Enhancing The Student-Athletes Experience With Momentum

As Maryland Athletics enters the 2024-25 school year, the Maryland NIL Marketplace continues investing resources in NIL-related education, merchandising and partnerships to support student-athletes.   

Momentum, Maryland’s NIL program, continued and expanded existing deals with several leading partners and engaged in new deals that will assist Maryland student-athletes from all 20 athletic programs. 

“We’re excited to see what the 2024-25 school year has in store at Maryland in the world of NIL,” Omari DeBerry, Maryland Athletics’ Director of NIL Services, said. “Our existing partnerships and others that have either been strengthened or recently struck showcase the work we’ve done to enhance the student-athlete experience.”

Continued Partnerships

Maryland Athletics is continuing its partnership with Advance NIL, an industry leader in Name, Image and Likeness consulting, education, life skills development and due diligence technology solutions. 

Working with Advance prioritizes Maryland Athletics’ commitment to real-world, practical education that equips student-athletes with the necessary tools to navigate, market and protect themselves effectively in NIL. Financial management and tax and contract literacy will continue to be emphasized. 

“This education is critical not only for NIL but also for building foundational life skills,” DeBerry said. “It’s always a good thing whenever we can provide financial literacy education.  The Advance team brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the NIL space and will continue to play a key role in educating Maryland student-athletes.”

Expanded Partnerships 

Maryland Athletics expanded its merchandise partnerships. Maryland’s partnership with Athlete's Thread now includes officially licensed merchandise for all student-athletes. Athlete’s Thread is a custom apparel brand within the NIL space partnered with over 140 universities nationwide. 

Fanatics and Campus Ink are two other merchandise companies returning partners with Maryland Athletics. Fans can purchase the jerseys of their favorite Terrapin student-athletes while also helping them monetize their NIL through Fanatics' exclusive NIL jersey program. 

Campus Ink powers the Maryland NIL Store. As an official Campus Ink NIL licensee, Maryland will continue providing merchandising opportunities to all Terrapin student-athletes. The NIL Store sells jerseys and other officially licensed apparel. 

“We’re very pleased with our expanded and continued partnerships with each of our merchandisers,” DeBerry said. “Athlete’s Thread, Fanatics and Campus Ink provide a lot of expertise in the NIL space and overall fan experience.”

New Partnerships 

With the newly released “College Football 25” video game, EA Sports is actively working with Maryland’s NIL program and football team student-athletes. 

ONIT Athlete is another company that partnered with several of Maryland’s student-athletes for the 2024-25 school year. The company sells trading cards, collectibles and other sports memorabilia for collegiate athletes and college sports fans. 

Terps football stars Roman Hemby, Jordan Phillips, Kaden Prather, Billy Edwards, Tai Felton, Kellan Wyatt, Glendon Miller and Donnell Brown are featured in the trading card pack with signature cards. 

“We’re thrilled to see large companies such as EA Sports and ONIT Athlete working with our student-athletes and staff to help make a difference,” DeBerry said. “We can’t wait to see what’s in store regarding future partnerships between our athletic department and student-athletes.”