Many of the players will appear in March Madness-focused content for the company.
Overtime, a creator and distributor of digital-first content with more than 3 billion page views per month, and UConn women’s basketball have signed a groundbreaking NIL deal.
Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday that under the agreement, eligible players from the No. 1 Huskies are producing video content for March Madness in a custom studio at Gampel Pavilion. The studio is billed as first of its kind.
The players have begun filming ahead of their Women’s NCAA Tournament run, which begins Saturday against No. 16 seed UTSA. The content is aimed at showing March Madness fans what it is like to play for the Huskies and go to school at UConn, as well as the sides they don’t see of the players.
Wendy’s and Google Gemini are sponsors of the branded content. The amount of NIL money being funneled to UConn and, ultimately, the players was not released.
Per the report, sports marketing and events company CampusOne is teaming with UConn in the collaboration with Overtime. The content featuring the UConn women will be distributed across Overtime’s social media network. Combined, Overtime’s sites have more than 120 million followers.
“I was on campus a couple weeks ago, and the amount of seniors ... that came over to me and they were like, ‘Wow, Overtime’s having a studio here. That’s so cool!’” Sascha Malas, head of Overtime Select, told Sports Business Journal.
“Because to these athletes, we’ve been following them for seven to 10 years, and for them to now appear in Overtime content, branded and unbranded, is really cool for them.”
UConn head coach invited an official from Overtime to visit the UConn campus -- a meeting that launched a 'groundbreaking' NIL deal. Credit: David Butler II-Imagn ImagesUConn head coach Geno Auriemma actually is the one who brought Overtime and UConn together. Sports Business Journal reported Auriemma met Malas at an event in New York in 2024, and he invited her to visit the campus in Storrs, where the idea for an NIL partnership was conceived.
“He was like, clearly, my players know what Overtime is, and you’re in all their lives and have been in their lives for so many years. I wonder if there’s an opportunity here,” Malas told the outlet. “Obviously, a no-brainer program to do this groundbreaking partnership with.”
And Malas said it could provide the framework for similar NIL deals at other schools in the future.
Included in the UConn deal, of course, are the team’s biggest stars – Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong. But it extends to all players on the roster who are eligible for NIL funding. Visa restrictions can keep international players from participating.
Sports Business Journal reported that Overtime has made NIL agreements with approximately 1,000 athletes.
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