TALLAHASSEE (Fla.) -- Thursday's collegiate football game saw a new era of players. Players can now make money from their names, images, and likenesses for the first time. Florida State quarterback McKenzie Milton joined the market with Miami quarterback D'Eriq King through a unique business partnership.Milton and King joined Dreamfield as co-founders just after midnight. The platform, which is NIL-based, focuses primarily on booking student-athletes live events, including autograph signings and meet-and-greets. Milton and King will represent Dreamfield to the public and recruit other athletes.Dreamfield also plans to compete in the NFT (non-fungible token) market. Milton will be auctioning its first digital card on Tuesday. It is believed that the Milton NFT will be the first to be issued to an active college athlete. King will make his NFT debut in July.Milton stated that "This is an opportunity to get my foot into the door to become an entrepreneur but it's also something I'm passionately about, helping college athletes make monetization off their name and image." "This should have been happening for some time, but it's now, and it's cool."Florida legislators were the first to establish a July 1, 2021 start date to allow college athletes to benefit from their NIL. Nearly 12 states followed Florida's lead, and laws will be in effect on Thursday. The NCAA took until Wednesday to adopt rules changes that would open up similar opportunities for college athletes. Many athletic departments struggled to develop their own policies to regulate and monitor the deals of their athletes after the association provided very vague guidelines for schools without laws.Students-athletes from states that have legislation have been provided with a framework and more time to plan and start thinking about how they can make money. Multiple platforms have been created to allow student-athletes to start making money from their NIL. Although players are still required to comply with NCAA rules prohibiting direct pay-for play arrangements, the majority of profitability has been centered around autograph sessions, camps and local appearances.Dreamfield is determined to be a leader in the NFT market. An NFT, which is an exclusive digital art form that cannot be duplicated in this new tech market, can be purchased using cryptocurrency. Topps now offers NFT baseball cards. Rob Gronkowski and Patrick Mahomes released highly-respected NFT cards in March. The Gronkowski set sold more than 1 million cards. After his college graduation, Iowa's LukaGarza, a NFT specialist, created his own NFT in April. It sold at auction for $41,141.Black Madre, the Gronkowski illustrator, joined Dreamfield to create Milton's NFT.A McKenzie Milton NFT card is believed to have been the first issued for an active college athlete. DreamfieldBlack Madre stated that NFT "creates a new way to look at sports collectibles." It's an exciting time. Our first NFT project was a great success, which opened many doors for us. McKenzie Milton's NFT Card was very special. We learned so much about McKenzie Milton during the creation of this card. It was an honor to be a part of his story.Milton is a remarkable story. Milton was the UCF's undefeated 2017 season leader. In 2018, he suffered a severe knee injury that almost required him to have his right leg amputated. In an effort to get back on the field, the quarterback worked for three years and transferred to Florida State in January to pursue the starting job.The NFT card depicts his transformation. It starts with a still of Milton in black and then transforms into a graphic showing Milton in garnet and golden. The NFT follows strict rules and only displays the UCF or Florida State team colors. If the school has granted permission, players in Florida cannot use school logos and other copyright-protected materials to make money. Dreamfield will embed a video message from the players on the NFT card to make it even more special. Dreamfield will auction 24 limited edition Milton NFTs. Each serialized with a unique number, the auction will begin Tuesday.Luis Pardillo (founder of Dreamfield, CEO) said, "We want be like the Stadium Club of digital because right now, any one that's doing NFTs is not doing it under a branding, they are doing it independently." "So I believe there's an opportunity for it all to be under one umbrella and really drive it."Pardillo, who is a UCF graduate met Milton while he was still at UCF. He reached out to him to find his thoughts about NIL before Dreamfield was created. Pardillo eventually joined forces with Andrew Bledsoe and Aaron Marz, both UCF graduates. As they were building up their business, Pardillo and Bledsoe decided to offer equity to Milton as a way of showing that their business was interested in student-athletes.King was brought onboard by Milton. Since their playing days in the American Athletic Conference, King was at Houston before moving to Miami. The two of them have a close relationship. King was particularly interested in the NFT idea.King stated that "we are entering a new age of technology that allows sport trading cards to move form the physical realm into the digital one," in a statement to ESPN.com. It was a dream come true to be one of the first college-level athletes to have a high quality NFT made in my image. To help other athletes through Dreamfield is another reason I helped to create this company.Although King and Milton are now playing for rival schools, their common goal to fight for NIL is to unite.Milton stated, "We're trying do something bigger than ourselves." It's advocating for all the athletes and it's larger than the sport. It's all about building a platform. It's about using one's name to help yourself, your family, and your team. It's been so frustrating to be held in such tight quarters for so many years, but it has given us the chance to grow our toolbox as not only athletes but also as entrepreneurs, businessmen and other types of people. It's great for college athletes that they can continue exploring new topics that interest them.
