Tennessee soccer inks NIL deal with One Knoxville SC to design women's line of merchandise

One Knoxville Sporting Club has a vision to grow the game of soccer locally, from the bottom up. What better way to start than a partnership with Tennessee soccer, the reigning SEC Tournament Champions?

The new club unveiled its crest in August, and wants to expand its merchandise to include a women's-specific line, which will be designed and promoted by members of the Tennessee soccer team – which is coming off a historic 20-win season – through a name, image and likeness deal.

"They're gonna lead design on that, kind of piece selection and design," One Knoxville co-owner Drew McKenna said. "Then we'll bring it to market and we'll share revenue with those women soccer players who helped guide us through that creation process, so we're excited about it."

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SEC Tournament MVP Abbey Burdette and SEC Freshman of the Year Taylor Huff are part of the NIL deal, along with Jaida Thomas, Maria Nelson, Giselle Washington, Lawson Renie, Jenna Stayart, Brooke Wilson, Claire Rain and Claudia Dipasupil.

Tennessee soccer coach Brian Pensky said One Knoxville has already been "really positive" for the city, and he wasn't surprised the club wanted to partner with his players.

"Not only does he want to deal with our players, but he really wants to deal with as many of them as possible," said Pensky, who is the 2021 SEC Coach of the Year. "He's not just seeking out our top two or three stars in his mind, it's I want as many women involved as possible, and obviously we love that element to it."

The deal was spearheaded by Wrenne French, who was a starter in the fall as a fifth year senior. French has since joined the club as its brand specialist, having graduated with a degree in public relations from Tennessee in December.

French began working on the deal with the club prior to her hiring, and McKenna said French asked if they even wanted her involved, since she was graduating. McKenna said of course, since she had been a central part of the team's success – and he enjoyed working with her, so he hired her.

"It's great, it's just kind of exploring soccer in a different way for me," French said. "I've never participated the marketing, promotion, creation side of it all, which has been really, really exciting. So I'm happy that I can continue to have soccer in my life in just a different way."

Tennessee's historic season presented an opportune time for the players and club to capitalize on the success, but McKenna said he wants to support women's teams in the area regardless of success.

"Why we're excited about this is because it's just a fun way to promote each other and kind of build a story about soccer in Knoxville," McKenna said. "Hopefully there's a few dollars that they're able to earn through this merchandise, but that's not the upshot. I think the upshot is growing the game of soccer in Knoxville."

Read more: One Knoxville SC pleased with merch sales featuring new crest, co-owner says

One Knoxville will be play in the United Soccer League’s League Two, an advanced-skills developmental league mainly for elite high school and college-aged players who are on a professional track. McKenna said the club has aspirations in the future to grow the club to a League One team, but the club wants to be a part of growing the women's game as well.

With the reintroduction of the USL W League, which will begin play in May, bringing a women's team to Knoxville down the road could be a possibility.

"We would love to be part of the growth of the women's game in Knoxville," McKenna said. "Right now what it is, is a great partnership with UT women's soccer and coach Brian Pensky, who we think the world of. We want to make sure whatever we're doing on the women's side is done in lockstep with Brian's program because we have so much respect for the great success he's had and we want them to be Knoxville's women's team."

Cora Hall: Covering UT women's athletics
Twitter | cora.hall@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee soccer inks NIL deal with One Knoxville SC for women's line