Veritone’s NCAA Partnership Helps Athletes Score NIL Deals  

Veritone’s licensing capabilities empower the NCAA to more effectively monetize its championship content, which includes 92 years of footage. VERITONE.

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University of Texas football player Kelvin Banks Jr. prefers to do his talking on the field. The 6-foot-4, 320-pound Junior offensive lineman has the critical job of protecting his quarterback’s blindside. With a rare combination of size, strength, balance and footwork Banks has many professional scouts projecting him to go in the top ten in the next NFL draft. “I’m not even thinking about that right now,” Banks told reporters at SEC Media Days this past July.

Players like Banks are loved by their coaches because they prioritize the team and what they do on the field first. Fortunately, Banks has an experienced team protecting his intellectual property while he protects Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers. Athlete’s First, the leading sports agency that represents Banks, along with its roster of current NFL stars: Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert, and Tua Tagovailoa, works with Vertione, a San Francisco-based company, to activate real game footage of Banks that can then be used as part of NIL deals currently being made for him.

As Banks plays what is likely his last season as a Longhorn, Veritone will use its AI-powered software to select, preserve, and manage footage that he will be able to monetize–with NCAA compliance. In August, Veritone signed a multi-year agreement to be the NCAA’s global archive of record and exclusive video licensing agent. The NCAA’s vast media archive is organized by Veritone’s Digital Media Hub and includes footage from sports including football, basketball and baseball. Veritone has worked in support of over 15,000 current and former student athletes to date.

Veritone also works with the conferences, schools and companies to organize and streamline the NIL process. Their partnership with Learfield enables video licensees to secure approvals for incidental use of school trademarks contained in video footage. “When people are looking to sponsor or endorse an athlete, they have to produce a commercial,” says Ryan Steelberg, CEO of Veritone. This can be a difficult undertaking for student athletes who lack media training. It also takes up time that a student athlete could be spending training, practicing or studying. “Time is a scarce resource for student athletes,” Steelberg says, “Imagine having pre-cleared footage of those athletes ready to use.”