Pop-up store in Lincoln Park helping Illini players profit from their image during NCAA Tournament
CHICAGO (CBS) -- When Illinois tips off the NCAA Tournament today against Chattanooga, All-American Kofi Cockburn and his teammates can really cash in on college basketball's biggest stage.
This is the first March Madness when student-athletes are allowed to profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
A pop-up Illini Store in Lincoln Park is helping them get paid, as 30% to 50% of the revenue from every jersey, t-shirt or hoodie sold goes directly to the player a fan chooses. Campus Ink, the apparel printing company that opened this first-ever NIL store, has helped Illini basketball players earn more than $75,000 since September.
"That was the whole purpose of the change in legislation, was to give the athletes a bit more ownership and agency over their NIL, their name, image and likeness," said Adam Cook, who runs the company's NIL efforts. "So, if you're a customer, you can just hold your phone over their QR code, and it's gonna take you directly to their digital locker room, and you can buy all of their jerseys that we have in store, as well as a lot of the custom merchandise that we've done for them."
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently invested in Campus Ink's NIL platform. The pop-up store in Lincoln Park will be open as long as the Illini are dancing in the tourney.