If you’ve driven around Downtown Columbia, SC lately and noticed these billboards and wondered, “What is that about?” – here’s the scoop.
A Keller Williams REALTOR came up with the idea of collegiate student-athletes attaining a real estate license, and using their Name, Image, and Likeness to produce real estate business for their sponsoring REALTOR or team, and then earning a referral fee upon the closing of the transaction. Pretty smart, right?! It is now part of the “KW Community” ecosystem and hundreds of athletes have signed up around the country and many thousands of dollars have been paid to student-athletes, respectively.
When the initial group approached me I thought to myself, “Ok, well, our mantra is ‘Changing Lives Through Real Estate’ and I drive by and live work and play amongst Gamecock players, coaches, alumni, and fans every single day. Jen and I attended USC, we go to the games, and I was dang-gone Fraternity Man of the Year. Further, our brokerage, KW Palmetto, is located in the shadows of the university and I drive through campus or by Williams-Brice Stadium every day. All of this, combined with the infrastructure of our team, experience, and production, this was not only a no-brainer, but a fit, and win/win/win.
Enter KW | NIL and I’m proudly the official REALTOR partner of the Gamecock Student Athletes. I communicate with them on the NIL portal and have conversed with the NIL Partner Services Manager a few times, with Joe even visiting my office some months ago. He thinks it’s awesome, as this is a way to prepare student-athletes for the future instead of a simple “pay to play” paycheck as we navigate through this new NIL college athletic landscape.
If you would like to talk about the program or have any questions my email is Franklin@TheNeighborhoodRE.com and my number is 803-447-8683. You can learn more about the program @ www.NILRealEstate.com. Futher, here’s a write-up from Forbes.
Did you know that there are over 500 student-athletes at USC? I’ve enjoyed taking our girls to attend tennis matches and all of the other vibes like softball and beach volleyball are going on. I’m not sure the community takes full advantage of this, but we have world-class athletes (not just football, basketball, baseball) just down the streets from our neighborhoods. It’s fun and impressive to watch them compete.
Now that school is back in we are excited to get started with this journey with the student-athletes.
GOOOOOO COCKS!!
Franklin
