Partnership Announcement: TheLinkU
TheLinkU and Student Athlete Score Announce Strategic Partnership to Deliver Smarter NIL Intelligence to Athletic Departments
Ann Arbor, MI – August 26, 2025 — TheLinkU, the leading NIL operations and athlete engagement platform, and Student Athlete Score, the premier athlete marketing intelligence platform, have announced a strategic partnership to enhance how athletic departments manage, evaluate, and maximize athlete brand value.
This partnership aligns two mission-driven companies with a shared goal: to equip athletic departments with tools that drive athlete brand growth, accelerate NIL revenue, and maximize the marketing potential of every roster. Student Athlete Score will collaborate with TheLinkU to equip their partner institutions with marketing intelligence, benchmarking tools, and data-driven insights to better evaluate and grow athlete brand value.
“At TheLinkU, our mission has always been to simplify NIL operations while unlocking greater opportunities for athletes and athletic departments,” said Austin Elrod, Founder and CEO of TheLinkU. “Partnering with Student Athlete Score allows us to pair operational efficiency with powerful marketing intelligence giving schools the tools they need to both manage today’s NIL demands and strategically grow athlete brand value for the future.”
Student Athlete Score delivers detailed social performance metrics, benchmarking, and audience analytics designed to unlock the full marketing potential of college athletes. This partnership will allow athletic departments to more easily evaluate athlete brand health, monitor growth trends, and ensure they are delivering the support athletes need to thrive.
“We’ve built Student Athlete Score to be the engine behind smarter athlete marketing,” said Brent Wall, CEO of Student Athlete Score. “TheLinkU is building the operational backbone for NIL. This partnership gives schools the power to manage day-to-day NIL execution while also accessing the insights they need to drive long-term success. It’s a natural fit.”
This partnership represents a major step forward in empowering college athletics programs with technology that simplifies the complexity of NIL and elevates the support systems around today’s athletes.
Media Contacts
TheLinkU – Hot Paper Lantern - thelinku@hotpaperlantern.com
Student Athlete Score – Brent Wall – CEO – brent@studentathletescore.com
