BleedGopher
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Per Shama:
The Name, Image and Likeness effort to generate money for University of Minnesota men’s basketball is positive under new head coach Niko Medved who was hired in March.
Dinkytown Athletes, the entity that creates and develops NIL opportunities for Gopher athletes with businesses and sponsors, is led by co-founder and president Derek Burns. He told Sports Headliners NIL revenue raised for men’s basketball players is “significantly ahead” of a year ago.
This is the third offseason DA has worked on NIL resources and Burns said money available for the 2025-2026 school year is “by far” ahead of previous totals. Like other collectives around the country, DA doesn’t make public the total NIL revenue it has. Such information can create a competitive disadvantage with rival schools, collective executives maintain.
However, it’s believed former Gopher men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson had a seven-figure amount of NIL money last school year, but the total was under $2 million. It could be (based on background work by Sports Headliners) that in Medved’s first year the total will be between $3 million to $4 million. Athletes are paid at Minnesota and elsewhere to make appearances, endorse products or services and appear in advertising.
Medved, who coached Colorado State to the NCAA Tournament three of the last four years, is a Minnesota native. He was a student manager for the Gophers in the 1990s and has a passion for the program that hit hard times under Johnson, partially because of minimal NIL money.
The personable Medved knows a rebuild is in front of him. He’s been using his determination and salesmanship with donors to build up NIL support. Burns said Medved has “been very effective and well received.”
Part of the fund-raising strategy uses donors of means to engage in matching campaigns. Medved wants, of course, to avoid as much as possible not being priced out for players in recruiting against other programs.
Go Gophers!!
The Name, Image and Likeness effort to generate money for University of Minnesota men’s basketball is positive under new head coach Niko Medved who was hired in March.
Dinkytown Athletes, the entity that creates and develops NIL opportunities for Gopher athletes with businesses and sponsors, is led by co-founder and president Derek Burns. He told Sports Headliners NIL revenue raised for men’s basketball players is “significantly ahead” of a year ago.
This is the third offseason DA has worked on NIL resources and Burns said money available for the 2025-2026 school year is “by far” ahead of previous totals. Like other collectives around the country, DA doesn’t make public the total NIL revenue it has. Such information can create a competitive disadvantage with rival schools, collective executives maintain.
However, it’s believed former Gopher men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson had a seven-figure amount of NIL money last school year, but the total was under $2 million. It could be (based on background work by Sports Headliners) that in Medved’s first year the total will be between $3 million to $4 million. Athletes are paid at Minnesota and elsewhere to make appearances, endorse products or services and appear in advertising.
Medved, who coached Colorado State to the NCAA Tournament three of the last four years, is a Minnesota native. He was a student manager for the Gophers in the 1990s and has a passion for the program that hit hard times under Johnson, partially because of minimal NIL money.
The personable Medved knows a rebuild is in front of him. He’s been using his determination and salesmanship with donors to build up NIL support. Burns said Medved has “been very effective and well received.”
Part of the fund-raising strategy uses donors of means to engage in matching campaigns. Medved wants, of course, to avoid as much as possible not being priced out for players in recruiting against other programs.
Go Gophers!!
