involved was not yet known for The 15 Fund.
Johnson, who joined Virtus after nearly 28 years in the financial services industry, told the Herald-Leader that Virtus is focused on dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of all parties involved in NIL partnerships, including schools. The company is not affiliated with any school.
“Priority No. 1 is ‘Let’s protect everybody involved,’” Johnson said. “Priority No. 2, ‘Let’s support these student-athletes in a way that represents their fair-market value, and all student-athletes across the university.’ And while doing so, make sure we have steps in place to make everybody compliant.”
Kentucky wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson is among the current clients of The Virtus Brand, which facilitated a “substantial” NIL partnership between Robinson and Stockton Mortgage, a Frankfort-based mortgage and loan company. The company launched in 2018.
Gov. Andy Beshear in June signed an executive order on NIL that became effective in July, by which the NCAA had hoped a federal law governing NIL opportunities for college athletes would be passed; that didn’t happen. Kentucky lawmakers are drafting a bill regarding a permanent NIL law that they hope will voted on during the state’s next legislative session in January.
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 9:03 AM.
