Athletic Solutions was founded by former collegiate athletes. The idea came from family and friends wanting to support them by wearing their name on the back of their shirts. After the NCAA allowed athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness (NIL), Athletic Solutions took to the market.
It doesn’t matter to us the division, said Ryleigh Knapp, vice president of marketing at Athletic Solutions. “Every athlete has friends and family and fans that want to support them. We are trying to give every athlete the same opportunity”
Athletic Solutions approaches NIL deals differently than most companies. They market as a friends and family business. Athletic Solutions does not look to divisions. They offer equal opportunity to every athlete. Athletes at the Division I level receive the same offers and deals as athletes at the Division II and III.
“I love to help all of our players and athletes’ market themselves, whether that’s through social media, Google ads or just help with their online site,” said Knapp.
Athletic Solutions works with each school’s athletic department and other departments to secure the licensing and the percentage the athletes will receive in their deal. After an athlete has decided to opt-in with Athletic Solutions, a virtual NIL locker room is created with a URL for friends, family and fans to shop.
“We have to work hand in hand with licensing and athletics to make sure we are abiding by all the rules,” said Knapp. “A really cool thing about us, once an athlete opts-in, I think it takes us 22 minutes to get their site live and active.”
Athletic Solutions aims to bring visibility to their athletes. Athletic Solutions uses their social media platforms to highlight player of the week or month and athletes who made a great play.
They also use their social media to better promote their athletes’ brand name and enhance the sales from their NIL site. Athletic Solutions provides each athlete with ads that feature their name and product. These ads can be used in many ways by the athletes. Athletic Solutions runs social media and Google ads for their athletes as well.
“We are taking those same types of ads and we are promoting different things from their Athletic Solutions store on all of those platforms to get the word out,” said Knapp.
Athletic Solutions has partnered with over 200 universities and over 8,000 athletes. Athletic Solutions is an online NIL store for every athlete.
