Spyre Sports Group — a Knoxville based NIL collective that serves University of Tennessee athletes — ranks as the nation’s most ambitious NIL collective according to On3.
It’s the second straight year that On3 has ranked Spyre Sports as the most ambitious collective as Spyre continues to lead the way in the emerging college athletics NIL space.
“Tennessee‘s NIL operation has become the leading collective in the country,” On3’s Pete Nakos wrote. “The for-profit arm, The Volunteer Club, has grown to 2,769 members with an expansive e-commerce business. According to (co-founder Hunter) Baddour, Spyre has executed 1,400 deals since July 2021. They currently have 90 athletes on active contracts. Spyre told On3 in February the Volunteer Club had procured $13.5 million in NIL deals.”
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Tennessee leads the way in On3’s top 20 most ambitious NIL collectives rankings but they aren’t the only SEC team on the list. 12th Man+ Fund (Texas A&M) ranked second, OneArkansas NIL (Arkansas) ranked eighth, The Grove Collective (Ole Miss) ranked ninth, On To Victory (Auburn) ranked 12th, Classic City (Georgia) ranked 14th and Garnett Trust (South Carolina) ranked 16th.
Collectives have become a fascinating part of college athletics since NCAA passed rules allowing players to make money on their name, image and likeness. Facilitating deals between players and companies, collectives are very important for current players and have a lesser affect in recruiting battles— particularly in football.
Tennessee sports is coming off an incredibly strong 2022-23 athletic year. The Vols had banner seasons in football, softball and baseball while the men’s and women’s basketball programs each performed well while returning to the Sweet 16.
The Vols finished sixth nationally in the 2022-23 Directors’ Cup— the athletic department’s highest ever finish in the all sports award.
