Lincoln Riley reiterates BLVD support, keeping NIL efforts 'under one roof'
As USC's official NIL initiative BLVD promotes its formal public launch this week, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley reiterated his support for the operation and his hope that all of the program's NIL efforts could be funneled through it.
Earlier this month, longtime Trojans fans Dale Rech and Bill Hadden came public with their efforts to launch a donor-led NIL collective called "Student Body Right" separate from BLVD and not controlled by USC in any way.
Both entities are working toward the same goal -- raising money from USC supporters to fund NIL opportunities for Trojans football players. (BLVD works on behalf of all USC student-athletes while Student Body Right plans to focus on football.)
USC athletic director Mike Bohn responded to their public emergence with a clear statement in support of BLVD, and Riley did the same Monday when asked about it on the Trojans Live radio show.
"I just want to take advantage of all the great advantages that we have here. And the best thing that we could ever do is try to get it under one roof," Riley said. "Because we want our guys to be able to capitalize. We want our guys to be able to do well in the NIL space, but we also want to protect our university's reputation. We also want to do things with compliance. We also want to arm and educate our guys and give them the resources, like representation and like accounting and taxes and things that we all know are a part of that. That's what BLVD does.
"It really kind of puts all the other pieces together so that these guys can do well but also avoid some of the pitfalls that we know come with it."
BLVD leaders detailed/clarified their vision and plan Sunday while starting their public rollout. Student Body Right does not have a launch date set but continues to push forward with a plan Rech, Hadden and their group started working on five months ago, well before BLVD was announced in June.
BLVD's rollout this week has included a number of videos on social media featuring USC athletes, who are getting compensated for promoting BLVD while also being represented by BLVD in pursuing other NIL opportunities.
