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As part of a new 15-year agreement with Alabama that it announced Tuesday, Learfield, in conjunction with the university, is creating a dedicated hub for name, image and likeness (NIL) called The Advantage Center, an epicenter for Crimson Tide athletes’ NIL endeavors that the company believes is a first nationally. The Advantage Center, with a goal of opening this calendar year, will be located inside Bryant Denny Stadium and will double as the agency’s local office, says Learfield CEO Cole Gahagan.
Learfield and Alabama plan to collaborate on the development of the center to provide both a physical home and a staff to educate athletes on NIL opportunities and showcase successful local and national NIL-related relationships.
In renderings provided to Sports Illustrated, the Advantage Center is expected to include a host of NIL-related features: a digital ticker announcing the latest news in athlete deals; a studio with a green screen to provide athletes a place to shoot NIL-related videos; a wall dedicated to Alabama player NIL deals and opportunities; and meeting space to possibly help facilitate brand-and-athlete relationships.
The Advantage Center will be located adjacent to The Authentic, Alabama’s Fanatics retail store that provides NIL opportunities through branded licensed merchandise.
“To me, it was only a matter of time before we began to build an infrastructure around NIL. This is the next big step in that direction,” Gahagan says. “There’s no company better situated than ours to facilitate NIL. We are connected to over 10,000 brands nationally and locally. We are in the best position to bring those brands into the ecosystem to help create relationships between companies and athletes.”