LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — UNLV men's basketball guard Jordan McCabe is getting himself out there. An early adapter to the marketing opportunities now in front of him.
“I've been able to work with brands, as big as Youtube themselves, Oculus and Meta. All these huge, huge brands,” said McCabe.
McCabe has ammassed over 400,000 followers across his Instagram and Tik Tok and has done more than 10 NIL deals.
The West Virginia transfer stated, “I'm working with Puma right now. So, we're going to do a couple pictures. We're not going to say whose shoe, but a signature basketball shoe that they're releasing, and trying to mark it through social media.
It’s a whole new landscape for college athletes, and it creates new teaching opportunities for the university.
Eric Nepomuceno, the Director of Compliance for UNLV Athletics, shared, “One of the things we have tried to make sure is that our student athletes are aware of these name, image, and likeness deals are not short term, right? It's for the long term. So know your brand and know how you want to be represented.”
The numbers are growing at UNLV with close to 100 NIL deals having been done by student-athletes. So are the chances to get creative and start learning the business side of sports.
"It's been really good for us in terms of learning how to deal with different scenarios and circumstances, businesses and people,” stated McCabe.
It's also allowed the Rebels to strengthen their bond with people around town.
"It makes it that much more special when you know, who are the people not only donating and giving money and supporting us financially, but also the people who are just diehard fans," said McCabe. "When you go out into the community, we're allowed to work with younger kids who have parents that were brought up in the Vegas area during the Jerry Tarkanian era."
