Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: wrestling, wwe

WWE Announces Plan to Announce New Next in Line Class at NIL Summit

Breaking: WWE announced today that they will have an announcement to make next month! The company will announce its second "Next in Line" class of college athletes on Monday, June 13th at the inaugural NIL Summit. NIL stands for Name, Image, and Likeness, and refers to new rules that allow college athletes to profit off those things, a privilege previously restricted only to the colleges they play for, which many felt was incredibly exploitative. For WWE, that means they can pay college athletes to work with WWE in a way that fulfills Vince McMahon's craving for legitimacy in the sports world. For college athletes, they get some money and, if interested, a future fast track to WWE Superstardom.

From the press release:

WWE® (NYSE: WWE) will announce the second class of athletes entering its "Next In Line" (NIL) program at the inaugural NIL Summit on Monday, June 13. The class of 15 athletes will be in attendance and unveiled live during the NIL Awards ceremony at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

WWE will join Meta, Wasserman and Invesco QQQ and others as founding Partners of the inaugural NIL Summit and will also serve as the exclusive Presenting Partner for the Breakthrough Athlete of the Year Award. Additionally, WWE is nominated for the Brand of the Year Award which recognizes creative excellence by a brand or organization for collaboration with a student-athlete.

Four of the 16 initial members of WWE's "Next In Line" program are nominated for awards including Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson (University of Minnesota) for Male Athlete of the Year, Haley & Hanna Cavinder (University of Miami) for Female Athlete of the Year and Jon Seaton (Elon University) for the Hustle Award.

"We are excited to unveil our next class of NIL athletes at the inaugural NIL Summit which brings together the brightest minds across this emerging industry for the first time," said Triple H. "WWE's 'Next In Line' program has already proven to be transformational for our talent pipeline. We have forged many incredible partnerships with student athletes during the first six months of the program and look forward to ushering in the next wave of talent."

The NIL Summit will be held June 13-15 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

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