OU'S NIL FOUNDRY PROGRAM PARTNERS WITH INFLCR
NORMAN, Okla. — As Oklahoma continues its aggressive march toward the Name, Imagine and Likeness opportunities now being afforded to college student-athletes, it has announced a new partnership with INFLCR, a national leader in NIL programming and monitoring. Under this partnership, INFLCR will serve OU's Foundry Program, specifically designed for NIL, with monitoring and media support systems while also complementing the education program.
"As with every aspect of our university and department, we will provide opportunities to our student-athletes that are second to none," said Joe Castiglione, OU Vice President and Director of Athletics. "This partnership provides yet another advantage for those who pursue their education and sports careers in our department. We have a comprehensive NIL approach designed to help our student-athletes achieve at their highest level."
INFLCR CEO Jim Cavale said his company likes partnering with a university that leads in the area of branding.
"Oklahoma Athletics has done a great job of investing resources into a first-rate creative team that leverages the rich tradition of the Sooner brand and will now provide this content in real time to their student-athletes through INFLCR," said Cavale. "Now, those student-athletes can share that content to social media and grow their brand value."
Building and knowing that value will be important and doing so in compliance with NCAA rules is paramount.
"As we enter the NIL era," Cavale added, "Sooner student-athletes are now able to take advantage of INFLCR to understand their metrics and ultimately their NIL value, so they can access monetization platforms in our INFLCR Compliance Exchange, where they can compliantly maximize their NIL.
"We couldn't be more excited to help Oklahoma and its student-athletes take advantage of the countless opportunities ahead as we enter this new era together."
"As with every aspect of our university and department, we will provide opportunities to our student-athletes that are second to none. This partnership provides yet another advantage for those who pursue their education and sports careers in our department."
Joe Castiglione
Oklahoma selected INFLCR through a lengthy process that included interviews and research.
"Our conversations with INFLCR always felt like a natural fit," said Kenny Mossman, senior associate athletics director at OU. "We have carved out a reputation as a forward-thinking department when it comes to branding, communications and compliance. INFLCR shares those goals and has tailored a cutting-edge product line that helps us move confidently into a new era of college athletics."
INFLCR's NIL team assists college athletic department in the implementation of content, compliance and recruiting strategies. Its "Plus," product equips department staff with the software, assets and guidance to maximize their messaging to recruits, while providing insights for current student-athletes looking to build their brands and benefit from future NIL opportunities.
"The partnership is really three-fold," said Mossman. "The part that we wanted to get up and running first relates to compliance. The INFLCR Verified program creates a seamless way for student-athletes to report their NIL activity so that our compliance staff can make the appropriate views. That's obviously a very important element.
"But we also are partnered with INFLCR to provide content to our student-athletes to help them build their brand. A lot of the NIL opportunity will come on social media. We're doing our part to build their presence on those platforms by providing them with the kind of content that draws more attention to their individual brand."
INFLCR will also provide educational tools to help student-athletes understand the many facets of NIL.
"We already have developed a very good education program through our partnership with GiANT and the nationally recognized OU Price College of Business," Mossman added. "INFLCR helps us expand that program a little farther to create one of the most comprehensive offerings to be found nationally."
OU launched The Foundry in December of 2020 as a program designed specifically to assist student-athletes with NIL. Its goal is to help individuals cast themselves into a strong brand forged to stand the test of time.
