HawgBeat - Arkansas Edge NIL Collective executive director teases big event
HawgBeat provides the latest from new Arkansas Edge executive director Chris Bauer, who talks plenty of NIL.
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On Jan. 11, Arkansas Edge announced Bauer as the first ever executive director of the new official NIL Collective for the University of Arkansas.
A native of Hot Springs, Bauer graduated from the Sam M. Walton College of Business in 2003 with a marketing degree. According to the UA, Bauer is leading the collective in "driving new fundraising and membership growth, developing corporate partnerships, managing the collective’s team and the relationship with the athletic department, and serving as the collective’s public face."
Most recently, Bauer was the VP of Marketing at global advertising agencies Kinesso and Matterkind under Interpublic Group focusing on B2B growth marketing, sales and product launch strategies, per the UA. He also spent 12 years leading marketing strategy and client engagement at Acxiom, plus he's had marketing stops at Duke and Clemson in the past.
Bauer joined The Razorback Daily podcast with Quinn Grovey and Matt Zimmerman on Thursday to talk about his first few weeks on the job.
"It has been a whirlwind, but in such a good way," Bauer said. "There is so much passion for our programs to be successful at the University of Arkansas. And that passion has really come through he last couple of weeks.
"I've had dozens and dozens of people reaching out to say 'Hey, how can I help?' You know, congratulating me on the job and that sort of thing. But we have a big job to do, right? Arkansas Edge has a huge job to do. The reception has just been incredible."
During his time as a student at Arkansas, Bauer gained experience working in marketing with women's athletics. Now, he is tasked with leading a brand-new NIL Collective that represents 465-plus student-athletes.
"With Arkansas Edge, it's a new program," Bauer said. "There's a variety of new things that we're doing, and there's a new message that we need to bring to Razorback fans and supporters around what Arkansas Edge is and what we do and how they can get involved. I think that's going to help with getting the message out there and positioning what it is that we do and how we do it in the best way for our fans to get involved."
The previous NIL Collective for the UA was OneArkansas, which was retired when Arkansas Edge was announced. Bauer said that OneArkansas garnered a lot through charitable contributions and tax-deductible donations. Now, they have the "three legs of the stool" that they can depend on — fan memberships, corporate sponsors and charitable donors.
"The bucket is never really full," Bauer said. "With Arkansas Edge now, there's a lot of things that we can do that maybe previous iterations didn't have the liberty to do, whether it be because of NCAA policy or what have you, tax laws, things like that. There's things that we can do now that I'm really excited about, and really I think our fanbase and local businesses are really excited about too."
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The fan membership option allows fans to become members to "receive exclusive member benefits, like meet-and-greets with student-athletes, autographed merchandise, and more."
"The response has been overwhelming for people joining the fan membership club," Bauer said. "There's three different levels at this time. We're going to probably build some new levels into that as well as we go through the next couple of months."
Corporate sponsorships with businesses are available for local companies or even larger corporations to have student-athletes serve as brand ambassadors and more.
"We are in many ways, especially on the corporate partnership side, creating opportunities for student athletes to be influencers to help local businesses and larger brands to promote their brands," Bauer said. "Oftentimes in the conversations I've already had with a number of businesses, they want to get involved. They want to work with the student-athlete, but they don't know exactly how to make that come to life."
Bauer credited his marketing and advertising strategy background as something that allows him to have a plan to fully explain and break down the proper channels for partnerships between businesses and student-athletes.
"I think that's already been powerful in helping to drive a lot of opportunities forward just in the couple of weeks since I've been here," Bauer said.
Bauer also made it clear that while Arkansas Edge allows them to do much more than OneArkansas did, the student-athletes will still be working closely with non-profits in the state.
"Student athletes have to do something to earn the compensation they're receiving," Bauer said. "So we work with dozens of local non-profits in the Northwest Arkansas area and across the state to setup opportunities for the student athletes to go and donate their time. They're lending their time to helping that non-profit, whether it be delivering meals or organizing stock rooms or playing with kids.
"There's a number of different ways that they're interacting with those non-profits. And also because of their name, image and likeness, they are bringing awareness and promotion to what the mission is of that non-profit organization."
Arkansas Edge recently held a meet and greet with football players Landon Jackson, Jaylon Braxton, Luke Hasz and Taylen Green at Bud Walton Arena for Saturday's game against Kentucky. Green, a quarterback transfer from Boise State, also announced his official signing with Arkansas Edge on Wednesday.
Bauer also teased an upcoming event with Wright's BBQ in Little Rock, which will be held on Feb. 8, according to the Arkansas Edge socials.
"I think fans and supporters should look for something big to happen with Wright's BBQ and Arkansas Edge," Bauer said. "I don't want to give away all the details just yet, but watch socials and watch all of the social channels for more information over the next couple of days."
Bauer also said they plan to hold events for new signees in football as a celebration later this spring to honor them and welcome them to campus. The collective also expects to line up some things in the community with coaches, such as a road show, plus events for baseball players and other sports.
