Inside Tennessee’s NIL ‘carwash’ day, a multimedia smorgasbord to help athletes cash in

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The cost of securing a spot on a Vol Network radio broadcast in 2000 was straightforward: arrange two 30-second commercials, pay for ad space in the souvenir program, and receive a set of season tickets. Five years into the name, image, and likeness (NIL) era, the business of college athletics has changed dramatically.

Athletes can now earn money from modest deals with local businesses to multimillion-dollar contracts for star players, and many of these agreements are facilitated by personnel on campus. Learfield, a multimedia and sponsorships firm that works with numerous schools, provided the AP with an exclusive look at a NIL media "carwash" day held at the University of Tennessee in late July.

The event, which featured 29 brands and around 50 football players, aimed to simplify the process of producing commercials and ads for both companies and athletes. Players in their official uniforms moved between various rooms, engaging with representatives from different companies, including a photo shoot on the indoor practice field, recording sessions for game-day content, and promoting products like Uber Eats, Pilot, and Food City grocery store.

The process has been streamlined by Learfield, which has employees embedded with universities across the country. Brandon Parks, a representative from Learfield, stated that the company had an 11-person team working the two-day event at Tennessee. He described the production as "very organized" and expressed excitement for the content that would result.

Fans can expect to see the outcomes of these media days quickly, with the content appearing in August. The July event at Tennessee was just one of 58 such NIL media days planned this fall for Learfield partner schools, involving approximately 1,500 athletes. By the end of the academic year and across all sports, Learfield expects to host up to 200 brand-athlete meet-up days, with potentially 300-400 such events planned in the next two to three years.