Mascots can’t be recruited. They don’t enter the portal. They have no stats, and most schools won’t confirm who’s inside the suit.
They have still been signing NIL deals for four years.
The first college mascot to sign an NIL deal was Bucky the Bison of Bucknell University, who signed with Service 1st Federal Credit Union in September 2022. Not Otto the Orange, who is widely credited with it and signed three years later.
Six mascots have signed in total. Here’s every one. (For where these characters rank as mascots rather than earners, that’s a separate argument.)
1. Bucky the Bison, Bucknell
August 30, 2022 · Service 1st Federal Credit Union
The first, and still the most substantial. It launched that Saturday against Towson, with Bucky outside the stadium before kickoff handing out branded souvenirs. Learfield’s Bucknell Sports Properties structured it not as a merch drop but as paid community appearances with a jersey patch, turning the mascot gig into a paid student position. Bucknell called it “believed to be the first of its kind in college sports.” Appropriately hedged, and still accurate.
The tell: Service 1st signed a five year extension in October 2024. Novelty deals don’t get renewed.
2. Dubs, Montana (unofficial)
March 2024 · Elkhorn Dog Chews
A poodle mix, therapy dog for the Lady Griz, owned by assistant coach Joslyn Tinkle. He turns up at practice, lies on the sideline, collects pets, and walks himself out of the building when he’s had enough. Montana’s collective paired him with Elkhorn Dog Chews, 15% of sales through his code going back to the program. He was compensated in antler chews, making him the only NIL signee in college sports whose entire package was consumable.
3. Zippy, Akron
November 12, 2024 · County of Summit ADM Board
The first female mascot to sign, and one of only eight female mascots in Division I. Akron’s kangaroo has been on the job since 1953, won Capital One Mascot of the Year in 2007 with an undefeated run, topped Sports Illustrated’s 2024 ranking of tournament mascots, and maintains a serious Halloween habit: Cher from Clueless in 2019, Barbie in 2023, Amelia Earhart and Wonder Woman along the way.
The multiyear deal supports behavioral health awareness, the only public health mission on this list. It funds a program of 15 students who hold scholarships and are paid per appearance. Akron has since become a case study in what fans will actually pay for.
Akron credited Bucky as first. They got it right.
4. Cy the Cardinal, Iowa State
March 2025 · Duke Cannon
The sharpest idea in the bunch. Mascots must stay anonymous, so the grooming brand sponsoring the student inside the Cy suit could not use his name, image, or likeness at all. They called it the first ever “Un-NIL” deal and gave him soap.
The joke contains the real problem: the person doing the work is structurally barred from the thing NIL runs on. Every other deal here solves that by paying the program instead of the person. Duke Cannon just said it out loud.
5. Otto the Orange, Syracuse
October 14, 2025 · The NIL Store
A three piece merchandise line, proceeds to the Otto program, launched with a mock press conference in front of local media where Syracuse punter Jack Stonehouse presented Otto their first #44 jersey. Otto has worked Syracuse sidelines since the 1980s and entered the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2023.
Worth knowing what the program costs: a single suit runs $10,000 to $15,000, more than a used Honda Civic.
This is the deal most often miscredited as the first mascot NIL deal outright, and Syracuse is not the source of the error. Its newsroom said first in the nation to ink a merchandise deal, and AD John Wildhack specified the first mascot to secure this type of deal. The qualifier got dropped downstream.
6. Testudo, Maryland
November 2025 · Brown Boy Nation
An apparel deal with the Maryland owned company behind the viral “Crab 5” shirts, a nickname coined by an X account, adopted by College Park, and turned into merch. It funds the Testudo Team’s travel and costumes. Otto and Testudo landing weeks apart is what made mascot NIL look like a trend rather than a novelty.
Maryland reported Testudo as the second mascot ever to sign. By the full count that’s off by at least three, which is the dropped qualifier from the Otto coverage travelling one school further.
What the pattern shows
Read the list end to end and one thing separates it from every other category of NIL deal: not one dollar goes to a roster.
Every deal funds a program. Students doing real work, hours inside a suit that costs more than a car, for programs that will never see a cent of a revenue share. It is the same problem that leaves Stanford gymnasts unpaid after fifty straight years of titles. The only reason any of them get paid is that a credit union, a county health board, a soap company, and a College Park shirt guy decided the mascot was worth something.
Nobody buys an Otto jersey believing it improves the depth chart. They buy it because they love a thing that has nothing to do with winning. There are thousands of athletes in exactly that position: real work, real fans, no revenue share coming. A Division III gymnast, a walk on long snapper, a swimmer the athletic department funds last.
The mascots proved that’s worth something in 2022. Everyone else is catching up.
Back an athlete from your school, your sport, or your state. Browse profiles on RallyFuel
Related reading
