Wisconsin Badgers unveil new plan for increasing NIL opportunities to pay athletes

This is the kind of emphasis on NIL funding that is long overdue from Wisconsin Badgers athletic director Chris McIntosh, but it's better late than never.

A promotional display for Pepsi featuring Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen is shown in November 2022 at a Pick 'n Save store in Fond du Lac, Wis. When the NCAA enacted Name Image Likeness (NIL) legislation in July 2021 it gave athletes the opportunity to earn money off endorsements as well as use their name in support of causes important to them. | Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Wisconsin Badgers athletic director Chris McIntosh promised that his department would create additional NIL opportunities to attract and pay players more money.

The school announced a major step toward realizing that goal on Wednesday, starting a new expanded partnership with Learfield.

It's called Badgers Athlete Partners, and it will come with additional staffing to help athletes pursue and fulfill more NIL opportunities.

A new era of NIL at Wisconsin 🦡

Introducing Badger Athlete Partners, a groundbreaking partnership in conjunction with @Learfield designed to grow student-athlete opportunities and elevate brand partnerships.

🔗 || https://t.co/sdtDszlxpE#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/KK1eDPBwOq

— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) December 17, 2025

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"Badger Athlete Partners is the next iteration of our existing NIL and brand infrastructure, further scaling opportunities for Badger student-athletes and delivering on the needs of our valued brand partners," McIntosh said in a press release. "It creates a large and scalable ecosystem that helps drive recruitment and retention across all sports."

The idea is that it will help connect more Badgers athletes with more prominent brands, helping to facilitate deals and then produce the content that those brands are looking for from the athletes.

It should provide a way to for the athletic department to have built-in financial opportunities to attract athletes with easier connections to NIL deals once they enroll here.

Related: More NIL investment won't fix Badgers football if transfer portal recruiting doesn't improve

Partnerships like these are critical for Wisconsin to compete with some of the top spending schools in the country.

The athletic department itself is limited in how much money it can pay athletes directly, but it can set them up with as many lucrative NIL opportunities as brand are willing to pay.

This is the kind of emphasis on NIL funding that is long overdue from McIntosh, but it's better late than never.

It's unclear if the additional staffing is up and running right away or if there will be an onboarding process for the new partnership.

The timing will be critical with the transfer portal set to open in early January and the Badgers promising to invest more in bringing in quality players

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