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Wichita — T.Player Card’s young co-founders see the NIL marketplace as an opportunity to bring communities, industries and athletes together, they said.
Started by Wichita State University students Jacob O’Connor and John Peterson player card Opportunity for student-athletes to financially benefit from Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in October 2021 as a way to connect college athletes with businesses after the NCAA changes course in July 2021 is giving
“They are very prominent people at the university,” explains Peterson. “They bring a lot of money to college, especially some big sports. can be rewarded for
O’Connor added that Wichita is the perfect place for athletes and businesses to connect because it’s where many big companies were founded and decided to stay.
“There was always some kind of sense of how we could get them more involved in the community,” he said.
That’s where the NIL opportunity comes in, he said, referring to recent events on The Player Card. Spirit Aerosystems As an example.
“We were able to invite six Wichita State University athletes to our annual employee benefits event, where they could sign autographs, take pictures, and get to know each other,” he said. explained. “I think it was a really great moment for the city of Wichita.
So far, the duo has connected about 20 athletes from different sports with 10 local businesses. However, they hope to continue expanding opportunities to even more athletes, as they have access to the entire network of Wichita State University athletes.
“We have a lot of athletes who come to us and they say, ‘I never got any attention,'” O’Connor said. “So we come up to them and say, ‘Hey, this business wants to work with you. They’re going to pay you a good amount to work with them.’ They’re so excited and kind of freaking out, and it’s been very fulfilling for us.”
He said he enjoys watching athletes become fellow entrepreneurs.
“It’s really cool to see them change their minds about how they’re going to be able to actually make me pretty good money out of college athletes and benefit the community as well,” O’Connor said. Told. He said.
Wichita State University student-athletes at a paid appearance event at the Il Primo coffee shop
suit up
O’Connor first came up with the idea for player cards after working on a digital marketing strategy for a local restaurant that aimed to get local influencers to come to the restaurant and post about it on social media. .
“When the NIL[opportunity]came along, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Are college athletes just another version of influencers?'” he recalled. “And maybe it could be a more valuable version of influencers because everyone can see them on TV. They know their names. They follow their careers.” So John and I were brainstorming on how best to do that.”
The initial idea was to create an app that uses algorithms to match athletes across the country with the best opportunities.The duo received funding from the Kansas Department of Commerce to help fund the app. .
“So we started pursuing it and realized — wait a minute — we’re about to boil the ocean here,” he said. “Now we’re in Wichita, Kansas.” And the NIL market, in our opinion, was not addressed very well at all, so we took a step back and said, “The Wichita area alone can have a pretty big impact.”
They started by connecting Wichita State University athletes with partner restaurants willing to trade meals and post on social media.
“It’s as easy as being able to help them get their meals,” added O’Connor. “That’s kind of how this whole thing started. John and I were like, ‘Hey, he was two college students, how nice it would be to have a free meal once in a while.'”
Today, athletes attend events to sign autographs, take pictures, and have evolved into photography for advertisements and commercials.Peterson approached the business with the idea of partnering with athletes, He said he does it all by pairing him with athletes who best complement his business and customer demographics.
“We’re reaching out to these businesses and saying, ‘I think there’s a big opportunity here, a new market,'” he continued. “So what companies can do to differentiate is something they have never done before.”
Business partners also set up all events and coordinate with athletes.For example, they paired il primo coffee shop O’Connor says it fits well with the three female athletes who drink a lot of coffee and the atmosphere of the coffee shop.
“We packed over 60 people into that building for autographs and pictures,” he recalls. “Usually Il Primo doesn’t get that much traffic, but it works very well. But their little coffee His 60 in his shop is so cool, it’s breathtaking was.
Player card student player who holds an autograph session at a fan event
Wichita teammate
O’Connor and Peterson, who attended high school and played basketball together, are both from the St. Louis area, attended college in Wichita, and attended business school.
O’Connor — Successful Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner Through High School Program podcast — was the recipient of Jabara Entrepreneurship ScholarshipPeterson earned a degree in entrepreneurship from Illinois State University and spent several years helping O’Connor launch The Player Card before transferring to Wichita State University.
As a transplant to the region, the founder — a participant in Groover Lab campfire Tech Startup Program — says he’s found Wichita’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to be very supportive.
“I think mentorship was a big thing for us,” O’Connor explained. “The people we were able to network with were mind-boggling, to be honest. I came to Wichita and heard some of these names in class—they were local. are called legends – people you read about in your textbooks. I can say that there are.”
Jacob O’Connor player card. Tom Devlin of Rent a Center.and Jon Peterson, player card
Peterson said Tom Devlin of Rent-A-Center and Craig Barton of Barton Investments are two Wichita legends they proudly call mentors.
“They are very supportive and very helpful,” he added. “That’s what drives us forward. They really drive us forward.”
Peterson and O’Connor are both seniors due to graduate in the spring, but plan to continue expanding The Player Card in Wichita and hopefully other cities, while focusing on a local approach.
“With these large software platforms, there are local aspects that aren’t always addressed,” explains O’Conner. “So John and I like an on-the-ground approach where we can build a solid relationship, it’s more one-on-one. I think we need to include dealing with different universities with a local approach. Software platforms and greater scale can be left to more capable and larger organizations.”
It all comes down to community, Peterson emphasized.
“It just makes me smile when I see the impact of something like this on a community like Wichita,” he added.
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