Ole Miss, Grove Collective Leverage March Madness to Raise NIL Money
Ole Miss has one of the most recognized Name, Image and Likeness collectives around with The Grove, named after its famed tailgating area on campus.
Well, now The Grove and the university are working together on an NIL fundraiser that could bring in eight figures to support Rebels student-athletes and leveraging March Madness to do it.
The Grove Collective and Ole Miss announced its “March to Victory” fundraiser on Monday. The goal of the fundraiser is to raise $10 million in NIL funding for The Grove.
The effort will be coordinated with the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation and the Ole Miss Alumni Association.
The fun part is that is that it’s a competition, as the country will be divided into 16 regions and be pitted against one another in an NCAA basketball tournament-type of competition.
The 16 regions will be seeded through fundraising from March 4-18, with the top eight regions advancing to a bracket-style format. The Elite Eight will be from March 19-25, the Final Four will be from March 26-April 1 and the championship round will be from April 2-8.
Contributions in each region will be updated daily on the March to Victory web site, with bonuses for adding new membership, along with giveaways throughout the competition. The winning region and host city will get an exclusive event with football coach Lane Kiffin and receive a championship belt. The intention is for the competition to be an annual event.
The ultimate goal, along with the $10 million in funds raised, is pushing the Grove membership to 10,000. The Grove already has more than 5,500 members.
Funds will benefit the more than 200 student-athletes at Ole Miss that The Grove supports.
