Team-wide <a href="https://www.on3.com/nil/news/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NIL</a> deals aren’t new in college athletics, including at <a href="https://www.on3.com/college/texas-tech-red-raiders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Texas Tech</a>, where the nonprofit <a href="https://www.on3.com/nil/news/what-are-nil-collectives-and-how-do-they-operate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NIL collective</a> <a href="https://www.on3.com/nil/collectives/the-matador-club-57/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Matador Club</a> <a href="https://www.on3.com/college/texas-tech-red-raiders/news/texas-tech-nil-collective-to-pay-100-football-players-25000-annually/">signed 100 football players</a> each to a $25,000 contract. What is new, however, is five-figure-per-player marketing deals in women’s basketball. That’s the financial commitment Level 13 Agency made to the Lady Raiders. The agency <a href="https://twitter.com/LEVEL13Agency/status/1552738154867728389?cxt=HHwWioCx4YDIt4wrAAAA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced on Twitter</a> in late July it has committed $25,000 per player.



In fact, The Matador Club’s $25,000 per-player commitment to Texas Tech’s football program helped inspire the recent team-wide deals for the Lady Raiders. Level 13 Agency is a NIL-specific sports marketing agency that co-founder and co-owner Kirk Noles said launched about a week after the start of the NCAA’s NIL era.



“After the football announcement a couple of weeks ago and the relationships we have with the women’s team, [we] wanted to make sure that they were taken care of as well,” Noles recently told On3.



Noles pointed to Texas Tech’s women’s basketball national championship team in 1993, which was led by 28-points-per-game scorer Sheryl Swoopes and coached by Marsha Sharp, as the one that helped create the program’s brand. Current Texas Tech women’s basketball coach Krista Gerlich also played on that team. Texas Tech retired the jerseys of Swoopes and Gerlich shortly after the championship season. 



“That brand was already established,” Noles said. “There’s a lot of people that support women, that support women’s athletics, women-owned businesses. There are all kinds of stuff that just relates with that sector of advertising. It really wasn’t hard at all and honestly, so many people stepped up before we made the announcement, kind of started working those waters, but especially after we made that announcement. So many people wanted to be involved with that.



“The outpouring of support was just phenomenal. Couldn’t have been better.”



<h2 id="h-every-single-one-of-them-is-valuable-through-nil">‘Every single one of them is valuable’ through NIL</h2>



When the NCAA released <a href="https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/ncaa/NIL/May2022NIL_Guidance.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">additional NIL guidance</a> regarding third-party involvement in May, the guidance stated, “NIL agreements must be based on an independent, case-by-case analysis of the value that each athlete brings to a NIL agreement as opposed to providing compensation or incentives for enrollment decisions… athletic performance… achievement… or membership on a team.”



While members of the NCAA’s enforcement staff have made their presence known at a few schools, such as when enforcement staff <a href="https://www.on3.com/nil/news/john-ruiz-lifewallet-miami-hurricanes-basketball-football-nil-name-image-likeness-ncaa-enforcement/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">talked to</a> <a href="https://www.on3.com/college/miami-hurricanes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Miami</a> booster John Ruiz and <a href="https://www.on3.com/nil/news/oregon-ducks-division-street-nil-collective-ncaa-enforcement-ferpa-state-laws/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">requested more information</a> from <a href="https://www.on3.com/college/oregon-ducks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oregon</a> regarding <a href="https://www.on3.com/nil/collectives/division-street-4/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Division Street</a>, it’s unclear if and how the NCAA will enforce its interim NIL policy.



Team-wide NIL or marketing deals could theoretically provide high-profile potential test cases for the NCAA’s additional guidance.



Will every player on a team receiving the same amount of compensation in publicly announced marketing deals receive scrutiny from members of the NCAA’s enforcement staff? Do third parties have any concerns about facilitating such a set of deals?



“You know, there’s not [concern about each player receiving $25,000],” Noles said. “Obviously, we want to make sure that everything we do is extremely compliant and the NCAA approves of it. But the way I see it is they all have an extreme amount of value for not only our agency but for this community in general. And there’s a lot of this community that wants to support the Lady Raider Nation as a whole. So, I think the fair market value, the answer to that is, ‘Yeah, it’s a fair market value amongst every girl in this program.’ You know, the value as a collective.”



As Noles explained it, in order to support every player on the team — in effect, the entire program — then $25,000 per player is what it costs. He’s aware that individual players on the team might warrant additional NIL opportunities on their own, too.



“Now, will some girls stand out more than others?” he asked rhetorically. “Will they be starters? Sure. But at the end of the day, these businesses want to be part of supporting a program and having the program itself support their businesses, so I think that would be the answer to that. If there are specific girls that these businesses want to work with, then obviously we’re going to facilitate that as well.



“We just see that every single one of them is valuable and we want to make sure that value is seen throughout the entire team.”



<h2>‘One show in town and that’s Texas Tech’</h2>



Lubbock, Texas, is about a five-hour drive from Dallas. It’s about eight hours from Houston.



The way Noles sees it, Texas Tech’s West Texas location could be a benefit, especially in the NIL era.



“The number one thing that we want any athlete to know, that if you come to Tech and you work with Level 13 or anybody in this community, we have one show in town and that’s Texas Tech athletics,” he said. “We’re not competing with the Mavericks or the Rockets. There are not any other professional sports teams within six hours of where we’re at. The opportunity here is endless.”



Noles believes that because of the financial investment from Texas Tech fans and the Lubbock business community, Texas Tech coaches don’t even need to say anything about their athletes’ current <a href="https://www.on3.com/nil/deals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NIL deals</a> when recruiting high school athletes. After all, it’s not a recruiting inducement to say, “Here’s what my players are currently earning from NIL deals.”



“I think when there are recruits on trips or if someone wants to be here, they see what’s in the news,” Noles said. “They talk to these current players and that’s the best recruiting you can have is that, ‘Hey, we lived up to our word. We did what we said we were going to do and here’s what our current players are currently experiencing.’ That word of mouth, that’s all the recruiting you need these days. You don’t have to induce players.



“You don’t have to have coaches say [anything], we just live up to what we say we’re going to do and those players actually talk about it for us.”



<h2>Players will be paid monthly for their NIL</h2>



Each Texas Tech women’s basketball player will receive compensation on a monthly basis.



“We don’t do any lump-sum payments,” Noles said.



Players will not only promote Level 13 Agency, but also partner businesses through social media posts, autograph sessions, in-person appearances and commercials. In Noles’ words, there are “a thousand different ways” to do so.



“We essentially contract the players with our agency and then the community contracts us to get the players to do the marketing,” he said.



Noles provided examples of businesses in the community that have contacted Level 13 Agency.



A local bank wanted to work with a women’s basketball player from West Texas “that just kind of fits with their narrative as a bank,” he said. A female-owned and operated real estate company specifically wanted to partner with Texas Tech women’s basketball team, too. Other businesses, Noles said, originally expressed interest in partnering with players on the men’s basketball team but also wanted to join the efforts in supporting women’s basketball players as well.



“Obviously, it’s good for business and they have great social media presences,” Noles said, “but at the same time, it’s also, ‘Hey, we’re a business that supports this movement,’ and that’s great recognition as well.”

On3 NIL

Level 13 Agency to pay Texas Tech women's basketball players $25K

Teams

Fan Sites

Forums

Shows

team-link

College Football News

College Football Player Rankings

College Football Rankings

College Football Playoff

College Basketball News

Women's Sports

College

NIL News

NIL Valuation

NIL Deals

NIL Deal Tracker

Sports Business

Transfer Portal News

NCAA Transfer Portal News

NCAA Transfer Portal

Transfer Portal Rankings

Transfer Portal Team Rankings

Transfer Portal

NCAA Transfer Portal Home

Football Recruiting

Basketball Recruiting

Database

Team Rankings

Player Rankings

Industry Comparison

Commitments

Recruiting Prediction Machine

Recruiting

High School News

Schools

High School Search

Rankings

High School Rankings

Scores

High School Scores

High School

NFL Draft

NFL Draft News

Draft By Stars

College Draft History

College Draft Totals

NBA Draft

NBA Draft News

Draft

NASCAR

Culture

Sports Betting

About

On3 App

Advertise

Press

Contact

Football

Basketball

Women's Basketball

Softball

Baseball

News

Deals

Recruits

Events

Newsletter

Alabama

Arizona State

Arizona

Arkansas

Auburn

Baylor

Boston College

California

Removed

Clemson

Colorado

Duke

Florida

Florida State

Georgia

Georgia Tech

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Kentucky

Lettermen Row

Lettermen Lounge

Louisville

Maryland

Miami

Michigan State

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi State

Missouri

NC State

Nebraska

North Carolina

Northwestern

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Ole Miss

The Main Board

Oregon

Oregon State

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Purdue

Rutgers

South Carolina

Stanford

Syracuse

Tennessee

Texas A&M

Texas

Texas Tech

UCLA

Utah

Vanderbilt

Virginia

Virginia Tech

Wake Forest

Washington

Washington State

West Virginia

Wisconsin

BamaOnLine

BOL Round Table

Inside Texas

IT Members Only

DawgsHQ

Dawg Walk

Scoop Duck

Recruiting & Sports

AuburnSports

The Corner

WeAreSC

GarryP's Trojan Huddle

The Wolverine

The Fort

The Lions Den

The Wolfpacker

The Wolves’ Den

GatorsOnline

Swamp Talk

Alabama A&M

Alabama State

Albany

Alcorn State

Abilene Christian

Appalachian State

Akron

Army

Austin Peay

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Arkansas-Little Rock

Arkansas State

Air Force

Ball State

American

Wofford

Winthrop

Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Wisconsin-Green Bay

Wichita State

Western Carolina

Volleyball

Gymnastics

Men's Lacrosse

Women's Lacrosse

Men's Soccer

Women's Soccer

Women's Track

Men's Golf

Women's Golf

Men's Hockey

Women's Hockey

Men's Swimming

Women's Swimming

Wrestling

Men's Tennis

Women's Tennis

Annual $1

Annual Premium

Annual $1 

Monthly

Annual

Unlimited Access to This and All Articles.

Article (On3 Plus Rivals)

Forum (On3 Plus Rivals)

Intro

Level 13 Agency to pay Texas Tech women's basketball players $25K

Damon Wilson

Sherrone Moore

Looking ahead

Transfer Portal Intel

Way Too Early Top 100