A rule change by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) opened the playing field for student-athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness for the first time in 2021. Still, not every student-athlete can rely on their personal brand to cover all their financial needs. Luckily for those attending Arizona State University (ASU), the new Student-Athlete Venture Studio is expanding its lineup this fall to help time- and resource-strapped athletes harness their entrepreneurial potential.
Before the rule change — which began with an interim policy spurred by a Supreme Court ruling that is still in effect but has not been made permanent — student-athletes weren’t allowed to make any money off of their talents, even though their games brought in billions of dollars for their schools. In 2019 alone, Division One athletes were behind a whopping $15.8 billion in earnings on everything from ticket sales to merchandise, according to the NCAA.
Student-athletes who violated the previous name, image and likeness regulations faced stiff penalties. For example, Reggie Bush, who played for the University of Southern California before going on to the NFL, lost the prestigious Heisman Trophy awarded to him as the top player in college football in 2025 because he received a car and cash gifts during his time on the field. His award was reinstated last year.
Despite dedicating their youth to athletics, most student-athletes don’t go on to play their sport professionally after college. Their dedication to their sport can stunt their earnings in other ways — keeping them from working other jobs, applying for internships, starting businesses or preparing for a career after college, Kate Fitzgerald, one of the co-founders of the Student-Athlete Venture Studio at ASU, told TriplePundit.
“Before [the new name, image and likeness policy] existed, it was very hard for student athletes to really have any sort of income,” Fitzgerald said. “They were kind of bound to the university.”
Between a full class schedule and the 20 to 30 hours spent on training and other sport-related activities each week, student-athletes don’t have time left to work, she said. The policy change allows “them to have income and set themselves up for career and life after sport,” Fitzgerald said.
But not all student-athletes can take advantage of lucrative brand deals or become celebrities. As a beach volleyball player at ASU, Fitzgerald focused her efforts on founding VBAmerica, a volleyball-inspired clothing company she said is designed to inspire passion and confidence. She did so by tapping into the Venture Devils program at ASU, an entrepreneurial support system that offers students networking, mentorships, funding and other resources.
Kate Fitzgerald stands next to a booth of products from her clothing company VBAmerica, which she launched during her time as a student-athlete at Arizona State University. (Image courtesy of Arizona State University.)
“I was able to receive my first round of grant funding when I was a junior at ASU,” Fitzgerald said. “This funding helped me hold my first pop-up and then also get licensed with the university.”
After licensing her clothes with ASU, she ended up having six VBAmerica products placed in the university’s bookstores. From there, grant funding helped her score more pop-ups to make sales and promote awareness of her brand and expand to other universities like USC, UCLA, Stanford and Vanderbilt.
“While I was doing this, I realized ASU has all these resources I was trying to take advantage of, but I didn’t have the availability to, being a student-athlete,” Fitzgerald said. She noticed many other student-athletes needed access to those same resources.
With that need in mind, Fitzgerald and her mentor from the Venture Devils program, Jeff Kunowski, created the Student-Athlete Venture Studio at ASU to support student-athletes on their entrepreneurial journeys. The program offers access to resources like time-saving tech, one-on-one mentoring, summer internships with partner companies, grant funding contests, corporate sponsorships, workshops, monthly events and educational content tailored to their busy schedules. Fitzgerald said they designed the program to offer all the things she wished she had access to when developing her business.
Student-athletes at Arizona State University attend a Student-Athlete Venture Studio event. (Image courtesy of Arizona State University.)
Funding will vary from $250 microgrants for student-athletes beginning their entrepreneurial journey to thousands of dollars in grant money to kick off a company, Fitzgerald said. Marketing grants will also be available to those who are trying to land name, image and likeness contracts.
Fitzgerald and Kunowski worked with ASU’s J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute, where Kunowski is also the associate director of innovation programs, and the tech company GoDaddy to launch the program. GoDaddy provided over 1 million dollars in cash and in-kind donations, Fitzgerald said.
The Student-Athlete Venture Studio soft-launched in January and will open up to all student-athletes at the university in the fall.
“We had two student athletes pitching at this recent demo day,” Fitzgerald said, referring to a campus-wide grant funding contest at ASU.
Sierra Ryan, a lacrosse player, hit her pitch out of the park, scoring a $13,000 grant to hire a team to expand her coding company. Ryan used the Student-Athlete Venture Studio’s partnership with Empower by GoDaddy, the company’s global social impact program, to create a website that helped legitimize her business.
The other student-athlete, who is on the wrestling team, also scored grant funding, though Fitzgerald wasn’t able to say exactly how much he will receive. Additionally, GoDaddy reported that 22 student-athletes redeemed product codes to begin working on their business goals ahead of the Student Athlete Venture Studio’s full launch.
“We’re thrilled to combine the business-building power of GoDaddy Airo with the drive and immense potential of these enterprising student-athletes,” Jared Sine, chief strategy and legal officer at GoDaddy, told TriplePundit in an email. “According to our research, 50 percent of Gen Z aspire to become entrepreneurs, and through Empower by GoDaddy, we’re accelerating this journey for these young innovators by providing them with the tools they need to bring their business dreams to life off the field.”
Arizona State University football player Raleek Brown registers a website domain at the Student-Athlete Venture Studio. (Image courtesy of Arizona State University.)
Fitzgerald said she thinks the program can be replicated at other universities, but ASU’s existing innovation programs for student entrepreneurs might have given them a home-court advantage. She’s confident that the program will succeed regardless of further name, image and likeness policy changes.
“Right now, the challenge is, this is such a new initiative and a new outlook on name, image and likeness that [it’s just about] getting people involved,” Fitzgerald said. “We want to work with as many people as we can, and help these students.”
The Nebraska volleyball team enters the second round of the NCAA tournament after sweeping Long Island on Friday. The Huskers now face the Kansas State Wildcats, who defeated San Diego in five sets.
Nebraska’s offense ranks first nationally with a .352 hitting percentage. The defense is equally impressive, ranking first nationally in opponent hitting percentage at .125.
Junior Harper Murray leads the team with 3.55 kills and 2.15 digs per set and a team high 28 aces. Setter Bergen Reilly runs the offense at an elite level with an average of 10.31 assists and 2.73 digs per set. Middle blocker Andi Jackson is averaging 2.75 kills per set on .467 hitting with 1.13 blocks per set.
Kansas State is in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2021. Lincoln native Shaylee Myers averages 4.76 kills per set, which led the Big 12 Conference.
Nebraska is 83-4 against Kansas State. The teams are 1-1 head-to-head in the NCAA Tournament.
Watch Nebraska volleyball vs Kansas State live on ESPN+
Here’s how to watch Nebraska-Kansas State volleyball on Saturday, including time, TV schedule and streaming information:
What channel is Nebraska volleyball vs. Kansas State on?
TV Channel: N/A
Livestream:ESPN+ (subscriber only)
Nebraska-Kansas State volleyball in the second round of the NCAA tournament can be seen on ESPN+. Huskers Radio Network will have audio coverage of all Nebraska matches on Huskers Radio Network affiliates, Huskers.com and the Huskers app. John Baylor and Lauren Cook West will be on the call. Streaming options for the game include ESPN+.
Nebraska volleyball vs. Kansas State time today
Date: Saturday, Dec. 6
Start time: 7 p.m. CT
The second-round NCAA volleyball tournament contest between Nebraska and Kansas State starts at 7 p.m. CT from the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Nebraska volleyball 2025 schedule (30-0, 20-0)
Aug. 22 – vs. Pittsburgh – WIN 3-1 (25-22, 25-11, 20-25, 25-23)
Aug. 24 – vs. Stanford – WIN 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-14)
Aug. 29 – at Lipscomb – WIN 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-15)
Aug. 31 – vs Kentucky – WIN 3-2 (24-26, 20-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-8)
Sept. 5 – vs. Wright State – WIN 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-20)
Sept. 7 – vs. California – WIN 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-12)
Nov. 28 – vs. Penn State – WIN 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-14)
Nov. 29 – vs. Ohio State – WIN 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-20)
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BOSTON, Mass – Boston College Women’s Track & Field began the indoor season at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Saturday. Sydney Segalla highlighted the meet with a facility and school record.
Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener
Ron-Niah Wright ran an 8.04 and Erin Finley ran an 8.47 in the 60m dash.
Segalla clocked a 37.40 to win the 300m event. Her time broke the BU Track & Tennis Center facility record by 0.04 seconds and the BC school record by nearly 2 seconds.
Gina Certo (38.65), Anna Sonsini (38.38), Anna Becker (39.19), and Ava Carter (40.22) also competed in the 300m, each setting top ten all-time marks.
Kyla Palmer and Yaroslava Yalysovetska competed in the 600m. Palmer finished sixth place overall, recording a new personal best of 1:33.13 and moving to second all-time in BC program history. Yalysovetska finished in eighth place at 1:35.52.
Iris Bergman ran a 4:52.06 in the mile for 13th place.
Imogen Gardiner torched her 5000m heat, taking first place with a time of 15:40.39. Her time placed her ninth overall and put her second on BC’s all-time top ten list.
Ella Fadil, Kyra Holland, and Molly FitzPatrick all set top ten program marks in the 5000m. Fadil ran a 15:53.04 for 26th place overall, while Holland finished 31st overall at 15:55.63, and Fitzpatrick finished 55th with a 16:08.26 mark.
Next Up: The Eagles return for the Suffolk Ice Breaker Challenge at the TRACK at New Balance on January 18.
AUSTIN, Texas. — The No. 3 Texas Volleyball team swept No. 25 Penn State (25-16, 25-9, 25-19). The Longhorns are now 25-3 on the season and will compete in the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the 20th-straight season.
Longhorns saw junior Torrey Stafford record a match-leading 21 kills, along with five digs and three blocks. It marks Stafford’s fourth game hitting over .500 this season with a .556 hitting percentage. Freshman Abby Vander Wal added 10 kills and two blocks while hitting .474. Fellow freshman Cari Spears totaled nine kills with three blocks and three digs. Spears recorded her seventh game over .400 (.467) hitting percentage tonight.
The Longhorns defense put up nine blocks, led by Nya Bunton and Ayden Ames, who each recorded four. It marks the fourth highest total for blocks in a three-set match for Texas. The Lions were limited to a .124 hitting percentage and finished 22 errors. Texas hit .452 as a team, its sixth time this season hitting over .400.
Set One: Penn State was held to a .167 hitting percentage with four service errors and eight attacking errors. Stafford led the set with six kills while hitting .455. Ramsey Gary added five digs for the Longhorns on defense.
Set Two: Texas dominated the second after extending the lead to 19-7 on an 11-0 run, with two consecutive block effort from Spears, Nya Bunton and Stafford. Texas took set two, 25-9. The Longhorns hit .700 while limiting the Lions at -.065. Spears notched six kills while Ella Swindle put up 10 assists. Texas totaled four blocks in the set, with Bunton contributing three.
Set Three: The Longhorns completed the sweep over Penn State, winning the third set 25-19. Stafford registered 11 kills while hitting .611, and Gary added six digs on defense. Saturday’s win marked the 11th-ranked win of the season for the Horns.
Texas will face off against No. 15 Indiana in the third round of the NCAA Tournament with the game time and date TBD.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Highlighted by nine top 10 finishes, Austin Peay State University’s track and field team concluded its first meet of the 2025-26 indoor season at Vanderbilt’s Winter Commodore Challenge, Saturday, at the David Williams II Recreation & Wellness Center.
Saturday’s events began with throws, as Emma Tucker highlighted Austin Peay’s performances in the weight throw with a sixth-place finish. The mark was Tucker’s first of two top 10 marks, as she also went on to finish eighth in the shot put later in the afternoon. Freshman China Giaimo paced the Govs in the shot put, recording an 11.98-meter toss in her first collegiate meet.
Madelyn Kocik also finished the day with a pair of top 10 performances, beginning with an eighth-place finish in the long jump with a 5.61-meter leap – her best mark since finishing second at the 2025 Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. A Portland, Texas native, Kocik later went on to finish fifth in the triple jump with an 11.97-meter mark – the second-best mark of her career and her longest jump since recording a 12.12-meter jump last season at Vanderbilt’s Commodore Challenge (Jan. 11).
Three Governors competed in the 600-meter for Austin Peay with all three finishing in the top 10. Sophomore Taylin Segree paced the trio with a 1:33.28 time and fifth-place finish, while Alexis Arnett (1:34.03) and Mia McGee (1:34.57) finished seventh and 10th, respectively. It was the first time that any of the Govs had competed in the 600 in their collegiate career.
Wrapping up the Govs’ events for the day, Taylah Upshaw placed fourth in the 1,000-meter, setting a personal best with a time of 3:01.03.
Up Next
Austin Peay returns to action in mid-January when it returns to Nashville to the Vanderbilt Invitational, Jan. 16-17, at the David Williams II Recreation & Wellness Center
Follow the Govs on Socials
For news and updates throughout the 2025-26 track & field season, follow the Governors on X and Instagram (@GovsXCTF) or check back at LetsGoPeay.com.
The UW-Oshkosh women’s volleyball team celebrates its semifinal win Thursday in the NCAA Division III Championship. Photo by Ashtin Elder of Kodiak Creative.
The University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh women’s volleyball team swept University of La Verne (California) Saturday to claim its first national title and the 51st for UW-Oshkosh.
The championship took place at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center in Bloomington, Illinois, where a busload of Titan students and staff arrived Saturday to cheer on their team.
UWO did not drop a set across its six wins in the national tournament, which is a first in 21 years.
Izzy Coon, Lauren Grier, Callie Panasuk and Samantha Perlberg (Most Outstanding) were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
The team is coached by Jon Ellmann of Neenah, who was inducted into the Wisconsin Volleyball Coach’s Association Hall of Fame in 2021.
DAVENPORT, Iowa– Members of the Wartburg indoor track and field program competed at the Frigid Bee Opener, hosted by St. Ambrose. Maddie Merna was victorious in the 5000m and Hannah Ramsey was victorious in the 800m.
Scoring Link
Women’s Results: 5000m
1 Maddie Merna 17:29.94
2 Karle Kramer 17:57.89
3 Lily Peterson 18:02.58
4 Claire Hoyer 18:09.55
5 Ava Vance 18:17.07
6 Morgan Engel 18:26.72
