Fans of the North Carolina Tar Heels finally have a direct vehicle to positively affect NIL opportunities. Introducing, NIL FanBox, a newly formed memorabilia platform for diehard College sports fans.

For as little as $9.95 a month, passionate sports fans can now receive authentic, autographed memorabilia of their favorite teams and players, delivered right to their door; and in return, players earn money from their name, image and likeness.

NIL FanBox, in a partnership with the Brandr Group, recently joined forces with UNC Athletics to provide the largest group licensing deal in Carolina history. Under group licensing, three or more players partner on endorsement deals, and in return, gain access to university logos and IP. Just before Christmas, NIL FanBox wrote a $102,000 check that went directly to the athletes, divided accordingly. All 31 men’s and women’s basketball players received compensation. As a result, NIL FanBox secured more than 31,000 signatures from UNC basketball players and have safely stored more than 10,000 authentic pieces of Tar Heel memorabilia available for fans through an annual subscription to the official Tar Heel FanBox.

Today, Tar Heel Illustrated is pleased to announce we have also partnered with NIL FanBox, giving all Carolina fans through THI a 10-percent discount on their first Tar Heel FanBox membership just by entering the Promo Code: HEELS22. Note, for the first year, only 5,000 lucky UNC fans will be eligible to participate in this “early access,” limited private beta.

“This is an exciting time for college sports fans, college athletes, and the industry,” said Terry Comer, Founder of NIL FanBox. “You hear so much about the uncertainty of NIL. Certain factions of a fan base (might) say, ‘this is ruining college football, or this is ruining college basketball.’ And I took a different approach. I thought this was an opportunity to really create a win, win, win across the board.

"Not only are players from North Carolina and other schools able to profit off their NIL, but we’re enhancing the fan experience while lowering the risk for compliance departments.”

Like so many passionate college sports fans, Comer loves memorabilia. He sees it as an avenue for athletes not only to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness, but also to allow fans to directly connect with them by acquiring licensed, authenticated items of players from their favorite College teams. In doing so, fans themselves can band together to unlock the "recruiting" power of mega fanbases like North Carolina, as their passion and desire to acquire memorabilia enhances the school’s overall recruiting brand.

So, imagine Carolina’s massive fan base doing its part, one member at a time, to create its own NIL war chest. The result is a greater reward for Tar Heel athletes already in school, while sending notice to high school prospects trying to decide where they will attend school on signing day.

What really makes NIL FanBox stand out, however, is that it enables all athletes per team to enjoy the benefits of NIL, not just the stars. The standard FanBox includes “team collectibles” rather than individual signatures from select players, though Comer admits fans will have the option of upgrading their subscription for the more popular players in the coming months. In addition, this isn’t just limited to UNC basketball players. As more Tar Heel fans opt-in year after year, the platform will auto unlock other sports, eventually including Olympic sports as well.

“It truly does become Christmas for College sports fans,” Comer said. “Each year, you’ll receive your Tar Heel FanBox filled with authentic memorabilia based on your fan preferences. You’ll also have opportunities to personalize your FanBox through 'add-on' purchases. For example, as a Tar Heel FanBox member, you become one of just 5,000 fans with purchase rights to some of our most exclusive Tar Heel collectibles that we’ll be promoting throughout the year.”

The best part, joining is safe and easy.

“I personally love to get autographs from players,” Comer said. “I’ve even shown up to fan days myself, but it really can be a painful experience to just sit out in the sun or wait in long lines. Unfortunately, however, the alternative is even worse. That’s because most collector's items are auctioned and sold on eBay.

And, if you’ve ever gone on eBay, you know that supply levels and the variety of items can be pretty limited for College memorabilia. More concerning, you’re always worried about the quality and authenticity of things. And rightfully so because forty percent of all online memorabilia is fake."

That’s why with NIL FanBox, Comer set out to provide fans complete peace of mind free from the auction sites. With a first of its kind ‘direct from player’ memorabilia model, NIL FanBox provides fans a level of trust that currently doesn’t exist in the marketplace today, and better yet, he’s doing NIL the right way.

“When July 1st hit last summer, athletes from around the country announced various deals, and most of the time it required them and their families to spend an inordinate amount of time performing all functions of the business, not to mention concerns about some deals passing through school and NCAA compliance,” Comer said.

“But, with NIL FanBox much of that burden is now placed onto our shoulder, freeing student athletes to focus more of their time and attention on academics and training.”

As you would expect, NIL FanBox cleverly handles all of the complexities of state and NCAA NIL rules so that players are only required to spend a few hours of their time during the actual in-person signing activation. And, the same applies for fans, as the Company handles everything from group licensing to player payments, allowing its members to simply enjoy gameday as well as the unique ‘unboxing’ experience.

So, what exactly is in the Tar Heel FanBox?

Here is how Comer succinctly describes it:

The way my team thinks about memorabilia is rather straightforward. Tar Heel collectibles will come broadly in three distinct categories:

Traditional Products: Think autographed posters, prints, and trading cards.

Collector's Items & Keepsakes: Think autographed mini-helmets, balls, and pendants.

Digital Collectibles: Think NFTs and tokenized "in real life" exclusives.

“We also include up to seven team ‘swag’ items in each FanBox that are fully licensed products with UNC logos and IP," said Comer.

Through its partnership with Brandr, NIL FanBox has an exclusive group license in place for both current AND former Tar Heel athletes. That means, FanBox members will also have the opportunity to “go back in time” to recapture autographed collectibles from Carolina greats like Mia Hamm, Tyler Hansbrough, Antawn Jamison, and more. In addition, a limited number of exclusive items will be released for purchase from current “star” players via an “a-la carte” add-on purchase feature as well.

“Ultimately, we’re providing passionate College Sports fans a simple, safe, and trusted way to join the NIL movement,” Comer said. “That means, you get authentic, autographed collectibles and keepsakes while helping to bring top talent back to Chapel Hill. And, that’s what NIL FanBox, particularly, the Tar Heel FanBox, is all about.”

Tar Heel FanBox Discount Promo Code: HEELS22

Below is an interview THI Publisher Andrew Jones recently conducted with Terry Comer, Founder of NIL FanBox.