Heading into his second month as president of 502Circle, Dan Furman described the state of Louisville Athletics' name, image and likeness collective as "drinking out of the firehose."

"A primary focus of mine is to go out and find another wave of donors that are going to push this NIL thing to the next level," said Furman, a Pennsylvania native who joined 502Circle in April after five years of working at U of L, most recently drumming up money for projects such as the Angel’s Envy Bourbon Club and Denny Crum Hall as the associate director of development for major gifts. "Because, at the end of the day, we're not competing against any slouches."

502Circle was created in June 2022 by Louisville native Marc Spiegel of Rubicon Technologies and three others. Before the collective launched in late August, U of L's Board of Trustees reported 387 NIL deals, 12 valued in the $10,000 to $100,000 range, with more than 200 different companies between July 1, 2021 and June 23, 2022. The average value of deals reported during that span was $1,500.

With a combined one-time and monthly donor base around 400, 502Circle took a big step Monday by announcing 40 Louisville athletes had signed with the collective. Furman did not disclose the athletes' names or any specifics of the deals during an interview with The Courier Journal, but the signees will be paid on a monthly basis as they carry out promotions for 502Circle and businesses with which it is associated.

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"Kids come here with an expectation that we've got a really high-end collective and NIL landscape in Louisville," Furman said. "We're the pro team. This is what people care about."

502Circle's expanded roster and U of L's revamped virtual marketplace, which allows businesses and athletes to communicate directly regarding potential endorsement opportunities, lay a solid foundation to build upon in the ever-changing world of NIL. They're also par for the course across the ACC and at in-state rival Kentucky, where a reported 176 athletes signed 1,329 deals between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022.

At Duke, members of the men's basketball team are sharing profits generated through TheBrotherhood.live, a player-owned and operated NIL website that launched in December offering exclusive merch, content and events. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in February amended the state's NIL laws to allow teams and coaches to help facilitate deals for players, bolstering the efforts of Florida State's three collectives and Miami's billionaire booster, John Ruiz. Clemson recently added to its campus a 12,000-square-foot Athletics Branding Institute, which houses photo, video and audio studios to help athletes fulfil their NIL obligations.

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Both Furman and Zack McKay, a U of L graduate who in May celebrated his one-year anniversary as the university's first director of NIL services and engagement, said the athletics department and its collective look to and communicate with others around the country for inspiration as they navigate the world of NIL. As for what's next, Furman hopes to facilitate teamwide deals like one announced in May between Texas Tech baseball and the Matador Club collective; while McKay wants to expand the Cardinals' content creation resources and their partnership with Fanatics, which allows athletes to profit off the sales of jerseys and T-shirts customized to feature their names and numbers.

"It's definitely a forever-evolving space," said McKay, who in early June attended an NIL summit in Atlanta with men's basketball player Hercy Miller, swimmer Paige McCormick, rower Katie Beiler and Nyla Harris and Alexia Mobley of the women's basketball team. "We're always trying to evolve and reshape our resources to make sure that we're doing all we can to assist our student-athletes, but also we create opportunities for them to use."

Louisville has a strong group of entrepreneurial-minded athletes on campus. Outside hitter Anna DeBeer partnered with 502Circle during the volleyball team's run to the national championship game in December and is now an ambassador for a fashion label called Lulus. Another collective signee, swimmer Gabi Albiero, has also linked up with Lulus and the likes of Churchill Downs and Panera Bread for sponsored content.

On the football team, freshman quarterback Pierce Clarkson created his own apparel and lifestyle company, FlyVille, to sell U of L-themed shirts and hoodies modeled by incoming transfers such as Stephen Herron Jr. and Jack Plummer. First-year offensive linemen Luke Burgess and Madden Sanker are working alongside Metro Athletix, an NIL-centric sports and entertainment brand builder created by T-Shirt Hooligan, to produce a YouTube series touring the city's restaurants. Last season, a group of more than 75 players launched Derby City NIL Club to support their efforts on the gridiron, but its Twitter account has been silent since September.

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McKay is hopeful more endorsements are on the horizon with the Cardinals' virtual marketplace increasing accessibility.

"If you have a product and you're like, 'I'd love to have an athlete promote this clothing line or this menu item at my restaurant and I know kind of what I want to pay them,' you can go right into the exchange, register, find that athlete, message them and pitch the deal to them right away," McKay said. "If you're going into it and you don't really know what you want to do, or you don't have the means to facilitate the deal, Dan can step in and help negotiate it with the student-athlete and form the contract and do all those things on their side."

The athletes listed above and 502Circle's new signees have major roles to play on the recruiting front. For as much as Furman said the collective educates coaches on how to best, and within NCAA guidelines, sell Louisville as a place where prospective athletes can thrive on the field and build their personal brands off it, they can see "the proof in the pudding" by simply checking social media.

"We are constantly in the game of making sure that there's activity for some of our top athletes," Furman said.

While Furman continues to grow 502Circle, more changes to NIL are in the works in Washington. According to a May 19 report from On3.com, the office of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has drafted legislation that would create an NIL clearinghouse with the ability to punish athletes, schools and collectives for policy violations. On Saturday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill prohibiting the NCAA from penalizing the state's schools for NIL-related violations.

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Whether or not the Kentucky High School Athletic Association's ban on NIL compensation in the high-school ranks is lifted in the years to come is also worth monitoring.

"I think, if it can happen, it's a great opportunity," Furman said of allowing high schoolers the ability to sign NIL deals. "You don't want them jumping right into the college space not knowing what's going on. I don't know exactly what that looks like just yet, but it could be cool to see it all develop."

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: NIL deals at the University of Louisville: What's next for Cardinals?