Montana News
UM student athletes sign name, image and likeness deal to endorse Sen. Tester
With Montana News, I'm Eleanor Smith. University of Montana student athletes were offered name, image, and likeness deals to endorse Democratic Senator John Tester. Two students accepted the deal. It's the first political endorsement of its kind after restrictions on name, image, and likeness deals for college athletes were lifted in 2021. The Montana Kindness Maxwell Johnson reported on the NIL endorsements last Thursday. Maxwell, thanks for being here today. Happy to be here. What do we know about the students who accepted the deal? Two students accepted Ty Anderson and Riley Kirlin. They both accepted an $800 deal to make two Instagram videos for the deal, basically this endorsing John Tester. Who offered this deal to the students? Yes, an organization which is largely anonymous called Montana Together, offered the deal to a third party called OpenDose, basically an eBay for NIL deals, if you will, and OpenDose reads out to U.M. athletics and how the deal is sent out. And what do university officials think of these endorsements? For the most part, they're pretty neutral on it. The only thing the university really restricts in terms of NIL endorsements is tobacco, marijuana, performance enhancing drugs, and gambling, particularly sports gambling is the main thing that comes to mind. And so they more or less think that they're not going to restrict a normal student. There was one student who was vocally against these endorsements. Can you explain how accepting these endorsements works? Yeah, so OpenDose sends it out to Gene Dee, who is the person in childhood compliance, with the mostly Montana athletics in particular, and C, basically sends it out to all U.M. assets and it's completely optional to accept. And so there's no consequence or kind of retaliatory action that can be taken if athletes just aren't interested? No, it's completely optional, entirely on the students. Is there a precedent of other students either at U.M. or at another university accepting political endorsements as NIL deals? Not that I know of no. This is interesting enough. NIL has been around since 2021 more or less, and this is the fourth major election cycle, presidential election cycle that NIL has been in play. Well, thank you so much for being here today, Maxwell. I appreciate it. Yeah, happy to be here again. U.S. Senator John Tester faces Republican Tim Sheehee in a battleground contest that could decide control of the upper chamber.