TAMPA, Fla. – J.D. Urso is profiting off of his name, image and likeness as a baseball athlete for the University of Tampa Spartans.
Urso and his friend and former teammate Aidan Brown are promoting brands on his Instagram and Twitter to generate exposure for companies while receiving compensation thanks to the NIL rules in the NCAA.
“It’s been ground-breaking stuff for my college career, one with COVID, two with the new name image likeliness rules,” said Urso. “Which basically now allows college athletes and some high school athletes to generate revenue on their name, image and likeness, which is essentially your personal brand.”
The sophomore has developed a company with his friend Aidan Brown called Work Beats Talent (WBT), a media agency for athletes by athletes.
WBT is a limited liability company made possible because the NCAA has given people the opportunity for individuals to profit off of there name image and likeness.
“I’m getting the company some publicity and, you know, getting some free products and even generating some revenue on my own,” said Urso.
The sport management major explained how forming the social media business helps produce more interactions online to increase exposure for brands.
“Instead of each individual trying to grow their brand, individually,” he said, “you can get a group of athletes with, you know, common goals and common backgrounds, and have them all support each other.”
The son of coach Joe Urso grew his own personal brand with the help of his teammates, friends and other student-athletes.
Urso a veteran for the Spartans says the WBT is able to profit from the NIL policy and allows for collaboration to boost interactions for the brand.
“The companies are really after impressions,” he said. “How many eyes can I get on this post?”