Steel City NIL Club launches to support Pitt football players

The network of football player-driven NIL communities supported by the company YOKE now includes players from the program that won the ACC Championship Game last season. The Steel City NIL Club officially launched Tuesday, allowing Pitt football fans to receive digital and in-person access to players through a membership-based community.

As of Wednesday evening, the Steel City NIL Club has raised more than $7,800 through the contributions of more than 320 members. It set a monthly goal of $20,000. More than 100 Pitt football players have joined the club, according to its website.

Through YOKE’s player-driven membership-based communities, each player who joins a club receives an equal share of the club’s revenue. YOKE co-founder and CEO Mick Assaf told On3 that YOKE’s current platform fee is 18%, which means the players receive equal shares of 82% of the club’s revenue.

As the company’s scale grows, its platform fee will decrease, Assaf said.

The YOKE-backed communities have two financial models: access passes and subscriptions. The Pitt players chose a subscription-based model, which allows fans to donate any amount to become a member of the club.

There are two tiers of rewards for fans’ initial financial commitment to the Steel City NIL Club. Fans who contribute at least $25 per month will receive a Kedon Slovis jersey. Those who contribute at least $100 per month will be invited to a steak dinner with Pitt football players this fall.

YOKE’s plans for NIL communities

YOKE is one of several companies that has launched one or more membership-based NIL communities, such as the Steel City NIL Club, which typically feature Power 5 football players, although not exclusively.

On3 recently published a deep dive on these companies and the NIL communities they support.

YOKE provides technology for clubs of football players at schools like Arkansas, Auburn, Iowa, Kansas State, LSU, Michigan State, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M.

Assaf, who walked on to Notre Dame as a running back, told On3 he believes the company’s technology can be used by athletes in any sport and at any level.

“I think that it should absolutely service FCS programs. I can tell you a non-football team will not be too far off,” Assaf said in late July. “Had a ton of people reach out trying to make that happen and it’ll probably be less than a month before you see both of those. Hopefully, by the end of the year, you will have more non-FBS football clubs than just FBS football clubs.”

The goal of the clubs is to provide the kind of access to players that has often been reserved to donors who contribute large sums to universities or their athletic department.

“It’s something that for a really long time, those types of interactions have been reserved for the top 1% of donors at universities, people that are giving seven figures a year,” Assaf said. “For us, one of our big goals is to allow fans from all backgrounds to be able to engage with players in a way that’s kind of always been reserved for people who were giving a ton to the university.”