As Colleges Tighten Trademark Enforcement, AthleteMerch.com Gives Athletes an NIL Store They Fully Own
ATLANTA, July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A wave of stricter trademark enforcement is moving through college athletics, with universities and licensing agencies cracking down on unauthorized merchandise and reasserting control over their marks. The shift creates a clear distinction athletes are now learning to navigate: schools own their logos, and athletes own their names. AthleteMerch.com, the athlete merchandise platform powered by YOKE, gives every athlete a store built on the one thing the school cannot touch: their name.
The enforcement is real and accelerating. Texas Tech Athletics recently said it would be more active in managing the use of its athletics marks, reserving officially licensed products for approved vendors, and licensing experts now describe trademark enforcement as a direct hit to revenue as counterfeits flood the market. From every direction, athletes are hearing the same message: you cannot build a business on your school's logo.
They can, however, build one on their name, and intellectual property attorneys are urging them to do exactly that, encouraging athletes to treat their names, nicknames, and personal brands as protectable assets, the way pros have for decades. That is precisely the space AthleteMerch.com occupies. Each storefront is a personal NIL store, built around the athlete's own name, jersey number, photos, and brand. It uses no school trademarks or logos, which keeps the athlete within their rights as the market around them grows more tightly policed.
"Schools are protecting their logos, and they should. But that same line is one of the best things to happen to athletes," said Mick Assaf, Co-Founder and CEO of NIL Club, which powers AthleteMerch.com. "An athlete's name belongs to the athlete. No school owns it and no license controls it. We built AthleteMerch so athletes can build a real business on their own name, respecting their school's trademarks and staying fully compliant."
The timing fits the broader professionalization of college sports. Since the House v. NCAA settlement let schools share revenue directly with athletes, the ecosystem has moved toward clearer rules and sharper brand management on all sides. In that environment, an athlete-owned storefront becomes real infrastructure, a way to build independent income that does not depend on a collective, a booster, or a school's protected marks.
Athletes across every sport already sell through the platform. Because every item is made to order, they carry no inventory and no risk, while YOKE handles design, production, shipping, and payouts. As college athletics draws firmer lines around who owns what, the athletes who thrive will be the ones building on ground that is unmistakably theirs.
Athletes interested in launching their own storefront can get started at AthleteMerch.com.
About AthleteMerch.com
AthleteMerch.com is the athlete merchandise platform powered by YOKE that gives college athletes a turnkey way to build and run a direct-to-fan online store built around their name and personal brand.
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SOURCE AthleteMerch.com
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