Orlando, Fla. – December 1, 2022 – Greenspoon Marder is pleased to announce that the firm is counseling and representing the Anchor Collective, a “Name, Image, and Likeness” (NIL) collective dedicated to supporting Vanderbilt University athletes. The Greenspoon Marder team advising the Anchor Collective includes attorneys Ellis Marder, Bruce Siegal, Ahmand Johnson, and Richard Giller. Mr. Marder was integral in the client development with the Anchor Collective, drawing on relationships and experience from his time as a Division I student-athlete.
The firm was retained to negotiate and review the marketing and sponsorship agreement from 2023-2024, as well as draft the NIL player agreements. Most importantly, our attorneys played an instrumental role in launching Vanderbilt’s NIL collective in general—which launched as of last week.
Led by a group of alumni, donors, and fans, the Anchor Collective was established to provide student-athletes with first-rate NIL opportunities and fan access to personalized experiences such as meet-and-greet sessions, limited-edition merchandise, and events, with the teams they support. With an initial focus on football, baseball, and basketball, the Anchor Collective hopes to expand to all sports.
“I am thrilled to have initiated and solidified this opportunity for the firm and look forward to helping bring this model to other universities across the country. Being a former Division I student-athlete myself, I believe it is crucial to protect the legacy of each athlete and provide opportunities that will help them grow professionally and personally,” said Mr. Marder.
“As a former student-athlete as well, I understand that there are a handful of added academic-and-personal responsibilities that come with that role. Therefore, I commend the Anchor Collective for not only generating multiple opportunities for their student athletes presently, but by doing so safeguarding their futures as well,” said Mr. Johnson.
Greenspoon Marder’s Entertainment & Sports practice group provides multidisciplinary and innovative legal counsel to clients in the entertainment and sports industries across the United States. Our team serves as trusted advisors to creatives, athletes, and business professionals in the sports and entertainment industry. We counsel clients in name, image and likeness rights, entertainment talent negotiations, providing outside general counsel services and assisting companies with corporate structuring, financing, operations, sales and acquisitions, trademarks, copyrights, employment advice, record contracts, music and book publishing, and we have extensive experience negotiating multi-million-dollar licensing, branding and media deals.
