The NIL era is nearly a year into action, and no North Carolina athlete has been the beneficiary of this new wave in college athletics more than Armando Bacot. And the month of May was a wild ride for the rising senior basketball star.
Fresh off an NCAA Tournament run in which Bacot helped lead the Tar Heels to the national championship game, in which they lost to Kansas in New Orleans, Bacot has been out and about raking in the bucks and gaining even greater notoriety.
Sporting events, TV shows, new products to pitch, you name it and Bacot has been all over it this month. His smile, affable personality, sense of humor, smarts and wittiness, hoops skills, and the toughness he displayed playing through a painful ankle in the Final Four have made him an easy option for businesses looking to align with college athletes.
So, with the month nearly over, let’s take a look at Bacot’s crazy and lucrative month:
May 1: Jimmy’s Seafood tweeted and thanked Bacot for donating $555.55 to the charity 5.7K race supporting the Brigance Brigade Foundation, which “equips, encourages and empowers people living with ALS.”
The tweet also said, regarding Bacot, “Thanks to @iget_buckets35 for supporting from afar with his $555.55 donation. We’re sure he ran the race virtually from around campus!”
May 4: Bacot tweeted photos of himself and cast members of the Netflix show “Outer Banks.” TMX also tweeted some of the photos, noting, “Armando Bacot is entering the world of the Pogues and Kooks ... the North Carolina star has landed a role in season 3 of ‘Outer Banks.’”
May 4: Bacot tweeted a photo he took with billionaire businessman Jim Pallotta, noting, “Great dinner with the great and my new friend Jim Pallotta.” Pallotta founded the Raptor Group, a private investment company that focuses on sports, media, technology, entertainment, and financial services. He was once also co-owner of Italian football club A.S. Roma, and in 2020, Pallotta sold his 8-percent stake in the Boston Celtics for $2.8 billion.
May 4: Bacot promoted on social media “Make Mom Feel Like A Star” offering his services to record cameo videos for Mother’s Day.
May 5: Bacot tweeted that day he was signing and sending out all purchased items over the previous month from his tee-shirt line.
May 7: Bacot attended the Kentucky Derby as a guest of Shannon Potter, who owns Town & Country Farms, a company Bacot partnered with in May. Potter is also an enormous Carolina fan. Bacot was dressed up for the major event, known for how men and women get dolled up for the occasion.
May 9: Town & Country Farms announced a partnership with Bacot. Town & Country Farms, which describes itself, “is dedicated to the commercial breeding, racing, sales and advancement of Thoroughbred Race Horses.” The photo used in the tweet was Bacot with Town & Country CEO Shannon Potter.
May 11: FOX Sports tweeted that a fan vote determined Bacot “would make the best College Hoops 2k23 game cover athlete.” It included an image of Bacot donning the cover.
May 19: In Aberdeen, MD, a Baltimore suburb, Bacot participated in the 15th Annual Jimmy Minadakis Memorial Golf Tournament, in which he helped raise $60,000 for charity.
May 20: Bacot, in his alliance with Jimmy’s Seafood, which was his first NIL partner last summer, was a guest of the Baltimore Orioles, as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Orioles hosted the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards.
May 24: Bacot and teammate RJ Davis revealed on Twitter they have partnered with online video game Fortnite. Davis posted a video of he and Bacot playing and discussing the game, including in the tweet: “New mode, new features. @Fortnite. New Zero Build Mode is lit. Make sure you check it out like I did with my fam.”
Bacot replied to Davis’ tweet with a flexed muscle emoji and, @FortniteGame, #EpicPartner”
May 27: Bacot posted on social media he has joined up with Bad Boy Mowers, which has sponsored the Gasparilla Bowl in the past, but no longer is. Perhaps some of that extra cash is now being funneled to the Carolina big man. In his initial post on Twitter, Bacot said about his new alliance: “I’m pumped to be teaming up with Bad Boy Mowers, the brand that changed the zero-turn lawnmower game forever. We’re doing big things together this year.”
Below are various tweets by Bacot and about Bacot related to his fascinating month:
