DOUGLAS LATTUCA: On July 1st, the NCAA allowed college athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness or N.I.L for the first time. Now collegiate athletes can make money from their fame and popularity through merchandising and sponsorships. Sport management professor David Meluni teaches a class on NIL and explains it this way.
DAVID MELUNI: Imagine a student that is on an academic scholarship in math. They can go ahead, and they can tutor and that’s just like an athlete that’s doing a camp or a lesson. I think that’s the easiest way to understand that there’s a craft that you have trained. You have been given that talent.
DOUGLAS LATTUCA: From the N-C-A-A website, individuals can engage in NIL activates that are consistent with state law like conducting lessons or camps over Thanksgiving break and being compensated appropriately. Meluni adds that athletes have so many new opportunities to make money.
DAVID MELUNI: There are autographs, so now you could actually, I mean you could get autographs in the past, but now you know that athlete can be a little more accessible because they could do a signing down at Manny’s
DOUGLAS LATTUCA: I’m here inside Manny’s clothing store on Marshall Street where Joe Girard and Buddy Boeheim apparel fill the store. General manager Mike Theiss says these new items are flying off the shelves ahead of the team’s first game tonight.
MIKE THEISS: We’ve had two shipments so far. They sold very well so we reordered them, and we also have jerseys coming. Jerseys take a lot longer to produce especially during the pandemic so those are expected to arrive somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
DOUGLAS LATTUCA: Theiss says he had time to plan for basketball season, but for football that wasn’t the case.
MIKE THEISS: Well, I guess one thing I would say about the name, image, and likeness thing, it’s especially difficult this year to make a deal happen because of the fact that the pandemic and the supply chain is broken it takes much longer to get merchandise than it normally would. It’s very difficult, for instance, Sean Tucker has kind of blown up for football and in the past, I could turn something around in two to three weeks, now quite often it takes two to three months. So it’s difficult to react in the middle of the season for a player who’s having a breakout year, so it’s a bit of a challenge but next year things will hopefully be better with regard to that.
DOUGLAS LATTUCA: One thing’s for certain… when a Buddy Boeheim jersey comes in, I’ll be the first on line to grab one. In Syracuse, Doug Lattuca, N-C-C News
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Since July 1, retail stores selling college sports apparel have been tasked with something new: picking players, organizing merchandise, and stocking the shelves. Almost four months ago, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) allowed college athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness for the first time.
Now collegiate athletes can make money from their fame and popularity through merchandising and sponsorships. The ruling occurred right before the NCAA football season which meant scramble mode for many apparel stores.
For Manny’s SU Clothing Store on Marshall Street, the late law change from the NCAA and sudden popularity of Syracuse running back Sean Tucker was tough to anticipate. The COVID-19 pandemic broke the supply chain, said General Manager Mike Theiss.
“It’s very difficult, for instance, Sean Tucker has kind of blown up for football and in the past, I could turn something around in two to three weeks, now quite often it takes two to three months,” Theiss said. “So it’s difficult to react in the middle of the season for a player who’s having a breakout year, so it’s a bit of a challenge but next year things will hopefully be better with regard to that.
With college basketball season right around the corner, the store — which opened in 1949 — signed deals with SU guards and local stars Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard. As of now, Manny’s is selling orange and white shirts with both players’ names and numbers on the back. It was easier to prepare for the expected influx in shoppers, Theiss said.
“We’ve had two shipments so far,” Theiss said. “They sold very well so we reordered them.”
And it’s not just shirts with Boeheim and Girard plated on the back.
“We also have jerseys coming,” Theiss said. “Jerseys take a lot longer to produce especially during the pandemic so those are expected to arrive somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving,” Theiss said.
