MADISON, Wis. — Rob Master was confronted with a frequent and pertinent question as collectives began popping up over the past year to facilitate NIL sponsorships and marketing opportunities for student-athletes at college programs across the country: When is Wisconsin entering the race?
Master, a 1993 UW-Madison graduate, had been following the developments of the emerging name, image and likeness space especially closely. He realized he was uniquely positioned to lend his expertise for a Wisconsin-specific collective.
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That’s because Master was the vice president of integrated marketing and media last year at Unilever, a global consumer goods company. He oversaw Unilever’s NCAA partnerships, including an NIL deal for Degree Deodorant’s “Breaking Limits” ad campaign, which signed three Wisconsin athletes as part of a purpose-driven approach that featured mentoring and community programming.
Master liked the blueprint so much and had such pride in his alma mater that he decided to explore how to translate that success to Wisconsin. Thus, The Varsity Collective, which bills itself as “the first and only donor- and alumni-led NIL collective working on behalf of University of Wisconsin student-athletes,” was born. It first arrived in early June in the form of a website but had essentially been silent for three months. That is, until Thursday when Master — the executive chair for The Varsity Collective — was among those participating in a news conference to publicly announce key details about the launch.
Some might ask: What took so long?
“I always harken back to MySpace and Friendster were there before Facebook,” said Master, who spoke to The Athletic this week in advance of the news conference. “It’s not how you start. It’s how you really show up when it matters. We’re creating something I think really special and unique here, and we didn’t want to rush it.”
Master said he believes that what The Varsity Collective has established positions Wisconsin and its athletes for long-term success. But he makes a couple of points clear right off the bat. This will not be a collective that focuses on inducing high school athletes — an NCAA rules violation that some collectives appear to be skirting around. Instead, the emphasis will be on providing meaningful experiences and maximizing NIL opportunities for current Wisconsin athletes. Master said the plan in place could be a potential selling point to prospective athletes when they see just how much value The Varsity Collective can offer.
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If you’re looking for a dollar amount for how much money has been or will be pledged to support the cause, Master said the collective “hasn’t really set a target.” The initial directive is to launch the collective, engage with the community of Wisconsin fans and alumni and offer a variety of ways in which they can contribute. But the setup is expected to look different from other collectives. For example, John Ruiz, a billionaire booster for the University of Miami, has said he’ll use up to $10 million to compensate Hurricanes athletes this year. A second collective, Canes Connection, has promised to match that amount.
“You’re reading what I’m reading, which is that collectives tend to be very transactional,” Master said. “You see with Texas A&M and the University of Miami. None of them really talk about anything else. It’s about maximizing NIL and more. It’s the ‘and more’ part. We want to be super competitive in the NIL space, but we’re also going to be I think uniquely positioned to really set these students up well beyond their college athletic career.”
So, what will The Varsity Collective offer? Master said the collective is a 501(c)(3) organization, which allows for federal tax exemption as a nonprofit organization, and is guided by what he calls a four-pillar approach. They are:
- NIL Support — Facilitating opportunities for student-athletes to support community nonprofit organizations.
- NIL Branding Support — Training student-athletes to navigate the NIL landscape, develop their personal brand and unlock new earnings opportunities and build a profile for life after college.
- Life Currency — A platform for student-athletes to learn from an extensive group of former Badgers athletes, as well as alums across multiple professional career disciplines.
- Funding the Future — Establishing a sustainable base of donors, businesses and charitable partnerships to create NIL opportunities for student-athletes.
Master said it was critical for the mission of the collective to go beyond helping athletes take advantage of their NIL value through education, support and partnerships with community organizations. That’s why the other piece is to equip them with insights and mentorships from successful alumni in a variety of fields.
Among the former Badgers participating in the “Life Currency” program, which allows current athletes to connect with and learn from mentors, are Russell Wilson, J.J. Watt, Michael Finley, Meghan Duggan and Dana Rettke. Wisconsin alumni in the business world who will lend their help as Life Currency coaches include Ricky Sandler (Eminence Capital founder and CEO), Wendy Straker Hauser (showrunner and executive producer) and Peter Marino (Molson Coors president of emerging growth).
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Other notable alumni participating in the program include Kevin Hein, the head of agency at Meta, whose list of social media platforms includes Facebook and Instagram. Master said Hein will be able to talk to athletes about how best to use their social media platforms to build their brand. DJ Hines, the CEO of Hines Enterprises, and Rachel Goldflam, vice president of marketing and communications at David Yurman, also will participate. Master said, given that fewer than 2 percent of college athletes go on to play professionally, it’s important to provide a holistic experience and prepare student-athletes for life after college sports by asking them about their career interests.
The collective also is investing in a pair of podcasts hosted by former Badgers athletes to offer current players a platform to showcase themselves. Offensive lineman Joe Thomas and his wife, former Badgers women’s basketball player Annie (Nelson) Thomas, will host a podcast called “Badger Bigs” that could highlight Badgers from offensive linemen to middle blockers to power forwards.
Former Badgers men’s basketball player Sam Dekker will host a podcast called “The Varsity Beat” that will talk to current Badgers across all sports, as well former teammates or Badgers from previous generations. Both Dekker and Joe Thomas have massive social media followings that they hope will help to extend their reach. Thomas has roughly 278,500 Twitter followers, while Dekker has nearly 275,000 Twitter followers and 180,000 Instagram followers.
“Hopefully we can help these student-athletes in any way possible,” said Dekker, who is in England preparing for his eighth professional basketball season. “We have the Braelon Allens of the world and the Graham Mertzes who are such recognizable faces on campus. But there are so many high-level student-athletes that deserve recognition, deserve their name to be known. And if they have a unique story, who knows what a little show like ours could do for them? So I’m all for these kids putting in the work on what they do and getting some love out of it. That’s what it’s all about.”
Master said a critical component to the collective is being committed to equitable access to NIL support and development for all Badgers student-athletes across every sport — not just the revenue-producing sports. Thomas said that aspect appealed to him and cited the fact that, for most Wisconsin players, particularly in non-revenue sports, the highest earnings potential they will ever have as athletes occurs while in college as Badgers. Thomas said he also was intrigued by the idea of being involved in a collective that would be tailored to look “uniquely Wisconsin.”
“As a Badger athlete, your reach potentially to have influence over brands is truly as national as any other student-athlete in the country,” Thomas said. “And I think The Varsity Collective recognizes that. Now, will the money that the collective for Wisconsin puts together be able to rival Texas or Alabama where they have many, many big B billionaires that have decided that their purpose in life is to fund and funnel their own personal wealth through the football program to make it better? No, I don’t think you can compete with them on that level.
“But to me that’s why The Varsity Collective for Wisconsin is unique is because it’s more than just how many dollars can they raise? It’s a uniquely Wisconsin experience about giving access, giving education, giving true partnerships with brands. So you’re becoming a real business person when you do have these level of partnerships with some of the people or the businesses in the collective that’s more than just, ‘Hey, here’s a check. Thanks for being a player.’”
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Other members of The Varsity Collective leadership team include Ted Kellner (Fiduciary Management founder, chairman and CEO and UW Athletics Hall of Fame member), Kenny Dichter (Wheels Up founder and CEO), Smita Reddy (U.S. brand chair of Edelman), Jeff Mack (first vice president of business development at Park Bank and former Badgers football player), Jason Lublin (chief financial officer at Endeavor), Paul Wrycha (partner at Foley & Lardner LLP), Peter Feigin (Milwaukee Bucks president), Brooks Bollinger (Bell Bank SVP/Twin Cities wealth management director and former Badgers quarterback) and Kim Kelleher (AMC Networks president of commercial revenue and partnerships).
While The Varsity Collective’s activity will be in the form of a charitable engagement, Master said the group also created a wholly owned LLC subsidiary called VC Connect to facilitate businesses and organizations connecting with Badgers student-athletes and creating branding opportunities. VC Connect will offer help in coordination and tax document filing to support marketing and program management. Although The Varsity Collective is a standalone entity from the university, Master said the group has communicated with school officials at Wisconsin in order to ensure it remains NCAA compliant.
With a plan this extensive in place, Master hopes it’s understandable why Wisconsin’s collective took time to roll out. It is something current Badgers coaches and players certainly can appreciate.
Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, a former Badgers safety who began his career as a walk-on and developed into a three-time All-American, said Wisconsin’s involvement in “the new landscape of college football” was vital for the future success of the athletics department in general.
“You’re going to have to compete in that space somehow,” Leonhard said. “As Wisconsin in most things, I don’t think we see ourselves having to be the leaders in those areas. We do have the education. We have the city. We have the culture. We have a lot of things going for us. I don’t feel like in anything, whether it’s facilities, what we sell these kids, we feel like we have to be No. 1 in all that. But you’ve got to compete.
“It’s just exciting for me being a former player. Obviously with my situation, being a walk-on and having success before I was on scholarship, you kind of think of what could’ve happened in my case or in other players who have come through here. … It’s a big deal across the country, and I’m glad to see Wisconsin getting in the race and finding ways to be competitive and reward players for the work and the time that they put in.”
(Top photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)