The marketplace surrounding the business of name, image and likeness continues to grow, with the latest venture coming in the form of Warpath 850, a Florida State-focused collective created by NIL-based company Dreamfield and former Seminoles quarterback McKenzie Milton, one of its co-founders.
It’s the second University Specific Organization that Milton and Dreamfield have launched in the past month. The company previously debuted Mission Control, geared toward the UCF fan experience.
“It’s a fan engagement program funded by the fans through a monthly subscription to where they have ‘premiere access’ to hang out with athletes,” said Milton. “It provides opportunities to make those connections with fans and athletes and provides an opportunity for the student-athletes to be compensated for their NIL.”
Milton spent five seasons at UCF (2016-20) before transferring to Florida State last season.
Warpath 850 and Mission Control are just part of the growing industry that began last July after various states, including Florida, it legal for college athletes to profit off their NIL. The NCAA eventually announced its legislation, albeit in a broader form.
Universities can’t be involved in these ventures, according to the state’s NIL law. Athletes, however, must disclose any agreements, whether it is through Dreamfield or elsewhere.
Unlike the recent trend of collectives created by alum or a group of alumni whose goal is to provide NIL opportunities for a specific institution, Dreamfield’s USO version is entirely different, according to CEO Luis Pardillo.
“We are creating a fan engagement and fan experience program at the university level,” Pardillo told the Orlando Sentinel. “We’re selling memberships to these unique organizations at the university level, and we’re taking those funds hiring college athletes to participate in a fan experience program.”
Fans can sign up for different monthly membership levels that provide various interactive experiences with athletes. Subscribers can participate in everything from reoccurring live events at local establishments to weekly virtual events on a private Discord channel, an invite to a private event or participating in a youth clinic.
Participating athletes receive compensation for their name, image and likeness.
There are four levels of membership at Warpath 850 and the access at events varies based on how much fans pay monthly: Spear ($10), Tomahawk ($25), Warrior ($50) and Renegade ($200).
Milton said the FSU athletes he spoke with about the initiative were looking forward to it.
“They’re excited about it, just have an opportunity to engage with the fans,” said Milton. “It’s been a similar response at UCF in terms of just having a program to where they can engage with fans and make some money in the meantime.”
Pardillo said his company’s USO model doesn’t allow for “grey-area situations” like in some collectives where funds can be guided toward recruiting athletes.
“Everything we do is by the book,” said Pardillo. “You start talking to a lot of folks and they want funds distributed maybe to high school recruits or transfer portal, and that’s not what we do. Our focus is currently enrolled athletes or past alumni athletes that we may bring back for fan experiences.”
The Mission Control initiative has already generated 100 memberships in the first month, according to Pardillo.
Dreamfield is a NIL-based platform in Orlando that helps connect businesses and commercial brands with college athletes for marketing opportunities. Milton and former Miami Hurricanes quarterback D’Eriq King are among the organization’s founding partners.
When the idea for creating the USO model came about, it made sense to kick things off close to home.
“We always had that idea we could start at UCF or Florida State, but either way, we wanted to help out both schools, student-athletes and fan base,” said Milton.
Milton wouldn’t rule out initiatives at other universities sometime in the future.
“It’s possible,” he said. “D’Eriq played at Miami and he also played at Houston, so you never know. We don’t want to bite off more than we can chew, but I feel like it’s possible. We have the right infrastructure, technology, and people behind the scenes making it happen, so I don’t see why not.”
This is the second NIL company specific to the Florida State fan base, joining Rising Spear.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.
