Red Raiders Athletes Are Feeling the Benefits of NIL
Since the advent of NIL, college athletes have seen the benefits of their hard work in a more concrete manner than "school pride". Texas Tech's athletes are no exception, as several teams have reached agreements on roster-wide deals with the backing of several booster conglomerates, such as The Matador Club.
The Matador Club is one organization that supports the NIL endeavors of Red Raider athletes and they've attracted more than 3,000 contributors to their cause.
So far, the group has reached deals with both the football and softball team. Around 100 football players received one-year contracts worth $25,000 each, with the sum being paid out in weekly installments. Another 27 softball players reached similar agreements for a value of $10,000 per contract.
It's great to see student-athletes being compensated for all the hours they put in, not just currently but for years leading up to their college enrollment. It's especially heartening to see the deals reach a team-wide status, as some players simply don't have the notoriety to attract their own endorsements, but are still integral members of the team.
Another organization, called the Level 13 Agency, signed contracts with the entire Texas Tech women's basketball team earlier this summer.
The Matador Club has publicly stated that they are moving toward more team-wide deals in the future and one of the group's founders Cody Campbell, who's one of six Tech alumni who helped start the club, is ecstatic about the community response.
"I've just been pleasantly surprised and, honestly, blown away by the amount of support that we've gotten from the Texas Tech community," said Campbell.
"We've had people reach out, in many cases unsolicited, to help support the non-revenue sports, the women's sports and so we're well on track to have every athlete on campus with an NIL with the Matador Club, which was our original goal. We're way ahead of schedule on that and very excited about the progress we're making."
He also said they are in the process of working on deals with the baseball team as part of their goal to reach every athlete. These kinds of NIL benefits could pay huge dividends in recruiting and hiring personnel in the future.
The club will have their work cut out for them as Texas Tech boasts 415 student-athletes, but they're already off to a great start keeping Red Raider athletics ahead of the game.
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