MISSOULA — The landscape of college athletics has seismically changed over the last few years, and arguably the biggest addition has been name, image and likeness, better known as NIL.
It's opened the door for college athletes to be paid legally for the first time ever, and with it have come collectives, including at the University of Montana with Good Ol' Grizzlies.
"Just an organization or entity that really helps the athletes and businesses really structure NIL deals, figure things like that out, and opportunity for donors and boosters to be able to contribute to the collective, so then the athletes can therefore get paid, and things like that," Good Ol' Grizzlies general manager Marcus Welnel said.
"Really helping facilitate a lot, because there's so many rules and regulations that still, with athletes getting paid, they have to be abided by. So it's really the collective's job to make sure all the athletes are taken care of, and the boosters, donors and businesses all know how to operate in this space."
Welnel, who was a standout linebacker for the Griz football team and former No. 37 bearer, is the general manager of Good Ol' Grizzlies, a role he assumed last October.
From then to now, Welnel has seen it grow and impact UM in the NIL landscape.
"That's just step one is trying to teach people who we are, what we're doing," Welnel said. "And then, you know, from there, it's getting people kind of over the hurdle of, okay, now you know what we are, now you know we help the athletes, can we get you to contribute? Can we get you to help the support the athletes here the University of Montana."
Before, collectives and universities needed to be separate entities.
They still are, but can be public about their working together and in unison all with a common goal.
"We can make introductions. We can promote the collective. We want to make sure that we've got the right relationship between Good Ol' Grizzlies and then Grizzly Sports Properties," UM athletic director Kent Haslam said. "For example, Good Ol' Grizzlies does not own rights to our intellectual property, that's got to be gained through our partnership with Grizzly Sports Properties. So there's some lines that are drawn there.
"But, when I sit down and talk to a donor and they say, 'Hey, I want to support student-athletes directly,' I can say we have this option through our collective through the Good Ol' Grizzlies. Here's Marcus Welnel, I'd encourage you to visit with him."
Good Ol' Grizzlies works through a company called SANIL — student-athlete NIL — a company that takes care of all the legal, finance, compliance, as well as the tax forms and HR processes to get athletes paid on time.
Plus, taxes often are forgotten by the student-athletes when they're paid, so Good Ol' Grizzlies and SANIL are there to remind and guide them.
With those processes taken care of by SANIL, that allows people like Welnel to network with potential boosters and donors locally as the expert in Missoula, and explaining what Good Ol' Grizzlies is and getting the word out, as many still are unaware of the collective to start, while others can be unclear to how it all works.
"The main part of my job is educating the business owners, the donors, the student-athletes, the coaches, everybody like how this works, how we can operate, how we can be most successful here at the University of Montana," Welnel said.
Fans can become members of Good Ol' Grizzlies through a variety of monthly fees, or can donate straight up, which in turn becomes money used to pay the student-athletes.
But there's a balance to be had too when asking for money, especially with donors, so the collective and athletics don't draw too much from the same well.
"They've got to grow in harmony where we're not cannibalizing one and and making it so that we can't operate completely as an athletic department," Haslam said. "We need the revenue off of tickets, off of donations, off of sponsorship sales, to keep the whole enterprise operating. So really moving forward, making sure that people are educated in that how they best want to support Grizzly Athletics, that's really for me, what's the goal for the upcoming year."
And it doesn't just affect football, it's department-wide, with the Griz women's soccer team holding the only team-wide NIL deal through Good Ol' Grizzlies.
It was bumpy to start as rules change rapidly and frequently, but the collective has streamlined UM's presence in this new-look space, by offering NIL opportunities to go with other perks such as facilities when recruiting.
"Student-athletes ask these questions, what are my NIL opportunities going to be at the University of Montana?" Haslam said. "So our coaches are able to say, look, we've got an active collective that's robust.
"It's run by a former football student-athlete that understands what it's like to be a student-athlete. We have businesses and individuals that support this collective. There are going to be opportunities for you if you come to the University of Montana."
The growth is expected to continue as the collective continues to pick up steam and fans learn about it's impact, and for Welnel, it's allowed him to give back to the school and continue to have an impact on and off the field.
"When you're done, you kind of feel like, oh, like, that's it. And I can go maybe cheer in the stands, and that's about it, but I really feel like, now I can make a direct impact on the Montana athletics, really, with how name, image, likeness is changing and how college athletics has changed. This is, this is going to be huge for college athletes going forward and college programs. So if we can take this off and really grow it, I think we can have some success here at Montana."
