Startup Waco announces NIL deal with entire Baylor Football team
WACO, TEXAS — Startup Waco announced Friday they are pursuing a roster-wide NIL deal with the Baylor football team, the first of its kind offered to the team this year. Earlier this summer Startup Waco launched a new program called GXG™ that focuses on entrepreneurial development for Baylor University student-athletes in the era of Name-Image-Likeness (NIL).
Startup Waco is a proud partner of Baylor Athletics proudly serving the Baylor family and the greater Waco community. Startup Waco has been supporting local entrepreneurs since it launched in 2018. Its mission is to span all sectors of the Waco community to become a leading source of new innovation and economic growth. Supporting student-athletes in Waco helps pave the way for future growth by offering meaningful, strategic support and connecting these new entrepreneurs to the broader business community.
While GXG™ works with all Baylor student-athletes, the deal announced today is specific to the football team and will involve working directly with the players to promote the work of Startup Waco and its partners and participate in GXG™’s entrepreneurial development programming. Timing of the activations will be spread out over the coming months given the team’s schedule throughout the season.
“This type of engagement is what we’ve been building to over the past year,” said Jon Passavant, CEO of Startup Waco. “We wanted to create a program that isn’t driven primarily by the economics of NIL but leverages it to provide unique development opportunities for these athletes that benefits them and our ecosystem holistically,” he continued.
In addition to direct NIL deals, Startup Waco has partnered with aligned companies to provide a suite of support services to student-athletes. One such partnership is with Dallas-based Progage, a creative marketing and influencer agency focused on creating meaningful partnerships between athletes and brands.
“I’m excited to have Progage helping us with NIL deals,” said Baylor linebacker Dillon Doyle. “Their focus on building our brands off the field allows us to focus on excellence on the field.”
Another partnership is with a new Waco-based technology company, Student-Athlete.co., the nation’s first fee-for-lesson solution that connects student-athletes with paid lesson opportunities.
“I’ve been a part of what Startup Waco has been doing in Waco for over a year,” said Jermaine Malcom, Founder and CEO of Student-Athlete.com. “I’m thrilled for this partnership and believe deeply in their approach of putting student-athlete development first.”
Details about Startup Waco can be found at www.startupwaco.com, and details on GXG™ can be found at www.gxgexchange.org. For more information regarding the program, please reach out to the Startup Waco team at info@startupwaco.com.