Rice Athletics + SOAR Announces Expanded Partnership With Opendorse
8/23/2022 8:06:00 AM | General
Rice Athletics announced on Tuesday an expanded partnership with Opendorse in collaboration with SOAR, the Owls' Student-Athlete Development & Letterwinner Engagement program. SOAR serves to equip and empower Rice student-athletes with training needed to thrive within and beyond the hedges. The program is led by core values of grit, curiosity, and teamwork.
Opendorse maximizes NIL opportunities for student-athletes, while delivering security and simplicity for all involved parties. Through SOAR and Opendorse, Rice student-athletes will see enhanced opportunities for holistic student-athlete development through Flight Plan, a four-year program designed to support all Rice student-athletes' transitions in, through, and beyond Rice University. Flight Plan provides resources and experiential education events that promote opportunities for personal growth and professional preparation, ensuring Rice student-athletes are positioned and equipped for success after graduation.
With Tuesday's announcement, Rice will feature Launch Pad, the official Rice Owls NIL marketplace. Launch Pad is an element of Flight Plan's NIL programming, providing an interactive marketplace for businesses to directly engage with our world-class student-athletes for NIL deals. Flight Plan will also host self-guided educational resources for our student-athletes, covering topics such as Social Media Management, Branding, Mental Health, Sexual Violence and Prevention, Financial Literacy, and more. This enhancement ensures that Rice student-athletes will be fully equipped to thrive in the NIL landscape and further advances the educational services provided by SOAR.
The Opendorse-powered marketplace (Launch Pad) is built on a decade of athlete marketing technology and experience. Opendorse has facilitated hundreds of thousands of NIL deals and endorsements with athletes at every level of sports. The marketplace is used by over 75,000 athletes to manage deals from pitch to payment, and even tax prep, every day.
Opendorse, the NIL company launched its initial school-specific NIL marketplace with partners including Oregon, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oregon State and Memphis throughout the spring of 2022. Student-athletes at these institutions experienced a 193% increase in NIL opportunities in the first month after the marketplace's launch.
In addition to the marketplace, Rice continues its partnership with Opendorse, receiving full access to the all-in-one NIL platform. Rice will provide its student-athletes and staff with Opendorse's best-in-class compliance, content and education tools.
As the 2022-2023 academic year begins, SOAR is advancing the Owl In Task Force and student-athlete leadership training alongside the Rice Student-Athlete Advisory Comittee (SAAC) to create student-athlete-led affinity groups meant to serve as intentional educational hubs and community safe spaces for our diverse student-athlete population.
Each group will have an appointed student-athlete chair and athletics staff representative that will help make up the Owl In Task Force. The SAAC Affinity Groups: Rice Owls of Color Unite, Rice Athletes with Pride, Rice International Owls, and Rice Athletes for Wellness will propel our student-athlete leaders into meaningful open dialogue, educational events, cultural celebrations, and community engagement projects that align with both SOAR department and Rice Athletics Vision for Victory goals.
About Opendorse
Opendorse, the NIL company, is the leading technology provider in the athlete endorsement industry. More than 80,000 athletes use Opendorse to understand, build, and monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL) with support from thousands of brands, fans, sponsors, donors and partners including Team USA, PGA TOUR, NFLPA, MLBPA, WNBPA, LPGA, over 100 professional and collegiate sports teams.
About Rice Athletics
Rice Athletics provides an incubator for student-athletes who crave competitive success and lessons in leadership, teamwork and grit on their path to becoming self-actualizing, proud alumni. We embrace the Rice values of Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence. In athletics, we also seek to embody three complementary core values: Grit, Curiosity and Teamwork. At Rice University, we seek to be the institution of choice for world class student-athletes who become champions at Rice and beyond. Because here, you can have it all.
Opendorse maximizes NIL opportunities for student-athletes, while delivering security and simplicity for all involved parties. Through SOAR and Opendorse, Rice student-athletes will see enhanced opportunities for holistic student-athlete development through Flight Plan, a four-year program designed to support all Rice student-athletes' transitions in, through, and beyond Rice University. Flight Plan provides resources and experiential education events that promote opportunities for personal growth and professional preparation, ensuring Rice student-athletes are positioned and equipped for success after graduation.
With Tuesday's announcement, Rice will feature Launch Pad, the official Rice Owls NIL marketplace. Launch Pad is an element of Flight Plan's NIL programming, providing an interactive marketplace for businesses to directly engage with our world-class student-athletes for NIL deals. Flight Plan will also host self-guided educational resources for our student-athletes, covering topics such as Social Media Management, Branding, Mental Health, Sexual Violence and Prevention, Financial Literacy, and more. This enhancement ensures that Rice student-athletes will be fully equipped to thrive in the NIL landscape and further advances the educational services provided by SOAR.
The Opendorse-powered marketplace (Launch Pad) is built on a decade of athlete marketing technology and experience. Opendorse has facilitated hundreds of thousands of NIL deals and endorsements with athletes at every level of sports. The marketplace is used by over 75,000 athletes to manage deals from pitch to payment, and even tax prep, every day.
Opendorse, the NIL company launched its initial school-specific NIL marketplace with partners including Oregon, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oregon State and Memphis throughout the spring of 2022. Student-athletes at these institutions experienced a 193% increase in NIL opportunities in the first month after the marketplace's launch.
In addition to the marketplace, Rice continues its partnership with Opendorse, receiving full access to the all-in-one NIL platform. Rice will provide its student-athletes and staff with Opendorse's best-in-class compliance, content and education tools.
As the 2022-2023 academic year begins, SOAR is advancing the Owl In Task Force and student-athlete leadership training alongside the Rice Student-Athlete Advisory Comittee (SAAC) to create student-athlete-led affinity groups meant to serve as intentional educational hubs and community safe spaces for our diverse student-athlete population.
Each group will have an appointed student-athlete chair and athletics staff representative that will help make up the Owl In Task Force. The SAAC Affinity Groups: Rice Owls of Color Unite, Rice Athletes with Pride, Rice International Owls, and Rice Athletes for Wellness will propel our student-athlete leaders into meaningful open dialogue, educational events, cultural celebrations, and community engagement projects that align with both SOAR department and Rice Athletics Vision for Victory goals.
About Opendorse
Opendorse, the NIL company, is the leading technology provider in the athlete endorsement industry. More than 80,000 athletes use Opendorse to understand, build, and monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL) with support from thousands of brands, fans, sponsors, donors and partners including Team USA, PGA TOUR, NFLPA, MLBPA, WNBPA, LPGA, over 100 professional and collegiate sports teams.
About Rice Athletics
Rice Athletics provides an incubator for student-athletes who crave competitive success and lessons in leadership, teamwork and grit on their path to becoming self-actualizing, proud alumni. We embrace the Rice values of Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence. In athletics, we also seek to embody three complementary core values: Grit, Curiosity and Teamwork. At Rice University, we seek to be the institution of choice for world class student-athletes who become champions at Rice and beyond. Because here, you can have it all.
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