Gamecocks take ‘first of its kind’ step in NIL

COLUMBIA, S.C. (South Carolina Athletics) - University of South Carolina student-athletes will have access to elite brand support, negotiation assistance and a strategic deal procurement process through a new partnership between Gamecock Athletics and Everett Sports Marketing (ESM), Gamecock Athletics Director Ray Tanner announced today.

“We are excited to bring these opportunities to our student-athletes,” said Tanner. “ESM is a leader in the field of sports marketing and has a tremendous track record in representing athletes in brand development. I appreciate our staff and donors who helped us put this arrangement together. I am confident it will be a tremendous Name Image and Likeness resource for our student-athletes.”

ESM is the premier sports management agency in the country representing high-profile NIL talent across sports and genders, including Mac Jones, Jalen Hurts, Nick Chubb, Jonathan Taylor, as well as women’s collegiate basketball players, Haley and Hanna Cavinder, twins who have established a large following through NIL arrangements.

“With ESM’s background in data, analytics and the caliber of talent they manage, it was a no-brainer to seek their partnership and counsel to rethink NIL and develop an entity that will position our student athletes to be the leaders in NIL procurement and execution,” said UofSC Senior Deputy Athletics Director, Chance Miller.

In partnership with UofSC, ESM has created an in-house agency for all NIL activities, called “Park Ave”, which blends the expertise and talent via decades of sports management and representation and applies it squarely on Gamecock student-athletes and their brands. These services will be available at no charge to student-athletes.

Park Ave will provide data and analytics to determine influence and brand partnerships, will leverage their extensive knowledge in deal negotiation and procurement, and will spearhead creative content development and execution.

“Chance (Miller) and Hilary (Cox) had the foresight to bring to fruition the first NIL firm in the country that partners with a sports agency to exclusively represent a single university, provide the service without fees to their student-athletes and is an ancillary service to athletes with current representation. Our teams at ESM and Park Ave are most well-versed NIL agents and talent in the sports marketplace. We have broken ground on novel deals with the largest brands-both domestic and globally. It is inspiring to see what UofSC is willing to invest in positioning their athletes to be able to maximize NIL at unprecedented levels. UofSC will become the leader for NIL in the collegiate space.”, said Dan Everett, ESM President.

One of the most innovative components of the partnership is that all the expertise and time provided by Park Ave and its employees are free of charge and non-exclusive to the athletes.

“It can’t be underscored enough how valuable their services will be to our athletes. To have the top sports marketers without commissions and fees creates an enormous amount of opportunity and value for the student athletes’ brands”, Miller said. “This arrangement creates a marketplace of inclusive ideation and partnership across athletes even with existing representation. Park Ave is an ancillary service and can be tapped into or not, there is no competition for services as Park Ave is a service provided by the University. Ultimately this is about the university providing the very best and most experienced sports management talent to our athletes.”