MARQUETTE, Mich. - In partnership with Teamworks Influencer, Northern Michigan University is proud to announce the launch of its Northern Michigan Wildcat Exchange program, vastly expanding its Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities for NMU student-athletes.

The Northern Michigan Wildcat Exchange (Hyperlink) is a custom-designed NIL business registry for businesses, donors, alumni, and others interested in connecting with NMU student-athletes. Registered companies can search, filter, and initiate conversations with student-athletes to discuss NIL deals.

Once a deal is agreed upon, the business can use the Northern Michigan Wildcat Exchange to create a transaction that directly pays the student-athlete without any transaction fees and automates a disclosure to the Influencer Compliance Ledger.

"We are very excited to announce our partnership with Influencer as part of our evolving NIL program at Northern Michigan," said Rick Comley, Director of Athletics. "It is important that our student-athletes have the education and tools to be successful, and the Northern Michigan Wildcat Exchange prioritizes putting our student-athletes first and it will be a valuable tool that our athletes can utilize throughout their time at Northern Michigan." 

"We're excited to partner with Northern Michigan Athletics to support their vision for maximizing NIL opportunities for student-athletes," said Teamworks Influencer Senior Account Executive Sean Kelly. "The Northern Michigan Wildcat Exchange will unlock new opportunities for their student-athletes, allowing them to monetize their brand and pursue NIL deals at a larger scale."

Currently in use by 200+ athletic departments with 100,000+ active athletes, over $200M in NIL deals have been reported through Influencer since its launch in 2012. The Influencer platform brings expertise in specific areas while working closely with NMU's internal team to provide student-athlete resources in education, NIL marketplace exchange access, infrastructure, agreement disclosure, compliance, content sharing, and personal branding.

For more information and ways to get involved, visit the Northern Michigan NIL page. 

If you're a business or individual interested in supporting NIL at Northern Michigan or working with student-athletes, please contact Zack Survillas, Compliance Assistant and Special Events Coordinator, at zsurvill@nmu.edu.