Kentucky athletics faced a ton of backlash over the last several months on how they needed to get aggressive with their approach toward the NIL.
On Tuesday, the university silenced its critics.
Kentucky released a new mobile app, which is an enhanced version of the UKathletics.com website.
The app will not only feature mobile tickets for when college football season kicks off in September, but student-athletes will also be able to improve their branding and visibility on it as well.
“We are very excited for the Big Blue Nation to see our new website and mobile app,” Kentucky athletics website coordinator Tim Letcher said, via On3.com. “The mobile-friendly design of both of these products will enhance and expand our coverage of all 23 varsity sports at UK.”
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops has made it clear that he wants the program to be active in the NIL space, especially since the SEC is loaded with some of the best programs in the country.
“I know there’s people here in town that are doing it the right way, that have worked extremely hard meeting with lawyers, meeting with people from the NCAA, meeting anybody they can to make sure they’re doing it legal and the right way,” Stoops said. “We need to market it better but, bottom line, they need to hear from me that it is okay. Administration and coaches want to step forward? That’s fine as well. It is okay. It is legal.”
Kentucky has one NIL collective called, “The 15”, and it’s ran by Athlete Advantage. Many different businesses and corporations are able to partner with student-athletes from Kentucky via multi-year marketing and endorsement programs, which is expected to help bring visibility to their individual brands.
