The CLIMB Program

Announced by WKU Athletics in summer 2021, CLIMB is a comprehensive program designed to help student-athletes grow and capitalize on their brands as Name, Image and Likeness moves to the forefront of college athletics.

Through an enhanced partnership with INFLCR, the leader in the brand-building industry and a pioneer in the NIL landscape, WKU's student-athletes will have a full suite of resources at their disposal to take ownership of their own brands and marketability.

Tying to the university's strategic mission of "Climbing to Greater Heights" and the athletic department's "Champions Climb Here" campaign, the CLIMB program will once again position WKU to be a leader among its peers.

As part of the partnership, INFLCR's mobile app will provide student-athletes with real-time multimedia content access from WKU's communications and creative services teams, so that they can share the content to their own personal social media channels.

Student-athletes will also receive personalized reporting that allows them to track their social media follower growth and social media engagement metrics.

Student-athletes will also have access to INFLCR's Storyteller Playbook, an in-app learning system with educational videos and texts from athletes and industry professionals. This will help guide student-athletes in their brand strategy, best business practices, financial literacy, compliance and more.

WKU Athletics will supplement these educational tools throughout the school year with additional learning opportunities through life skills and career development programming as part of its growing Student-Athlete Development department.

INFLCR's Verified platform will open doors to allow student-athletes to find their own opportunities in the existing marketplace so that they can monetize their NIL compliantly. These commercial transactions will be automatically reported to WKU's compliance staff for oversight and monitoring, while other transactions completed outside the app can be easily reported and documented all in one spot.

Existing external marketplace apps within the Verified platform include Cameo, OpenSponsorship, Influential, SidelineSwap, The Players Trunk and many more.

As part of the INFLCR Plus partnership, WKU student-athletes will have access to INFLCR's fair market value tool, powered by Navigate, which will allow them to receive social media monetization estimates based on the advertising market value of their social media accounts.

INFLCR Plus will also help WKU market its NIL resources and successes to future recruits through guidance, strategy and support as part of the partnership.

Hilltopper Local Exchange

The Hilltopper Local Exchange is a free student-athlete NIL business registry, custom-designed for approved businesses, collectives, donors, alumni and any others wishing to connect with WKU student-athletes. It will provide a customized portal where businesses and student-athletes can communicate, negotiate and enter NIL transactions.

Businesses interested in registering for the Hilltopper Local Exchange can request access at the following link: WKUSports.com/LocalExchange

Student-athletes will automatically receive access to the Hilltopper Local Exchange through their INFLCR apps.

After being approved by WKU's NIL working group, registered businesses or organizations can search, filter and initiate conversations with student-athletes to discuss a NIL deal. Student-athletes may also initiate conversations with registered businesses themselves in the Hilltopper Local Exchange.

Once the NIL deal between a registered business and a student-athlete is completed, the business will use the Hilltopper Local Exchange to create a transaction that will produce a direct payment to the student-athlete and automate a disclosure to the WKU Compliance Office.

WKU and INFLCR do not get involved in the deal, and all transactions within Hilltopper Local Exchange are consolidated into one 1099 at the end of the year for easier tax reporting purposes for registered businesses and student-athletes.