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Published: 2022-09-09 14:01:00 Updated: 2022-09-09 16:38:53
Posted September 9, 2022 2:01 p.m. EDT Updated September 9, 2022 4:38 p.m. EDT
By Brian Murphy, WRAL sports investigative reporter
For the first time, fans can buy a jersey of their favorite UNC or NC State football player with his name and number on the back. And the player will receive a cut of the revenue generated.
The NCAA adopted new rules around name, image and likeness last year, allowing college players to profit. As a result, companies are now selling school jerseys that can be customized with the combination of name and numbers of current players.
The UNC jerseys are for sale through Fanatics for $139.99. Fans can pick from a wide selection of current players from Jonathan Adorno's No. 52 to Jake Young's No. 89. Quarterback Drake Maye's No. 10 and wide receiver Josh Downs' No. 11 are among the combinations available.
NC State's jerseys are available for $130 and also have a wide selection of players available, from freshman offensive lineman Blair Alexander's No. 60 to graduate student offensive guard Chandler Zavala's No. 64. Quarterback Devin Leary's No. 13 and linebacker Payton Wilson's No. 11 are also among the combinations available.
The jerseys are not completely customizable. Fans can't, for example, use their own last name with their favorite number or use a former player's name and number combination.
UNC athletes who signed a group licensing agreement with OneTeam Partners have their names and numbers listed. The players will receive some money, likely around $4, from each jersey sold with their name and number.
UNC is charging Fanatics a 12% royalty fee for use of its trademarks and logos. That portion is split evenly between the university and athlete. The 12% comes from the wholesale price, not the retail figure. And of that 12%, OneTeam keeps 30%. On its website, it calls that figure customary "on the professional side" and says its for services such as managing the group licensing program, negotiating licensing deals, managing NIL approvals and protecting athlete NIL.
So if Fanatics has a wholesale price of $100 for a UNC jersey, the school's royalty fee is $12. Of that $12, One Team collects $3.60 and $8.40 is left to be split evenly between the player and the school.
OneTeam, which got contracts with Fanatics and Nike, presented football players with a take-it or leave-it offer and no opportunity to negotiate, said Nate Wood, an associate athletic director at UNC who oversees much of its name, image and likeness efforts.
"We don't want to deny our student-athlete's jerseys getting in stores," Wood told WRAL. "We understand the deal might not be great, but if that's the only way you're getting jerseys in the stores, that's the only way you're getting your jersey in the stores."
The players will be paid by One Team, Wood said.
UNC is one of 19 schools available through Fanatics, joining Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, LSU, Florida, Florida State, Penn State, Texas A&M, Notre Dame and others.
NC State football players signed a group licensing deal with The Brandr Group. A third-party company, Silver Crystal Group, is adding the names and numbers to NC State's Adidas jerseys.
"NC State is not and cannot be a party to the licensing agreements between our players and The Brandr Group, so I am uncertain of the financial terms on this item," said Chris Boyer, NC State's assistant vice chancellor for strategic brand management.
NC State football players could earn more from their jersey sales, according to the CEO of The Brandr Group.
"Proceeds of co-branded jerseys sold with the NIL of student-athletes who have opted into our group licensing agreement is roughly $10 to $12 a jersey for the student-athletes," Wesley Haynes told WRAL in a statement. "This approximate payment of 10 percent of the final invoice price is aligned with existing industry standard best practices, and it represents the baseline for negotiations for our jersey programs."
Adidas holds the licensing rights for all NC State replica jerseys and has told the school it plans to offer replica jerseys for current players in football and basketball this year, Boyer said.
Wood said OneTeam has said they'd like to do other sports, but they have not identified them at this time. There are no other jerseys in production at this time.
Fans have been able to buy replica jerseys with a small selection of numbers but no names. In recent years, schools have cut down on the available numbers, often limiting it to No. 1 and the last two digits of the year, so as not to look as if they are selling jerseys tied to star players.
Once the NIL rules changed, jerseys were one of the first areas that many fans and athletes thought about. But the abrupt change in the rules, coupled with supply chain issues, made it impossible for companies to get jerseys to market last year.
Renata Hays Kukowski, the vice president of Fanatics College, said in June that her company usually puts in its orders for the following fall in October or November. The NIL rules changed in July.
"Many of us on the licensed product side were not prepared for it and didn't have the lead times quite honestly to start developing licensed program at that point in time," she said at an NIL summit in Atlanta.
Kukowski said Fanatics, as a retailer and a licensee, has a "unique perspective" on what products will make sense for NIL in college athletics.
"Where we are starting to begin with is what we consider these evergreen foundational programs, one of which is jerseys," she said.
Darren Heitner, an attorney who works with athletes in the NIL arena, said that some agents are pulling their athletes out of the group licensing agreements over the small cut for athletes.
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