Rutgers saw what could have been a dream basketball season turn into a nightmare this winter, and a sizable part of the historic disappointment was the athletic department lagging behind significantly in the name, image and likeness arms race.
One Scarlet Knights supporter is collaborating with the school to inject some life in that arena.
An anonymous donor provided a $250,000 contribution toward NIL, which the athletic department is looking to parlay into a bigger pool, Deputy Athletic Director and Vice President for Athletics Development Shawn Tucker announced in an email to the Rutgers community on Monday morning.
In collaboration with NIL collective The Knights of the Raritan, the school is running a match campaign with that donation, furthering the ongoing YouKnighted campaign that the sides launched together in November.
Fans are encouraged to make one-time donations for any program of their choice to KOTR, which will be matched for every dollar up to the $250,000 of the original donation.
Once the original contribution is matched, it will unlock another $500,000, boosting the total pot of money to $1 million.
There is no stated deadline for the campaign, but it is no coincidence that the department launched it a month prior to a significant change to college athletics is expected to arrive.
Assuming the expected settlement in the House vs. NCAA case is reached in April, revenue sharing will become part of the college sports landscape.
“The entire March of month, Rutgers athletics is giving you a chance to support our student-athletes,” Tucker said. “The current landscape of college athletics is shifting and changing. The model of NIL today is completely different today than it will be tomorrow.”
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at [email protected].