Notre Dame Setting New Bar for NIL Recruiting

Notre Dame continued to expand its recruiting presence and aggression on Thursday as the Irish put up billboards coast to coast and did virtual meetings with high school coaches across the country. 

The billboards featured a current player along with Social Media links. It's a step to help players build a brand with Name, Image, Likeness changes coming to collegiate athletics. 

Recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach Mike Elston has led the charge and it's been well-received by Notre Dame's players and recruits. 

"The No. 1 way to strengthen your brand is performance in the arena, but then playing well in football, basketball or whatever the sport these student-athletes are in, the co-branding they choose, they need to be strategic," Elston told ISD. "Because it can elevate to life after football.

"We have numerous examples that we show to guys when we're recruiting of players that have gone on and done things outside of football after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. This thing doesn't just go regional, local, or national for us at Notre Dame; it goes global for us."

It's a bold campaign and one only a few schools can pull off as Notre Dame recruits every corner of the country. Billboards in hometown can lead to potential NIL opportunities outside of the South Bend area, along with simply building more of a following on Social Media channels. 

"It's not just to showcase recruiting, but we also wanted to promote our players," explained Elston. "With NIL, the strength of someone's brand and co-branding, the players' brand along with Notre Dame brand, is as strong as anywhere else in the country.

We're hoping with this their Twitter following goes up so when they are actually able to get some NIL opportunities, their brand is stronger, they're getting more impressions and ultimately, it gives them a chance to make more money." 

James Clawson, a founding partner of The Spire Group, has negotiated NFL, PGA, college marketing agreements and brokered multiple pending NIL agreements with schools in the ACC, Big 12 and the SEC. 

Clawson is high on what Notre Dame's latest campaign means for the future. 

"I think first of all, it conveys we (Notre Dame) are serious about NIL," stated Clawson. "Serious about players and serious about our players' brands. It says we're investing in NIL. Over time, this is going to truly create significant value for student-athletes at Notre Dame. Who are the donors in those areas (of the billboards)? What are the businesses they own? Are they in positions of power to make decisions in marketing? These decisions can help with really leveraging those relationships and creating a buzz that builds over time. Maybe you don't get your top kid a deal in, say, the St. Louis market this year, but all you're doing is setting yourself up for great success, a great foundation for the future.

I think schools need to err on the side of what is in best interest of the player, the student-athlete. If you do that, I think the long-term health of your athletic department is going to be really good."
 
Clawson also gave props to Notre Dame for adding Social Media handles to the billboards. 

"I think these transfers, kids leave schools, transfer to others, and are not being marketed like they think should be," Clawson said. "Would a top player leave and go to another school because he thinks the grass is greener on other sides for potential marketing deals? NFL and NBA players leave one agency and hire a new one all the time because they think the grass is greener. Will a student-athlete think this about a college?

"Most (student-athletes) are going to believe they're entitled to some marketing. And I think there are going to be a whole lot of schools really beginning to be thinking creatively. Something I'm really interested to see, and the law that passes matters, are you going to be allowed to do a deal as a student-athlete that may be a conflict with a school's corporate sponsor. For example, Georgia has an official airline partner with Delta. What if American Airlines wants to come in and do a deal with the quarterback and Georgia says no. 

"I just think the repercussions are far, far greater if you start denying potential opportunities like this for your players. A lot of schools' (broadcast) networks are just worried about their own corporate sponsors and keeping them happy. When that's the case, I'm just not sure they're looking at the full picture. I think both can co-exist." 

While Notre Dame's campaign is aggressive, it's also not one that's giving false hope or promises when it comes to NIL, as guidelines have yet to be set. 

"I think the No. 1 thing is nobody knows exactly what NIL legislation looks like but one thing we know for sure, there's going to be a huge part of it played with how strong the current brand is individually," said Elston. "Nobody knows what legislation will pass, but the sentiment we want to come out is we're embracing it, we know it's coming and we want to help our student-athletes strengthen their brand, increase their followings (on social media) and hopefully that helps lead to more dollars down the road for them.”

ISD’s John Brice contributed to this article.