Ahead of College World Series, Roll The Quad releases NIL shirt campaign for Wake Forest baseball
After sweeping Alabama the super regionals, Wake Forest is making its first trip to the College World Series since 1955 this weekend. It’s clear the marketability of the Demon Deacons baseball roster is at its peak.
Josh Strickland wanted to find a way to capitalize on the moment. In his role working partnerships for the Wake Forest-driven Roll the Quad NIL collective, Strickland had helped make stickers for the series against the Tide. With the words “Roll Tide The Quad” written out, the Tide had a line going through it.
In such high demand, some fans suggested making T-shirts with the same logo, he said. Strickland quickly reached out to the NIL Store and Campus Ink after Game 1 of last weekend’s series. The shirts have been a success in the five days since Roll The Quad announced the initiative.
“The design was initially made just for stickers for the series, but they got so popular at games that fans were demanding shirts with it on them,” he said.
More importantly for the athletes, $10 from each sale will go to the collective and earmarked exclusively for Wake Forest baseball. Campus Ink NIL Director Adam Cook previously told On3 that athletes pocket between $8 and $15 per on licensed apparel.
Campus Ink’s website says the company has more than 20 school licenses. While brand deals have become one of the most popular activations in the NIL Era, being able to create unique apparel has been a win for athletes and collectives.
Roll the Quad, which is operated by Student-Athlete NIL (SANIL), is not an official sponsor of Wake Forest athletics yet, meaning Strickland had to avoid using any school marks on the stickers and shirts. Launched back in November, the collective’s board of directors includes Bob McCreary, Ben Sutton, Mit Shah, David Couch, Alan Fox, Robert McCreary, Don Flow and Michael Drum. Shah is a part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks.
Roll The Quad’s website lists tiered subscription levels ranging from $10 to $500 per month, as well as a one-time donation option.
The top-ranked team in this year’s NCAA tournament field, the Demon Deacons open College World Series play Saturday at 2 p.m. ET against No. 8 seed Stanford. The No. 1 seed has not won the CWS since Miami in 1999.
Now split into two double-elimination brackets, the winners of Wake Forest and Stanford and LSU and Tennessee will play Monday night. The losers will face an elimination game, also scheduled for Monday.