Some University of Hawaii football and women’s volleyball players are receiving money and frequent-flier miles for their name, image and likeness.
The Downtown Athletic Club of Honolulu announced on Thursday the partial distribution from the NIL Collective to 25 football players and 11 women’s volleyball players. They will receive monetary support and Hawaiian Miles from Hawaiian Airlines. In turn, they will provide community service to nonprofit organizations.
“The Downtown Athletic Club of Hawaii is pleased to launch this comprehensive NIL support of two of UH’s most prominent sports teams,” DACH president Keith Amemiya said in a news release.
DACH vice president Brandon Kurisu added: “In time, DACH hopes to expand this support to more teams with the eventual goal of supporting even more UH student-athletes.”
DACH did not release the amount the select student-athletes began receiving last month. But the group has secured a two-year commitment of $500,000 in pledges from donors.
DACH also has not made public the list of recipients.
In recent years, student-athletes have been permitted to profit from their name, image and likeness while retaining their NCAA eligibility. NIL deals are arranged without a university’s involvement.
USC freshman basketball player Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, has an estimated NIL valuation of $6.1 million, according to On3.com. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, whose father, Deion, is a Hall of Fame cornerback and the Buffaloes’ head coach, has a valuation of $4.1 million.
Several UH athletes have NIL deals, but DACH’s program is one of the first NIL collectives for the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine.
RKT Media is serving as the partner athletic agency that is working directly with the student- athletes in the execution of the agreement and to serve as the liaison between DACH and the student-athletes.