Crimson and Cream facilitates NIL deals with Hal Smith Restaurants for Oklahoma football, softball, basketball

Thanks to Crimson and Cream, Oklahoma athletes will be eating well this academic year.

The Sooner-driven NIL collective brokered team-wide deals for the scholarship players on the football, basketball and softball teams with Hal Smith Restaurants. Through the agreements, each athlete will receive $500 in restaurant credit.

The campaign checks off numerous boxes. First, athletes can share meals with each other for free. Or after sporting events, players can treat their families and friends to dinner. It’s a unique deal in a market filled with transactional agreements.

For athletes to fulfill their portion of the contract, they’ll be expected to create content when using their credits at a Hal Smith Restaurant, which has 85 locations across seven Midwest states including Norman. An Oklahoma graduate, Hal Smith chose to put his restaurant management company’s headquarters in Norman.

The brand’s NIL commitment is believed to be the largest corporate deal facilitated by a collective to date.

“Everything we do in OU Athletics is to advance the holistic development of our student-athletes and enrich them for a lifetime,” Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione told On3 in a statement. “We’re fortunate to have steadfast friends like Hal Smith who believe in our mission and want to support our players in their pursuit to benefit from the use of their own name, image and likeness. In the age of NIL, our student-athletes have a distinct opportunity to leverage their personal brand with the OU legacy, leading to endless possibilities for their futures.

“The magnitude of this deal is thrilling, and it speaks to the level of interest and excitement that we’re seeing in our fanbase and partnerships when it comes to supporting our student-athletes. We hope stories like this inspire other opportunities for business to activate with our athletes in the future.”

Crimson and Cream continues to build strong NIL programming for Oklahoma

Crimson and Cream launched nearly a year ago. Operated by Student Athlete NIL, the company that runs nearly 40 NIL collectives, the collective’s board of directors and advisory group is filled with former Oklahoma stars and Norman business leaders.

The organization’s initial fundraising campaign resulted in $1.6 million in annual donations. By January, the collective signed or offered an NIL deal to the entire 115-member Sooner football roster. SANIL’s founder, Jason Belzer, shared with On3 in June the collective now has more than 1,800 members. Over 300 athletes have signed deals with the collective, including more than 90 female athletes. On top of that, 130 athletes are on retainer, including football and men’s basketball players. 

Crimson and Cream was included in the most recent edition of On3’s most ambitious NIL collectives, coming in at No. 17.

“I think I speak for our entire softball team when I say we are honored to partner with one of the premier restaurant groups in the Midwest,” said Alyssa Brito, who was a 2023 first-team All-American with 17 home runs. “By including softball in the same NIL partnership with OU football and men’s basketball, Hal Smith Restaurant Group is proving it values women’s sports and inclusion. We hope our partnership sets the new standard of NIL deals in college athletics.”

Added OU linebacker Danny Stutsman: “I’m incredibly grateful for the NIL opportunities that have been presented since I’ve been at the University of Oklahoma, especially this one from Hal Smith Restaurants. Eating meals with my teammates outside of our facility and taking my family out after home games are things I’m really going to enjoy.”