Wisconsin athletics: new NIL initiatives emerge for UW athletes this spring

The University of Wisconsin has furthered their NIL presence with a pair of initiatives.

Name Imagine and Likeness (NIL) has been one of the hottest topics in college athletics over the past year or so.

The NCAA policy, which allows athletes to profit off their personal brand, has brought about some sweeping changes across campuses around the country.

This spring, the University of Wisconsin ramped up its NIL efforts with a pair of initiatives to improve the experience for athletics across all sports.

Early in the week, Dan Murphy of ESPN reported that Wisconsin was one of 22 NCAA schools in the FBS to offer academic bonus payments to athletes who earn good grades this spring.

According to NCAA stipulations, the bonus payments can reach up to $5,980 per athlete per year as a reward for academic achievement.

The University of Wisconsin consistently ranks as one of the top public universities in the United States for academics. A NIL opportunity specifically tied to grades makes sense for the Badgers, not only offer this as an option for athletes but also use it as a recruiting tool. Wisconsin is the only athletic department in the Big Ten offering this bonus plan at this time.

In addition to the bonus payments offered, the athletic department made news by partnering with Altius Sports Partners. Altius is a NIL advisory firm that also represents several other top-level universities around the nation.

UW communications shared the announcement via a press release on Thursday.

According to the email, the goal of the agreement is to advance Wisconsin's NIL program named 'YouDub' through the use of the Altius NIL launch platform, which includes "strategic guidance" and "educational services," among other things.

Here is what Athletic Director Chris McIntosh had to say about the partnership in the press release:

“We want to position Badger student-athletes to take full advantage of the many opportunities they have at Wisconsin to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness. I could not be more pleased to have Altius as a partner. Their experience, creativity and expertise will be an incredible resource for our student-athletes, coaches and staff. The NIL space is constantly evolving, and we will utilize the talented people at Altius to help us move forward in a way that puts Wisconsin in a leadership position in college athletics, supports our mission of education and sets our student-athletes up for success.”

You can read more about Wisconsin's partnership with Altius here.

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