NIL funds have a direct correlation to success in the modern landscape of collegiate athletics and LSU is taking a new approach to raising funds. Its players will be compensated with money raised by auctioning off Brian Kelly’s used shoes.
That sounds weirder than it is, but it’s true!
At each and every home game in Baton Rouge, the players are led by their head coach through a sea of Louisianimals into Tiger Stadium. The tradition happens a few hours before kickoff and is called “the Tiger Walk.”
Pretty self-explanatory.
Brian Kelly is selling his shoes, kinda.
This year is the second year that Kelly is leading the walk and he is doing so in style. On his feet each week will be a new pair of custom sneakers.
He was rocking a pair of Jordan 1s for LSU’s home opener against Grambling last weekend.
Here is a closer look:
Kelly takes off the custom kicks upon arrival to the locker room and hands them over to the fine folks at Bayou Traditions, the school’s most closely aligned NIL collective. From there, those shoes will go to auction.
LSU fans can enter to win the Brian Kelly-worn sneakers by donating $10 for one entry, $20 for two entries, $30 for three entries, and so on and so forth. The amount of money that can be donated is not limited in any way, so have a day!
A winner is then selected (at random) from the group of entrants, so technically, you could spent $10 million on entries and still lose. It’s a gamble!
This unique fundraising angle will continue throughout the entire season. Kelly will wear a different pair of shoes that will be auctioned off throughout the following week.
Although it is a smart way of getting fans to donate to the NIL collective, it would normally be a difficult sell to get people excited about a (not great looking) pair of pre-worn size 10 shoes. Just not in Baton Rouge!