WVU athletics launch NIL initiative Gold & Blue Enterprises
AP Photo/Rick Scuteri
College sports are rapidly evolving, and recently, it took another step to the professional level after a judge in California settled on a revenue-sharing agreement between the NCAA and players. Now, athletes are allowed to play directly for schools up to about $20 million a year on top of the NIL money. The NIL money is now regulated under the new CEO of the College Sports Commission, Bryan Seeley.
West Virginia and AD Wren Baker released a statement on the new ruling and stated West Virginia planned “for this day for a long time to best position our department for long-term success,” and they weren’t joking around.
Wednesday morning, West Virginia athletics announced the creation of Gold & Blue Enterprises, which is an initiative to “enhance the Mountaineers’ competitive edge,” according to a press release.
The program’s main features are to create a comprehensive NIL support, collaborate with strategic partners, build an innovative business structure, and dedicate leadership and governance.
The comprehensive NIL support is supposed to create services that help student athletes grow their brand to maximize their NIL potential and help with education. WVU already has some NIL collectives, like the Country Roads Trust, but this is the university’s collective. This goes hand in hand with the strategic partners part, which connects student athletes with agencies to make endorsement opportunities.
The innovative business is vague, but it’s said Gold & Blue Enterprises is operating with a “private-sector approach,” supporting the long-term sustainability of WVU sports.
A dedicated leadership and governance is supposed to be created too, but who will be a part of that hasn’t been announced.
This type of university NIL initiative isn’t something new. Once the ruling changed, multiple schools created something like this. Almost all schools had these types of supports created a couple of months ago when this case was brought to the courts in the early spring. In the release, it states that Gold & Blue Enterprises “draws inspiration” from other schools.
There is a dedicated site, goldandblueenterprises.com, but it’s very barebones as of now. It’s mainly a link to donate.
The timeliness of this release shows Baker’s commitment to making WVU consistently competitive and giving the coaches, who have been hired most recently under his leadership, the tools to succeed. Now, the coaches have to do their part and show it on the field/court.
“The launch of Gold & Blue Enterprises is a major breakthrough for WVU Athletics and its student-athletes,” Baker said in the release. “We are taking a hands-on approach to maximize Name, Image and Likeness opportunities for our students and develop innovative partnerships to generate the revenues we need to thrive. I want to thank everyone involved with helping to create and launch this proactive business venture that will work to keep WVU relevant and winning on the national stage. In today’s competitive NIL industry, the launch of GBE is a victory for all Mountaineers.”