CSMG, Opendorse Form Partnership to Connect Schools, Sponsors, Athletes in NIL Era

Multimedia rights holder partners with market-leading endorsement management platform ahead of changes to NIL legislation.

Opendorse and Collegiate Sports Management Group (CSMG) announced a partnership to provide institutions, athletes, and sponsors with technology and resources as changes to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) legislation approach. The partnership will connect CSMG partner institutions/conferences and their sponsors with the Opendorse suite of athlete brand building and endorsement management products. Participating conferences and schools will use the platform to help current student-athletes maximize value and prepare for NIL success as influencers in advance of NIL legislation passing, while institutions will enhance sponsorship activation opportunities for athlete-alumni.

The impact for CSMG sponsors is substantial. The partnership will make prominent athlete-alumni, and eventually student-athletes, readily accessible for compliant endorsement opportunities. Sponsors will use Opendorse Deals™ for end-to-end endorsement management, collaborating with athletes to create, promote, negotiate, and report on each campaign.

“CSMG is partnering with Opendorse given their decade of endorsement management success with sponsors and athletes at every level.”  – CSMG Co-Founder and COO Ray Katz.

“It’s my belief that a majority of NIL opportunities will occur at the local level,” said CSMG Co-Founder and COO Ray Katz. “This marketplace will extend beyond Heisman contenders and Wooden Award finalists. Male and female college athletes at every level across all sports will be able to leverage their social influence as community leaders, driving success for participating businesses and brands. As compliance, scale and measurement are vital for sponsors to successfully activate athlete-influencers, CSMG is partnering with Opendorse given their decade of endorsement management success with sponsors and athletes at every level. CSMG institutions in partnership with Opendorse will prepare student-athletes for this new post-legislation future, but sponsors can immediately build activations with alumni and esports standouts.”

As a partner of more than 25 conferences and hundreds of schools, CSMG is among the most prolific rights holders in college athletics, having established a foothold among mid-tier Division I schools and conferences, those in Division II and Division III, and extending through the community college level. By providing partners access to Opendorse, each institution’s sponsors will be able to access local athlete-alumni to build affordable, but effective sponsorship campaigns.

Currently used by more than 27,000 athletes and their partners to maximize endorsement value, Opendorse has fulfilled dozens of athlete-alumni sponsor activations for school multimedia rights holders including Husker Sports Properties and Florida Gators Sports Properties. With CSMG, Opendorse will add scale to its customer base of schools and sponsors, while bringing increased opportunities to thousands of new athletes.  

“We have helped sponsors and SMBs execute activations featuring athlete-alumni since our launch in 2012,” said Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence. “The passion and unrelenting loyalty of college fanbases have made these campaigns some of the most successful, highest-ROI activations we have been a part of. 

“That impact with only be amplified by student-athletes in the NIL era. We have built our name alongside hundreds of college athletics partners, primarily at the Power-5 level. But to accomplish our vision to help every athlete, we now need to expand our footprint beyond only the largest institutions. CSMG is unequivocally ingrained throughout the college sports landscape and provides the access needed to assist more schools, sponsors, and athletes at every level.”

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