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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Athletes Advocate Consortium (AAC) announced Monday that it is signing the entire Razorback men’s basketball team to an NIL deal.
As part of the AAC’s NIL initiative, athletes that partner with the AAC agree to assist with Northwest Arkansas charities, the men’s basketball team is partnering with the Children’s Safety Center of Washington County.
Founded in 1997 ,the Children’s Safety Center of Washington County aims to help children overcome abuse. Their mission statement reads:
“Our goal is to facilitate more effective prevention, detection, investigation, and treatment of child abuse. By bringing together teams of professionals and vital resources, we work to ensure that the best interest of these child victims are being served.”
Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman reacts to his entire team signing an NIL deal to help with the Children’s Safety Center through the @AAC_Networks. pic.twitter.com/ZPH5Hg3blJ
— Mason Choate (@ChoateMason) August 2, 2022
“I just think it’s great that our players will be able to contribute back to our community,” Razorback head coach Eric Musselman said. “I think there’s a lot of life lessons that these guys can carry on, not just this year, through what they’re learning from AAC, but all the way through the rest of their lives. Really cool, really impactful for a lot of different people.”
In addition to the entire team working with the Children’s Safety Center of Washington County, Arizona State transfer Jalen Graham and McDonald’s All-American Jordan Walsh also signed individual NIL deals.
Graham will partner with the Samaritan Community Center in Rogers and Springdale, while Walsh will partner with the Jones Center in Springdale.
“Giving back to the community and being there for the community is way bigger than basketball,” Walsh said. “Those things are kind of like, the things that I feel like build a human being, along with morals and stuff like that. These small things that you can do for the community and for other people can help benefit you for the future.”
Via the AAC’s press release, Co-founder Bryan Hunt, the decision to engage all members of the 2022 basketball team was an opportunity to leverage the marketability of the highest-ranked recruiting class in the UA’s history.
“As we were evaluating the applicants for this year’s program, we determined this has the potential to be an exceptional year for Arkansas basketball,” said Bryan Hunt. “Our goal is to utilize the excitement and the following these star athletes have to help drive awareness of area non-profits.”
In their first year of operation, the AAC secured over $50,000 in funding for Samaritan Community Center through their partnership with former Razorback and All-SEC guard JD Notae.
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