Michigan partners with Passes to utilize ‘direct-to-fan engagement'

Passes, a company that gives college fans exclusive access to the daily lives of student-athletes, has partnered with Michigan in a new juncture where fans can directly contribute to Name, Image and Likeness funds in exchange for “direct-to-fan engagement.”

“Likeness value across 29 varsity sports, recruit and retain top student athletes, and create an ecosystem for unprecedented fan access,” Passes announced in a press release. “This multi-year partnership through Learfield empowers Michigan student athletes to sell exclusive content and merchandise and empowers fans to play a role in the retention and recruitment of athletic and academic talent through a new NIL fund.”

So here’s how Passes says this seven-figure deal will work:

• Once Learfield (aka Michigan) receives NIL contributions, a portion of those contributions will go directly to Michigan’s student-athletes.
• Student-athletes who fans donate to will be paid to be active on their Passes account, which appears to be a small social network consisting of student-athletes. Here’s an example of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers’ page. It’s not clear exactly how these athletes would be active on this network, but Ewers has posted about what he is doing during a normal day. Think of those Day in the Life videos that often go viral on Tik Tok, but with student-athletes.
• For a varying dollar amount, fans will have to subscribe (aka pay) to the athletes’ accounts to see “behind the scenes” content. I’m interested to see how athletes get creative with this — is it them getting ready for game day? Is it them preparing for practice, or taking fans through their rigorous schedule? Is it more lighthearted stuff like hanging with friends? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

“This partnership with Passes aligns with our university’s commitment to innovation and student-athlete development,” said Danielle Davison, Assistant AD for NIL at the University of Michigan in the release. “It gives all our teams a powerful platform to showcase Michigan Athletics and connect with our passionate fanbase, while preparing our student-athletes for success in the evolving landscape of college sports.”

You can sign up to contribute to the fund by submitting your email at this link.

A few quick thoughts

On one hand, it sounds like a great idea and would give otherwise unprecedented access to the lives of student-athletes. I would also imagine this would help the most high-profile athletes cash in, while also helping athletes who don’t get as much playing time, but have an entertaining social media presence (think former Michigan basketball player Adrien Nunez, who didn’t play much but was very popular on social media).

In practice, I’m not sure how exactly this will be received, especially during a football season where optimism isn’t exactly high with a 5-5 squad. Will athletes on that struggling team want to post happy, optimistic content? And how exactly will this be perceived by a pissed off fanbase? Will a program that doesn’t let the media watch practice actually allow players to film portions of their game day prep? Not to sound like an old man yelling at clouds, but is this something that would distract student-athletes from not only their work on the field, but also their work in the classroom?

Also, why does all this NIL responsibility fall on the fans? The Big Ten has a $7 billion TV deal and Michigan is the most well-known schools in one of the top campuses in the country. Not to mention, it’s hard to get optimistic with NIL ventures after the failures of projects like The Leader. Plus, there is already another avenue exactly like Passes — it’s called the Ann Arbor NIL Club — that is only for U-M football players.

It has taken Michigan a long time to hop on board the NIL express, as both Jim Harbaugh and Juwan Howard criticized the university for their cautiousness early in the process. And for a university that loves to brag about being the “leaders and best” with an athletic donor and booster base wealthy enough to run a small country, going to yet another crowdfunded venture and asking fans to pay up and take the lead with NIL funding feels, at best, tone deaf and, at worst, hypocritical and irresponsible.

How do you feel about this latest NIL venture, and will you be contributing? Are you also frustrated by Michigian’s NIL struggles? Let us know in the comments and on social media