NORMAN — The first time OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and businessman Jeff Weber discussed name, image and likeness was two years ago.

Weber, then the CEO of Zone TV, brought a different perspective to the table with his business background. The NIL landscape then was much different than it is today, but the conversation was good enough that the two kept it going until Castiglione eventually made a declaration to his team and Weber.

“It's time to do something different, and it's time to take a leadership role,” Castiglione said.

The next evolution of NIL at OU is here. One week before their official entry into the SEC, the Sooners announced Monday that 1Oklahoma will now be the program's exclusive market-based NIL collective, with Weber as CEO, combining the Crimson and Cream collective, The Sooner Nation Collective and 1 Oklahoma Collective.

1Oklahoma offers various subscription packages for OU fans that include everything from exclusive content series, merch, invitations to events, early access to auctions, custom options and more.

“This is about more than just donation,” Weber told The Oklahoman. “This is about creating value for fans. So in a world where you have to have NIL to compete and win championships on the field and on the court, just asking your passionate fans for money isn't enough. We have to give value back to them.”

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A Norman native, Weber received his undergraduate degree from OU. His wife, sister, mother and stepmother are graduates from the university. Weber’s father was a professor at the school and the official scorekeeper for Sooners basketball games for 50 years.

Weber, the former president of content and advertising for AT&T, is now combining his marketing experience and love of OU athletics in his new role.

“Putting that together with sports, the love for OU and the evolving world of NIL is kind of a crazy good fit for me, personally and professionally,” Weber said. “And so you throw all of that into the mix, and here we are.”

Over the last three years since the passing of legislation that allowed student athletes to profit off their brand, several collectives geared toward facilitating NIL opportunities for OU athletics have sprouted, leading to confusion for some fans who were unsure which to donate to. The Crimson and Cream Collective, operated by SANIL, was formerly the Sooners’ official collective.

So what makes this consolidation unique?

“The rules have changed,” Weber said. “The NIL industry, if you will, has changed the need for what I'm talking about, not just donation based, but really creating products that customers want. So that's really what's different about this time, this place has just come together to make it right.”

For $15.15, fans receive access to Boomer+, a digital subscription to exclusive content series diving deep into student athletes at OU. The first episode released Monday.

The first episode to another series titled “Homegrown,” details Sooners defensive end Ethan Downs’ youth, what shaped him and a special bond he created with his best friend.

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“These student athletes, they all have amazing stories, and our job is to bring that forward and share with passionate Sooner fans,” Weber said. “There's more to these kids than what you see with their spectacular play on the field. They're people, and there's a lot to them, and it's fun, and it's enlightening, and there are sad stories in what we're going to try and reveal as part of the subscription for 1Oklahoma.”

1Oklahoma culminates OU’s vision, led by Castiglione, to be proactive during a time when the world of college athletics seemingly changes daily.

“We’re just trying to think ahead as best we can,” Castiglione said following OU’s Board of Regents meeting on June 21. “To say that we have every answer, have everything figured out to a T. That's just not possible the way this world is evolving so quickly.”

That’s what made the partnership with Weber so natural.

The industry is on the brink of a landmark settlement with more than $15 billion expected to go to athletes over a 10-year period. Power conference schools are preparing to share nearly $22 million annually with athletes.

Weber is confident, wherever the industry is heading, his business plan works.

“What I know from my business background is if we create products that customers enjoy, then the framework for the industry won't matter in terms of whether customers will want to watch,” Weber said. “So that's really what our job is, to create these great subscription products and make sure customers are enjoying them, and they're getting that insight that I talked about.

“If the industry moves to revenue-sharing or not, all of those things are very important. But as long as customers are enjoying those products, then all of that will shake out into a natural place. If we do a really good job, whatever the rules are, OU will continue to be at the forefront, because this will be an advantage for the University of Oklahoma.”

The higher-priced 1Oklahoma subscription options include Championship Winners for $44 a month, which allows access to Boomer+, championship winners events, championship winners-only merch and a championship winners quarterly gift.

Home Run Winners gives fans access to all of that plus a $50 voucher for merch, a home run winners quarterly gift and early access to auctions for $220 a month. All-time Winners receive a quarterly gift and early access to auctions for $944 per month. The Sooner Magic package is where fans create their own magic and tell 1Oklahoma what they want for a custom price.

“Fans make a difference on the field in a way they never have before,” Weber said. “When I was growing up and cheering, I liked to think I helped the Selmon brothers make a defensive stand because I was screaming so hard.

“But in today's day and age, the subscription tiers and providing dollars makes a very direct difference to how successful we can be on the field across all of our sports. And so hopefully fans get value back and contribute directly to the success on the field.”

Jackson Arnold, Jennie Baranczyk, K.J. Kindler, Damonic Williams and more made appearances in the collective’s announcement video.

Not only does 1Oklahoma offer fans a more centralized and local location to back the Sooners, but by consolidating the Crimson and Cream collective, The Sooner Nation Collective and 1 Oklahoma Collective, everyone at OU is aligned.

While 1Oklahoma has been on their minds since Castiglione and Weber’s conversation years ago, Monday’s announcement was just the beginning of the new age of NIL in Oklahoma.

“I think it has been confusing for Sooner fans to just be really candid,” Weber said. “And some of that is, frankly, just a function of how confusing the space in NIL has been. So really what Joe wanted and what we're trying to accomplish across the athletic department and with 1Oklahoma is it's really easy and clean for Sooner fans to support their teams.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU's new NIL collective 1Oklahoma offers more to Sooners fans