NIL: Five Florida Gators soccer players ink deals with Gainesville-based fitness apparel brand

Here in Gainesville, female student-athletes at the University of Florida continue to reap the benefits of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) legislation.

In 2023 alone, we've seen the Gators women's basketball team ink a team deal with the Gators Collective, the Florida gymnastics team onboard with Gatorverse and Gators swimmer Emma Weyant launch her own line of swimwear through a partnership with Sporti, which is SwimOutlet's performance line.

As of last Tuesday morning, members of Florida's soccer team can be added to the running list as five Gators on Samantha Bohon's squad notched NIL opportunities with Athlicity.co, a fitness apparel brand based out of Gainesville.

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Florida soccer's Josie Curtis, Lauren Donovan, Lauren McCloskey, Ashley Tutas and Madison Young all signed deals with Athlicity, which will provide the five players with training apparel, as well as financial compensation, in exchange for advertising on social media.

“We are so excited to welcome Lauren and all five of these exceptional women to the Athlicity team,” Becky Klipin, Leadership Director for Athlicity, said in a release. “They are examples of strong, successful women both in their athletics and their academics. They are wonderful role models and embody the values of our company."

Florida's five soccer players join Gators gymnast Bri Edwards in working with Athlicity. Edwards, who recently helped Florida capture a SEC championship, signed a deal with the clothing brand back in January. Since the partnership was announced, Edwards has made three posts to her Instagram advertising the brand.

A student-athlete's social media following, especially on Instagram, continues to be the driving force behind NIL deals.

Together, the five soccer players signing with Athlicity have more than 12,500 combined Instagram followers and 44,500 TikTok followers.

“This has given me the opportunity to not only meet and work with amazing people, but it creates work that I love to do,” said Donovan, who transferred from Minnesota in December. “I am able to express myself on social media using my name, image, and likeness with a brand that is amazing.”