Keli Zinn believes Rutgers athletics can make gains in the NIL space

PISCATAWAY, N.J. –Keli Zinn understands the importance of NIL, with the new Rutgers athletic director vowing to utilize the school’s geography to better its current position.

The issue, for Rutgers, is pressing. In the NIL space, Rutgers is certainly lagging behind many of its peers in funding and support. In her previous stop as deputy athletic director at LSU, Zinn had access to tremendous NIL resources that made the program among the best-funded in all of college sports.

Located almost equidistant between New York City and Philadelphia, Rutgers potentially has access to deeper financial resources and support than any other college athletics department. Now turning that trickle of support into a flow of cash has been an entirely different story.

”You are going to see us be really aggressive in that. I talked a little bit about that yesterday and even this morning; the fact that we sit directly in the media market that we are in and where that’s at, that shouldn’t just be a stat, right?” Zinn said on Wednesday during her introductory press conference.

”Instead, I think that’s an incredible asset that we can absolutely capitalize on, young men and women coming into college sports today, they care about their brand, and there’s a balance to that individual brand and a power in elevating that, but also doing it in a way where it also lifts that program as a whole.

”And so we did a great job of that in my past life, and I have no doubt that we are going to be able to do the same thing here at Rutgers.”

Being able to spark the interest of Madison Avenue could turn Rutgers around in the NIL space. The location between two prominent cities, home to countless corporate headquarters, is something that could be an advantage for Rutgers.

That is, if Zinn is able to help Rutgers finally tap that potential.

More than just media markets, New York City and Philadelphia afford Rutgers a chance to recruit not just athletes but business partners.

”It’s huge. And at the end of the day, right people, corporate brands and commercial opportunities are existing based upon those numbers,” Zinn said about the New York and Philadelphia markets.

”And so that alone is there, right? We don’t have to manufacture that and instead, we’ve got to figure out our place in it. But like I said before, you’re going to see us be really aggressive in that space. But I’m excited for it, and it’s absolutely a tremendous valuable asset.”

In this new era of revenue sharing, Rutgers signaled under interim athletic director Ryan Pisarri (now the athletic director at Tufts) that it will maximize its share.

How that plays out in the future is something Zinn believes will need to be reviewed and continually reviewed in this ever-changing landscape.

”I’ve had the opportunity to take a look at that, and my initial reaction to it is positive, and now being here, I’ll have an opportunity to make sure we got that right and to look at it,” Zinn said,

”I’ll take a similar approach that I had previously, before being here, and that’s going to be something that we evaluate each year. As you know that pot of money is expected to grow each year, and that percentage is going to go up, and in a number of years, they’re going to reevaluate it and see whether or not it shifts a little bit. And so it’s going to be important that we strategically use that as an opportunity to invest in the programs where we can be most successful.”