FedEx is making a major NIL deal with the Univ. of Memphis, pledging $5M annually for the next five years, an agreement that could “significantly bolster the trajectory of the school's entire athletic department,” according to Munz & Dylan of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. The money “has been earmarked specifically” for football, men’s and women’s basketball and other women’s sports. It is unclear how the money will be divided. UM AD Laird Veatch said, “This is a massive example of what NIL was intended to be and can be, but it’s done the right way with the right kind of infrastructure from a Fortune 50 (500) company to hometown student-athletes." Munz & Dylan report the agreement marks the “first major NIL deal between a company of FedEx's size” and the school since the NIL market opened in 2021. Memphis-based FedEx has “long been a pillar” of the city’s sports scene -- it has naming rights to the Grizzlies’ arena and UM’s ballpark and sponsors the UFL Showboats. FedEx will remain UM’s “biggest corporate sponsor” for sports. Veatch hopes this will “inspire other Memphis-based companies to consider similar initiatives” (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 4/19).
