Worcester, MA is the second largest and fastest growing city in the New England region. Amongst the rolling hills and local coffee shops, you will find a beautiful college campus called College of the Holy Cross. A Jesuit Division I institution, Holy Cross is a highly selective private liberal arts university and competes in the Patriot League. If you missed watching their football team compete in the FCS playoffs, you certainly remember watching their women’s basketball team raise the championship trophy during the 2023 Patriot League postseason tournament.

We get to work with Holy Cross as one of our university partners. Earlier this month, our team took a visit to Worcester and spent time learning with coaches, athletes, and administrators about the unique needs and opportunities for NIL education with the Crusader community. Some of our insights are shared below. 

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Compliance is education. The trip was organized by Zach Leach, Assistant Director of Compliance. Throughout the planning process, Zach was emphatic about ensuring MOGL had an opportunity to speak with as many Holy Cross stakeholders as possible because he belies in the power of education. More important, Zach’s physical presence and voice in each meeting signaled to each audience that MOGL’s relationship with Holy Cross is a partnership, not a replacement. MOGL is committed to working with and alongside institutional partners to deliver programs, services, and offerings that are tailored to an institution’s culture and climate. Zach and Holy Cross also agree.

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What about Hockey? Hockey is not a sport played at every NCAA institution, but it is certainly important to athletic departments and sport culture in the Northeast region of the United States. Conversations about inclusion of Olympic sports in NIL has included sports like soccer, tennis, track and field, and swimming and diving. Holy Cross is an institution that cares about all their sports, though their men’s and women’s hockey athletes were extremely active and present throughout our time on campus. Hockey has a global presence that is exponentially heightened during the Winter Olympic years (2026 is around the corner!) We are excited to work with Holy Cross to increase NIL activity for hockey college athletes. 

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Start close. Positioning matters, especially geographic ones. Holy Cross is located in one of the epicenters of the Northeastern region. Digital technology allows us to be connected and aware of what is happening in many areas of the world. This is also true of NIL deals. Comparison is the thief of joy. Instead of comparing NIL opportunities because of institutional size or television contracts, we should identify and embrace what makes our colleges and universities unique – this includes our college towns. We look forward to working with Worcester organizations and businesses to create NIL campaigns with current and future Holy Cross athletes. 

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“MOGL, as a company, is somebody that was bringing to the table everything that we were looking for in a way that made sense to us.” – Kit Hughes, Holy Cross Director of Athletics. Listen to Kit discuss more about the partnership on The MOGL Podcast. 

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The NIL landscape is continuing to evolve but we are confident purpose driven partnerships will position MOGL and colleges/universities to model the way for education, compliance, and NIL activity.

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