Today’s Agenda: Lead With Values
Athletes x Advocacy = NIL Wins
Publisher’s Note
Welcome to the latest issue of The Athlete's Bureau: a values-driven business newsletter for college athletes and those that care about them.
As part of TAB’s commitment to highlighting the most thoughtful and impactful college athletes, I am extremely excited to share our first video podcast interview with the uber-talented athlete and advocate Sydney Moore (Cornell Volleyball) delivered by award-winning journalist Griffin Uribe Brown (Syracuse-Newhouse School). This interview is part of the TAB-exclusive series: “Meet the Advocates”.
In addition, I am often asked about my approach to NIL deals. Over time, I have created a simple Value Creation Playbook. In this issue, I share my playbook and how I apply it to every NIL deal I do. I also include an example of how I used the playbook in my NIL brand partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co. If you find it helpful, don’t forget to share it with other athletes.
Best,
#BE11EVE #NILforGood #PayTAB
Meet the Advocates: Sydney Moore, Cornell Volleyball
By Griffin Uribe Brown, Syracuse Newhouse School1
Sydney Moore is a senior on the women’s volleyball team at Cornell University. Like most college athletes, she has a jam-packed, ever-changing schedule of practices, games and schoolwork. Unlike many of her peers, however, her schedule is also filled with meetings and advocacy work.
Moore operates on the idea that “just because this is the way things are done doesn't mean it's the way they have to be.” Her experience with advocacy started at home, growing up in a household with parents who were also college athletes. Her grandmother, a social studies teacher, taught her about advocacy by taking her to museums and watching the news. In high school, Moore began writing articles about her experience as a Black, female athlete.
As an athlete, Moore has opportunities through NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) that college athletes who came before her never had. Just this year, Moore was named one of Glamour's College Women of the Year and joined Meta’s NIL Empower 3.0 Program. But for her, NIL is about more than just financial gain.
“To me, NIL is more than just making money and promoting products,” Moore said. “For me, NIL has enabled me to go to the ESPNW summit and talk about Title IX. It's being able to post on Instagram and do different things to talk about advocacy without fear of my athlete status being used against me.”
Currently, Moore works with the Voice in Sport Foundation as a member of the Advocate Program, which teaches high school and college women athletes about Title IX. She is an advocate for Title IX, NIL and the empowerment of Black women college athletes – serving as the Women of Color in Athletics (WOCA) co-president at Cornell.
Moore has endorsed the College Athlete Economic Freedom Act, citing its NIL protections, which, according to her, are beneficial for all college athletes, and expand the rights that college athletes have, many of which non-athlete students already have.
The College Athlete Economic Freedom Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and U.S. Representative Lori Trahan (D-Mass.-03), is legislation that would “establish an unrestricted federal right for college athletes and prospective college athletes to market the use of their name, image and likeness,” among other rights for college athletes including representation and protection from discrimination based on race or gender.
“This legislation would enshrine unrestricted NIL rights into federal law and ensure athletes are treated fairly and start getting their fair share,” said Murphy.
As a student, an athlete and an advocate, Moore has learned to balance what is most important to her on any given day. “I did come to Cornell to be a student and an athlete,” she said, explaining that sometimes, advocacy comes second to that.
While managing being a captain of Big Red’s volleyball team and studying Psychology with a focus in behavioral and evolutionary neuroscience, Moore does her best to stay committed to “what’s important to me” and change the world for the better.
“If there's something going on, you don't like it, you're confused by it, research it and figure out what's actually going on,” Moore said. “And then if you think there's a better way to do it, you don't have to settle with it. Use your voice and figure out how you can change it.”
You can learn more about Sydney Moore in her podcast interview2 on The Athlete’s Bureau Substack. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn and follow her on Instagram.
NIL Brand Deals
NIL Brand Deals That We Can Learn From Powered by NOCAP Sports
TAB’s goal is to help athletes get paid. In this issue, we introduce you to Chase Griffin’s personal NIL Value Creation Playbook that he uses when executing deals. We also show you how it is applied to a specific NIL partnership with JPMorgan Chase. His approach to NIL has three main components: 1) Define Personal Values, 2) Create Economic Value, and 3) Provide Community Value.
Here is a description of how the playbook is applied to a real NIL Partnership.
Here are a few of the deliverables from the partnership so you can see the playbook in action: Chase Bank Social Ad; J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Podcast; Chase Bank In-Branch Community Event.
Our featured athlete-advocate Sydney Moore, is another excellent, real-world, example of a college athlete who has had great success in NIL by leading with her personal values. For example, Moore’s participation in Meta’s NIL Empower 3.0 Program allows her to maximize her NIL earnings while also leveraging her platform to educate fellow athletes on Title IX issues. Watch Moore demonstrate her values-based NIL approach HERE.
NIL for Good
NIL for GOOD athletes that Inspire us, Powered by Groundswell
The University of Texas NIL Collective, Texas One Fund: University of Texas athletes are paired with local charities as part of athlete NIL brand deals and to raise awareness for community organizations. Their approach is a sustainable model that turns athlete NIL wins into community wins. See some of the work they’re doing HERE.
TAB in the News
Sportico (Daniel Libit): TAB publisher, Chase Griffin, challenges NCAA President Charlie Baker’s assertions to Congress and previews upcoming TAB Polling on college athletes’ views on collective bargaining and revenue sharing.
Stanford Daily (Kaushik Sampath): TAB publisher, Chase Griffin, who has won NIL male athlete of the year the past two years uses his platform in the college athletics landscape to advocate for Alston payments across Power 5 conference schools.
Funny Money
Griffin Uribe Brown, TAB Contributor, is a second-year student at Syracuse University from the Chicago area. He is a journalism and policy studies dual major and has spent the last few years doing a variety of coverage at SU, including the award-winning “Infodemic”, yearlong reporting project on misinformation. Griffin loves soccer more than almost anything and can be found on Instagram or X/Twitter.
Good stuff Chase! Glad to see you over here on Substack.