In the cramped corner of Michigan locker room, Sherrone Moore had aimed for one thing: an explosive offensive line to elevate their 2-0 dominance to 3-0 over Ryan Day and Co. on 25 November 2023. Little did he know that the ultimate responsibility of taking that 3-0 to 4-0 would nest on his shoulders in 2024. As the new Michigan head coach, he faces the tough job of maintaining the team’s winning streak against Ohio State and meeting the high expectations of their passionate fans. Sherrone Moore means serious business this time, both on and off-field against Ohio State.

On-field would be a business to be taken care of on 30th November 2024 at the Ohio Stadium when the Wolverines would clash with the Buckeyes. Until then, Moore has made some intriguing developments to take over the off-field dominance from Ohio State as well. The former head coach Jim Harbaugh did his bit to secure a 3-0 win against Ryan Day last season with a 30-24 win. Moore, however, is planning something more, something bigger than this. Ohio State is still well ahead of Michigan as an NIL giant, thanks to their partner company ‘The Foundation’. Moore is planning to overtake that too.

The official partner of Michigan athletics is Champions Circle, owned by the Valient Management group. Per the latest development reported by Chris Balas of the Wolverines, “The Valient Group is set to partner with a National firm in a significant move for Michigan NIL.” This would mean a whole new NIL world opening up for the Michigan athletes, potentially soaring Michigan to great heights in the NIL market space. Maybe even to the level where their arch-rival Ohio State currently stands. Jared Wangler, Valient’s co-founder, confirmed it, saying,

“There will be a relationship between Champions Circle and this agency similar to what they have at Ohio State and Texas. The objective is to continue to bring a ton of marketing deals for Michigan student-athletes.” For Michigan, this would be big but what about Ohio State? Will it, in any way, leave behind all the hefty investments Ohio State has made for the NIL?

Ohio State and its big hold on the NIL market

Ohio State has not held back from its spending spree to further cement its position as the top NIL giant in the mix. In January 2024, ‘The Foundation’ received a major donation as a ‘payback’ from alum CJ Stroud. The amount is expected to be somewhere between  $50,000 and under $100,000 as it made Stroud a platinum donor, per the Foundation’s website.

Ohio State has made some major investments in the past. Their former players boast quite an impressive NIL profile. Some of the best WRs in the CFB like Marvin Harrison Jr. at $1.2 million and Emeka Egbuka at $978,000. Also, signal caller Kyle McCord at $857,000.

Even ‘The Foundation’ is co-founded by a former Buckeye QB Cardale Jones. The same Cardale Jones who led the team to the CFB National Championship in 2014. Michigan had JJ McCarthy with an NIL valuation of $879,000, without the deal. Now that the deal is locked, will Michigan smoothly overtake Ohio State off-field, in terms of NIL as well?