The Tulane Green Wave generated over $250k to their NIL funds with their City Edition uniforms honoring the city of New Orleans.
The Tulane Green Wave have worked for years to ingrain themselves in the city of New Orleans and be known as Nola’s college football team. The City Edition uniforms they designed and wore in the Green Wave’s homecoming win against the FAU Owls on Nov. 15 paid homage to the city. The baby blue jerseys and white pants showcased intricate wrought-iron fence designs on the shoulders that are found all over homes Uptown. The player names were writing in New Orleans street tiles. The helmet was a hand-painted work of art, donned with Mardi Gras beads, street tiles – broken at that – spelling Tulane, the wrought-iron striping, and the concussion and helmet safety warning written in the logo of of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans,
They were a beautiful tribute to the city Tulane plans in, and they generated an impressive $250k to the Green Wave Talent Fund, which is their internal NIL funds department for all sports including football. Fans were able to purchase game-worn jerseys and helmets, with all proceeds going to the Talent Fund. The combo was only worn in that one game, and they sold out quickly. It was a great show of innovation, both in the beautifully designed uniform and helmets and the sale of them to generate NIL funds. For that, Tulane was recognized for their efforts. They are nominated by Paciolian, a ticketing, marketing, and fundraising solution used in college athletics for fundraising and marketing, which includes online and mobile ticketing sales, etc., for their “Innovation of the Year” award.
The Green Wave are one of dozens of schools who use the platform for their fundraising and ticketing efforts. They are up against Coastal Carolina for their efforts to make all concessions free at all football games last season; fellow American Conference North Texas Mean Green for their Green Lights Fund, which was their newly launched NIL-focused revenue-sharing initiative that included a "$75,000 Morris Family Challenge" match to drive donations; Texas A&M for their Student Pull Process, which was a digital student ticket pull system for football that prioritized seniority and ensured tickets went to students by preventing unauthorized sales; and Texas Performing Arts, intriguingly, for their “The Nightmare Before Christmas Light Trail” immersive walkthrough experience.
The last nomination notwithstanding, the award clearly shows that it rewards college athletics’ programs for innovative ways of generating NIL revenue for their student athletes. There are certainly conventional ways to do it, but creativity can help fill a lot of gaps. The Green Wave raised a quarter of a million alone just by honoring the city they play football in and selling those in tangible jersey and helmet form.
The name of the game in college football now is NIL funds, and that's how premier Group of Five programs can separate themselves from the rest. As Tulane rebuilds for next season, they can further expand on creative avenues to fundraise for NIL and retain more student athletes.