First NIL deal for UTRGV Football made official

Two UTRGV Football players have signed the first Name, Image and Likeness deal ahead of the program’s inaugural season in 2025.

Slot receiver Sergio “Ale” Aparicio and offensive lineman Joe Derek Vecchio, both alumni of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North High School, signed their deals with the Law Office of Daniel Gonzalez PLLC, according to an Oct. 10 news release from the 1 Mi AD Agency.

The deal will include both athletes producing social media content for the law firm, starring in on-air commercials as well as a podcast taking listeners inside the team, which will be sponsored by Gonzalez.

It also includes stipulations granting bonuses to the student athletes if they earn a semester GPA over 3.5.

An NIL agreement is a deal between a company and a student athlete that allows them to use their name, image or likeness for profit.

In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for student athletes to be able to profit from their name, image and likeness in the NCAA v. Alston decision.

Gregory Selber, a UTRGV communication professor and former sports writer, said amateurism drove universities to bar athletes from profiting from their own name, image and likeness.

Selber said since colleges cover all expenses through scholarships and amateur ranks are separate from professional leagues, universities gained more control over how they profit off athletes. 

“The universities and schools have been making money off athletes for a long, long time,” he said. “Under the guise of amateurism, the university was profiting off the athletes’ performance and, occasionally, their name, image and likeness. But, the student athletes weren’t seeing any sort of compensation from that.”

Aparicio said putting himself out there and developing skills as a businessman was what led him to sign an NIL agreement with the law firm.

“Signing the NIL deal is a big thing for me, especially,” he said. “It allows me to pick up on big responsibilities and teach myself how to be a businessman.”

Aparicio also thanked God and Gonzalez for helping him be in the first generation of UTRGV Football and the NIL deal.

Selber said NIL deals are often organized by what he calls “collectives” of donors and advertisers to connect athletes and companies.

“The university can’t pay the student directly,” he said. “The bottom line is, for all the work that [the athletes] do and all the money that they bring in for the university, the idea was that athletes should be compensated to some extent if their name, image and likeness are used.”

Gonzalez, also an alumnus of PSJA North, said the main driver behind the NIL deals was supporting student athletes in the Rio Grande Valley.

“One of the things I always wanted to do was give back to my community, [not just] the Rio Grande Valley, but more specifically, Pharr, PSJA, PSJA North,” he said. “The goal is to support them in their college experience.”

UTRGV Athletics has partnered with the developers of the INFLCR (pronounced influencer) platform for an NIL exchange on the site.

Derek Schramm, UTRGV senior associate athletic director for Advancement and Administration, said INFLCR allows student athletes to connect their brands with companies and vice versa on one platform.

“Once [businesses] register, they can see every one of the student athlete profiles,” Schramm said. “So, it’s almost like any other kind of social media page.”

Selber said NIL opportunities will have an impact on UTRGV Athletics given their growing brand with football on the horizon.

“Athletics is popular,” he said. “People love to go to games. They’re selling a ton of tickets [and] they’re building a brand. Part of the whole concept of building a brand in modern times is that you wanna make it lucrative. You’re not doing it for the fun or for the ego.”