Customized Merch with The Maryland NIL Store

Have you ever wanted to buy custom merchandise or apparel from Maryland student-athletes for a family member or friend around the holidays? This year, that's possible thanks to collaboration between Maryland Athletics and the NIL Store, a store powered by Campus Ink that features NIL merchandise for many Terrapin athletes of all teams. 

The NIL Store Network has built an all-encompassing platform for every athlete to position themselves for legitimate compensation through co-licensed apparel, replica jerseys, and much more.

"I love being part of the Maryland NIL store because it allows me to grow the sport of field hockey and influence the next generation of young girls that want to play at this level,” Maryland field hockey’s Josie Hollamon said.  “I was able to experience having these young girls come to my games this season and they were all wearing my Maryland NIL t-shirts and sweatshirts with my name and number on the back! I am so grateful to have this opportunity to spread my name, image, and likeness with Maryland NIL"

Part of the NIL Store network, the Maryland NIL Store is every Maryland fan's one-stop-shop to support their favorite Terrapin athletes and place industry-leading payments directly into their pockets. The Maryland NIL Store team creates unique core products and custom merch drops, while also making athlete jerseys available. 

“It has been an incredible experience getting to work with Maryland student-athletes and help them make money on their NIL merchandise,” said Sean Ellenby, NIL Store’s Director of Marketing & Communications. “We view merchandise as a vehicle for an athlete to extend their brand and overall marketability, and we have seen that excitement from Terrapin athletes. We view merchandise as a vehicle for forging an emotional connection between a fan and an athlete. When a fan supports their merch, that is one more person in the community wearing their name around town. It's a phenomenal way for a fan to directly support their favorite athlete. Whether the fan wants a high quality product or simply wants to say "thanks" after a big win, they know that their purchase is putting industry-leading royalties directly into that athletes' pocket.”

Additionally, the NIL Store prides itself on bringing in the student-athletes into the process and making it a true collaboration.  

“Partnering with the Maryland NIL Store has been a great experience,” said basketball fifth-year senior Jahmir Young. “Their collaboration is great in terms of designing elements that fit each individual personality. They bring a ton of experience which is a huge asset for student-athletes in creating custom apparel.”

“One of the things that is important to us is that we always have athlete buy-in on custom merch,” Ellenby said. “It's an athlete's NIL - they should have a say in what goes on their shirt. So we take that very seriously, and in turn, that trust leads to the athlete being more bought into the entire process. We have a dedicated account manager that identifies athletes for custom drops and they will work with them throughout the ideation process. Our account manager will then pass along notes to our team of merch designers to create the art. We'll then send the art back to the athlete for their approval. If they have edits, we'll make them, and once we're all set, we get the art submitted to licensing.”

“Collaboration with the athlete doesn't stop there,” Ellenby added. “We then will create graphics for the athlete to market their new drop, and will post through our dedicated school social channel - the Maryland NIL Store - for Maryland fans to support. We want it to be a collaborative, fun and rewarding process for the athlete from start to finish, but also try to make it as painless as possible recognizing how busy their schedules can be on a day-to-day basis.”

The Maryland NIL Store has helped Maryland athletics and its athletes capitalize on big moments with custom merch, including baseball’s conference championships and black Script Terps products for the Blackout game. Additionally, the store has allowed fans to rep their favorite players by wearing their own jerseys or custom pieces. 

“Who doesn't love saying, ‘I was there when…’? We all do,” Ellenby said. “So we love creating merch around big moments to help fans timestamp that memory. We've seen time and time again that our athletes sell the most merchandise when it is based around a major moment. So we have a team of people constantly watching and waiting for the next big moment to happen so we can strike while the iron is hot on behalf of the athlete. We can't wait for the next Maryland buzzer beater!”

Don’t wait to support your favorite Maryland student-athletes and teams, shop virtually at the NIL Store today and make a difference!