KALAMAZOO, MI – Western Michigan University announced Monday the creation of a name, image and likeness program that will help its student-athletes capitalize on their personas.

The ONWARD program, which gets its name from a line in the WMU fight song, will focus on four areas of the NIL landscape: branding, education, community connections and policy and monitoring.

“I am thrilled to see Western Michigan University embrace NIL and the opportunities it presents to Bronco Nation,” WMU athletic director Dan Bartholomae said in a statement. “I am particularly excited about the ONWARD program, as it relies on University and Community resources to provide education and opportunity for entrepreneurial student-athletes wishing to capitalize on their brands in a manner consistent with State and NCAA Legislation. The ONWARD program is an important first step in navigating this evolving and exciting space.”

To help student-athletes enhance their social media presence and develop their brand, WMU has partnered with INFLCR, a content and compliance platform for intercollegiate athletic departments that will give athletes access to photography, videos and other department-curated content which they can post on their individual social media platforms.

“We’re excited to begin utilizing INFLCR for our student-athletes at WMU,” WMU head volleyball coach Colleen Munson said in a statement. “In the evolving landscape of collegiate athletics, INFLCR will allow our student-athletes to tell their stories and help maximize their name, image and likeness exposure for their personal brand.”

To help its student-athletes learn best practices for maximizing their NIL opportunities, WMU has created a new area of the athletic department called Broncos Empowered, which has a staff that will provide educational opportunities in areas such as entrepreneurship, financial management, legal and contract education and brand building.

Additionally, the athletic department has partnered with WMU’s Haworth College of Business marketing department to create a one-credit course for student-athletes that will be offered in the Spring 2023 semester.

Taught by Dr. JoAnn Atkin, associate professor of marketing at WMU’s Haworth College of Business, the course will focus on understanding branding, developing a personal brand and plan and best practice guidance for monetizing brand.

“The marketing department is excited for this collaborative opportunity with WMU Athletics,” Dr. Atkin said in a statement. “We look forward to providing thoughtful leadership on personal branding to student-athletes who are interested in leveraging their own personal brand or any student who has entrepreneurial aspirations.”

Another new program stemming from the ONWARD initiative is the Bronco Exchange, which aims to connected student-athletes with businesses for promotional opportunities.

Through the INFLCR platform, local and national businesses can engage with student-athletes through a searchable athlete database, known as the Bronco Exchange, message them directly or request contact information to discuss a potential NIL transaction.

The service will be free for student-athletes and businesses.

“Having the opportunity for all student-athletes to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness is vital in today’s world of college athletics,” WMU senior gymnast Amanda Gruber said in a statement. “NIL will allow me to expand my personal brand by partnering with companies that have similar values to mine.”

NIL agreements must be approved by WMU, and student-athletes can use the INFLCR app to ensure compliance with NCAA, state and university policies.

The NCAA began softening its stance against student-athletes profiting from their name, image and likeness in April 2020, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed in bipartisan legislation allowing the state’s college athletes to be compensated in Dec. 2020.

The current NIL era of college athletics officially began in July 2021, when the NCAA granted student-athletes an ability to profit from their name, image and likeness.

The announcement of WMU’s new NIL policy comes eight months after Bartholomae’s hire as athletic director, and in his introductory press conference, he laid out his NIL vision for Bronco student-athletes, which closely aligns with the ONWARD program.

“For me personally, I see it as an opportunity to educate,” he said in January. “We put together a plan at Oregon State that was focused on education, was a collaboration with the college of business. It provided coursework to our student-athletes on marketing, brand building, taxes, so I think that’s where we will start – I’m still learning about where we are, and don’t quite have all the information yet – but we will start with education, putting our student athletes, who want to be entrepreneurs and want to be successful, in a position to be successful, if that’s what they choose to do.”

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