Stamford-based WWE unveiled the first 15 college athletes who will be among the company”™s inaugural “Next In Line” class.
The newly formed NIL (also an acronym for “Name, Image and Likeness”) program is intended to provide a pathway for collegiate athletes to become stars within the WWE. The inaugural class includes U.S. athletes from 13 universities, seven NCAA conferences and four sports, along with athletes from Canada and Nigeria.
“Typically, wrestlers that ascend to the WWE level have been found through the indie ranks where they worked in high school gymnasiums and competed all over the world, and we”™ve had to find them that way,” said Greg Domino, vice president of communications. “What we”™ll be able to do now is establish relationships with athletes in college, the peak performers whom we can create real contractual partnerships with. We”™re trying to find the next entertainers, not just athletes.”
WWE”™s NIL program follows the NCAA”™s historic new policy that took effect on July 1, which allows college athletes the ability to monetize their name, image and likeness.
“The WWE NIL program has the potential to be transformational to our business,” said Paul Levesque, WWE executive vice president for global talent strategy and development. “By creating partnerships with elite athletes at all levels across a wide variety of college sports, we will dramatically expand our pool of talent and create a system that readies NCAA competitors for WWE once their collegiate careers come to a close.”
Athletes in the NIL program will have access to the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, in addition to resources across the organization including brand building, media training, communications, live event promotion, creative writing and community relations. Upon completion of the NIL program, select athletes may earn an exclusive opportunity to be offered a WWE contract.
A WWE spokesperson told the Business Journal that these athletes are paid for their participation in the program starting in the five-figure range, with the chance to escalate to six figures depending on a myriad of factors such as social followings, Olympic medal realization and other athletic and personal accomplishments.
In September, WWE announced its first NIL deal with heavyweight freestyle wrestler Gable Steveson, who captured a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The agreement allowed Steveson to return to the University of Minnesota for his senior season, where he is defending his NCAA National Championship while beginning his training with WWE.
