Colleges and universities across the country have tried to navigate endorsement deals for student athletes ever since a 2021 court ruling allowed athletes to sign name, image and likeness, or NIL, deals.
Illinois State University is no different. And that’s where Empower the Nest comes into play.
Formed in 2022, Empower the Nest is made up of ISU alumni, business owners and Redbird sports fans and supporters. Their goal is to help create relationships for student athletes with businesses and community members. Student athletes can make money through marketing deals for things like clothing and apparel, skills camps and public appearances.
Jason Higdon is president of Empower the Nest and an ISU alum. In an interview with WGLT, he said the relationship between student athletes and community members is important, and that both sides can help one another.
“And they’re going to be like, ‘Hey, I met so-and-so, I want to go watch them play,’ so now the community’s going to start attending games. When CEFCU Arena is packed for men’s and women’s basketball games, that place is insane,” said Higdon.
Higdon said this can create a cycle that feeds off its own success — for the athletes, the teams and their fans. He called it a circle of life.
“The student athlete and the community are connected,” said Higdon. "The community starts coming to games, the kids are energized, they start winning, the community gets more involved, the community starts donating more to the university.”
ISU men’s basketball head coach Ryan Pedon said he expects fans will buy-in if it can help the students athletes and their teams.
“This is not just a small college town. There’s real potential here, as I’m sure there is in other cities in the Missouri Valley Conference, but I’m speaking for mine because I know mine inside and out. And our community, I think, can be a real asset,” said Pedon.
The community opinion of Illinois State Athletics may have taken a hit after the resignation of former Athletics Director Kyle Brennan in April over a pricey donor trip came to light.
But Chad Mazanowski, treasurer of Empower the Nest, said the athletics department has worked through it — and Empower the Nest is unaffected.
“We didn’t skip a beat. They’ve done an amazing job kind of navigating that storm and getting through it as well," said Mazanowski. "So I think we see that kind of light at the end of the tunnel.”
Collectives such as Empower the Nest are independent of the universities they were created to support.
He said their yearly budget goal is $150,000. In the first year, he noted Empower the Nest brought in around $20,000.
Mazanowski played basketball at ISU about 20 years ago. He said a potential downside to NIL deals is players comparing themselves and their deals to others.
“That’s happening around the country," said Pedon. "If they transfer, the next school they go to, in the locker room again there will be somebody more popular, somebody better that’s making more money and unfortunately it’s something coaches have to deal with. But as the coaches have said, every coach in America is dealing with that.”
Pedon is no exception. Since taking over the program last year, Pedon said he’s had to emotionally detach himself from players as they transfer away for more playing time or better NIL deals elsewhere.
“Recognizing that some guys will come and go — I won’t always agree with it. But I can’t get emotionally invested like maybe I would have five or 10 years ago and lose my mind," said Pedon.
Of course, basketball isn’t the only sport where athletes can make NIL deals. There’s football, baseball, soccer and more — including gymnastics.
Jaye Mack is a junior ISU gymnast from Kansas City. That’s how she’s usually introduced. But in an interview with WGLT, Mack said there’s more to her than that, and her NIL deals help her show off her true identity.
“Sometimes people feel like they’re almost stuck in their identity as an athlete. But NIL takes that and expands that. So I might be a gymnast, but I have interests in other hobbies like arts and crafts, or I like to cook. And it’s really easy to get a deal with someone like a restaurant for example," said Mack.
Mack’s latest NIL deal is with The Plaza in her hometown, one of her favorite places to eat and shop. Her previous deals were at a small candle company in Michigan and with Jewel Osco. All of the deals operated through social media, like Instagram and TikTok.
There's a lot of gymnastics on Mack's feed, but there's more to Jaye Mack that her favorite sport. And that's clear on her social media.
Mack said her deal with The Plaza helped bridge the gap between her hometown and ISU. She said the thought process was to embrace what she loves.
“I had to step outside of that and say, ‘What are my hobbies? What does Jaye like to do?’ If someone were to come to my Instagram, how could they know my personality aside from being a gymnast and a student at Illinois State? So that’s where I think, I love to shop, I love to hang out with my friends, so I went to The Plaza to create a deal based off of that," said Mack.
Mack said her NIL deals have put a little extra money in her pocket, but it’s the connections she’s made with people that matters most to her.
And those connections all started with Jaye Mack just being Jaye Mack, she said. Her advice for other student athletes seeking NIL deals is stay true to yourself — whether you’re the starting quarterback or a backup.
“Anyone can do this. You don’t have to be the star player. You don’t have to be the person in every lineup. You can be the little guy," said Mack. "And it’s so easy to make content. It starts by just uploading things you’re doing everyday in your life and letting the people know who you are through your social media.”
Mack said the key for her is to upload content that simply shows who she is.
Jaye Mack is an interior design major and wants to pursue that for her career after college. She said she’d like to design for businesses, schools and hospitals.
