Arizona Edge focuses on personal brand management, business development, financial literacy, networking as well as aspects of Business law to optimize the decision-making process and enhance NIL opportunities. Under the existing programming on these areas of focus that have been a staple of the department's longstanding Commitment to an Athletes Total Success (C.A.T.S), Arizona Edge is symbolic of the University of Arizona's commitment and investment to developing student-athletes and preparing them for successful careers and personal fulfillment after college.
At the University of Arizona, student-athletes feel empowered to be their own personal business entities through a personalized and adaptive learning experience. Arizona Edge is designed to build enduring skills that help today, tomorrow and forever whether student-athlete want to represent themselves or to be able to identify issues if others are representing them.
"This is just the beginning," said Arizona Vice President and Director of Athletics
Dave Heeke, "and we will continue to develop new resources through the Arizona EDGE program to support student-athletes and staff. We are committed to providing student-athletes with an outstanding experience and achieving excellence in their academic, athletic and personal endeavors."
Arizona's Edge program focuses on personal brand management, business development, financial literacy, networking as well as aspects of Business law to optimize the decision-making process and enhance NIL opportunities. The athletics department has created its NIL program in partnership with the University of Arizona's prestigious Eller College of Management, which ranked among the top programs in the nation in business, management, marketing and entrepreneurship according to the U.S. News & World Report 2020-21 rankings.
The University of Arizona James Rodgers College of Law, which was ranked 46th among all law schools in the country according to U.S. News & World Report, will also play a key role in the Edge programming. The College of Law will provide resources so student-athletes can learn how to negotiate deals and be aware of intellectual property, among other topics.
And the University of Arizona FORGE Program is one of the top Entrepreneurial programs in the country. FORGE stands for Finding Opportunities and Resources to Grow Entrepreneurs and offers networking events and innovation challenges for aspiring entrepreneurs as well as no-cost space for programming and resources that are critical for scale and launch.
In an effort to assist the student-athletes in building and growing their own personal brand, Arizona Athletics has partnered with INFLCR, one of the industry leaders in brand management. Through the partnership with INFLCR, student-athletes will have access to the INFLCR Compliance Exchange to assist with external marketplace apps that already exist for the monetize their NIL compliantly. The INFLCR app also gives the student-athletes access to digital media from Arizona Athletics and numerous other media outlets across the country.
Programming has been created by industry professionals, campus partners and Arizona Athletics staff and includes a comprehensive package of educational meetings, workshops and mentoring opportunities. These voluntary resources are available to all student-athletes and continue much of Arizona Athletics' existing programming on these areas of focus that have been a staple of the department's longstanding Commitment to an Athletes Total Success (C.A.T.S).
Student-athletes will receive this newly-established programming through a pair of collaborative subgroups made up of staff members and campus partners from throughout Arizona Athletics and the University of Arizona as well as national and local experts.
