Knights of the Raritan announces all football, basketball player will sign NIL deal in 2023

Rutgers has been attempting to make big strides in the game of Name, Image, and Likeness. On Tuesday, a Rutgers-focused collective made a huge announcement.

The Knights of the Raritan revealed that all Rutgers football and men’s and women’s basketball players will include an NIL deal during the 2023 calendar year. This includes all walk-ons.

“This announcement puts RU at the forefront of this landscape, and provides partnership opportunities for the athletes involved with the Rutgers football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball teams,” President of Knights of the Raritan Jon Newman said.

“We want to express out gratitude to our members and donors and we’re excited to work with every Scarlet Knights varsity sport on differentiated deals. This commitment also allows us to expand out member benefits as we enter out first full year of operation.”

Newman did not disclose how much these deals will be worth or how long they will run. The KTR will fund all deals made with both basketball teams and many of the football players as well. The final details will be released at a later date. Since this collective launched in May, there has been over 60 deals made with student-athletes across 15 sports at Rutgers.

Rutgers is one of the first universities to announce such a deal over the three major programs. This includes Oklahoma, Texas Tech, SMU, and Baylor — who have announced a similar plan over the previous six months.

Both Greg Schiano and Steve Pikiell have praised the work of the Knights of the Raritan over the last two weeks.

“The Knights of The Raritan have been unbelievable,” Schiano said in a press conference last week. “The amount of work that gets done, and this is a labor of love for a lot of many people that are behind that. A lot of the Rutgers faithful have stepped up in a big way, and we’re grateful.”