Baylor Athletics Announces Partnership with Startup Waco
The Waco nonprofit supporting local entrepreneurs will now also provide NIL assistance to all 500-plus Baylor athletes.
Waco, TX—Baylor University announced that their athletic department has formed a new partnership with Startup Waco.
“We are excited to sign Startup Waco as a sponsor of Baylor Athletics given the tremendous opportunities this partnership presents,” said Mack Rhoades, Baylor’s Director of Athletics. He continued:
“We believe in the mission and vision of this organization and are excited for our 500+ student-athletes to have access to unique professional development opportunities beyond the field of play.”
Startup Waco is a local non-profit focused on inclusivity; championing entrepreneurs; and breaking down traditional business barriers.
“Startup Waco was created as a resource for all entrepreneurs in our community to have an advocate and be able to tap into the many opportunities that are available to them” said Jon Passavant, CEO of Startup Waco. “We’re thrilled to be a partner of Baylor Athletics and to deliver value to their diverse and amazing group of student-athletes. We couldn’t be more excited to get to work and build something special together.”
Specifically, Baylor’s 500-plus student athletes will have access to ample resources provided by the Green and Gold Exchange (GXG) program.
GXG aims to help Baylor athletes maximize their Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) potential through deal monetization; networking events; and other focused programming on entrepreneurship.
The NIL Collective-type group also aligns with the Dallas-based marketing firm Progage and the fee-for-lesson solution group Student-Athlete.co that Baylor student athletes can work with.
Startup Waco had done a pilot NIL team deal with the Baylor’s Men’s Basketball team this past June. GXG launched in July and, even prior to this official partnership, was always available to Baylor student athletes. Over 120 athletes completed interest surveys on Day 1.
"We had this softball player who was interested in starting a fashion brand. There was also one of the men's basketball players who’s one of a more higher profile basketball player interested in a fashion brand.” Startup Waco Assistant Director, Jacob Kehoe said. “Then we also have football walk-ons who want to start a tech company and they have this amazing idea.”
Baylor was the last Power 5 school to have an NIL Collective formed on their behalf. With the official partnership in place, GXG is seeking to move fast on helping athletes secure NIL deals.
Sources tell our staff that a Baylor football team NIL deal is close to being finalized that will allow every football player, including Walk-Ons, to be paid based on social media posts; appearances and other criteria.
The financial impact of what a team wide Baylor NIL deal would be is still unknown; however, two other Texas universities have already announced team wide deals.
The SMU football and men’s basketball players will earn $36,000 annually from the Boulevard Collective while the Texas Tech football players will earn $25,000 annually from the Matador Club. A Baylor deal may fall within this range.
It is worth noting that the groups for Baylor and Texas Tech are non-profit while SMU’s group is not.
Waco, home of serial entrepreneurs Chip and Joanna Gaines, is now positioned to continue to add to the city’s entrepreneurial spirit with Baylor superstars gaining access to valuable resources. It will be interesting to see how this impacts recruiting and on-field performance.