PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND – MARCH 20: McNeese State student manager Amir “Aura” Khan (R) looks on … More
McNeese State men’s basketball student manager Amir Khan turned a fun, viral Internet clip into double-digit NIL deals worth a collective six figures.
In late Feb., the 22-year-old, Lake Charles, La. native walked out of the team’s tunnel holding a boombox around his neck and rapping to Lud Foe’s “In & Out” track. The video, posted by Phillip Mitchell Jr., assistant athletic director of creative media, gained significant traction online as Khan received the nickname ‘Aura.’
“I realized the next day what was happening,” remembered Reed Vial, special assistant to Cowboys men’s basketball coach Will Wade. “We got Amir’s email on the website, and I told him, ‘Look, let me help you. This could get out of control.’ ”
That’s exactly what has transpired over the last month as McNeese State won the Southland Conference tournament and upset No. 5 Clemson 69-67 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Amid the buzz, Khan, a senior, became the first known student manager of a college team to sign an NIL marketing deal, securing endorsements with secondary ticketing platform TickPick, Insomnia Cookies and Buffalo Wild Wings.
“It’s like a movie,” said Vial, who has acted as Khan’s marketing representative after the initial video went viral. All of the inbound marketing and media inquiries for Khan have been funneled through Vial. I spoke with Vial on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET. At that point, he said he had already fielded about 100 phone calls from media and brands today alone. In one word, “insane.”
Ahead of tomorrow’s second-round matchup against No. 4 Purdue, Khan will have secured around 10 to 12 NIL deals to date, according to Vial. Other companies include Epic Games’ Fortnite, TurboTax, Topps, PSD Underwear, artificial intelligence data analyst Formula Bot, Rock ‘Em Socks and GLD, an NCAA licensee of jewelry.
All told, they are collectively worth “north of six figures,” Vial said.
Buffalo Wild Wings Chief Marketing Officer Tristan Meline told me that after the brand saw Khan’s viral walkout moment with the Cowboys, “we knew he had to be the first-ever student manager to ink a NIL deal with us.”
Meline added, “He embodies the fun and enjoyment you have watching the tournament in our sports bars. It’s clear that Amir is the heartbeat of his team.”
The partnership, which is through McNeese State’s run in the NCAA Tournament, featured social media mentions from Khan announcing the marketing deal. Additionally, Buffalo Wild Wings created a custom boombox with its logo and branding for Khan to use during the team’s first-round game and throughout March Madness. Khan and his branded boombox has garnered over 2.5 billion earned media impressions thus far, per Meline.
Meanwhile, graphic sock and apparel company Rock ‘Em Socks direct messaged Khan on Instagram after the viral moment, according to Senior Vice President Steve Rollins.
“We wanted to work with him because we specialize in micro moments in sports,” Rollins explained as Khan appeared to be on a path toward “owning the Internet” amid the buzz of March Madness. “We always want to be ‘first on foot.’ … Plus, we have a soft spot for student managers. They’re grinders. Our company was started by a UCF student manager, Rob Starkman, and we employ another former manager from the URI basketball team. If someone has ‘student manager’ on their resumé, we always at least take an interview with them. Amir’s background and story is right up our alley.”
Khan’s relationship with the brand, which has licenses with professional player unions such as the NFLPA and WNBPA, is a merchandise and licensing deal. That includes Khan’s name, image and likeness being placed on t-shirts and socks, which were worn by Cowboys cheerleaders during Thursday’s game.
Khan receives payment based on the products sold. Rollins estimated that Khan is being paid about two times more on a percentage of sales than almost all of Rock ‘Em Socks’ professional athlete deals.
“Mainly because he is assisting in marketing to sell the items with his NIL on it,” said Rollins, who mentioned that the marketing agreement “will go for as long as Amir wants it to.” He added, “We’re about quality of NIL deals versus quantity.”
When asked what key metrics Rock ‘Em Socks is watching around this particular deal, Rollins said the brand isn’t too concerned with formal metrics and performance tracking
“We’re licensed with the NCAA and hundreds of colleges so our fanwear for the schools will sell, as well as our hot market championship socks for the respective winners in the men’s and women’s brackets,” he said. “Anything we sell or do with Amir is just a bonus to our overall college marketing strategy. If only one person bought an Amir sock, but we got some new eyeballs on our brand in the process, that’s a win.”
David Bressler, founder of Formula Bot, partnered with Khan before Thursday’s first-round game to not only raise awareness for the company’s website but to be part of Khan’s March Madness journey.
“They’re not getting NIL deals any other time, so this is their time to get what they can. … While a business decision, I get just as much joy in being a small part of a time they’ll never forget,” said Bressler, whose company also partnered with Oakland basketball guard Jack Gohlke in 2024 as the 14th-seeded Grizzlies upset 3rd-seed Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Bressler added that the partnership, which didn’t extend to the second round, has generated about 750,000 social media impressions and a 30% uptick in website traffic and signups for Formula Bot. He said two-thirds of engagement followed the Cowboys’ victory, with consumers searching Khan’s name online and commenting on the Formula Bot video across Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Meanwhile, Kyle Zorn, head of content at TickPick, said the ticketing company’s deal with Khan was “a reactive marketing play for us.”
“We had a ton of success sponsoring ‘Philly Sports Guy’ during the Eagles Super Bowl run by placing a sticker on his jersey,” Zorn said. “Amir is the unlikely hero in this story that is incredibly likable — the speaker was a walking billboard. We saw this as an opportunity that could generate significant exposure with compounding awareness if they made a run in the tournament.”
TickPick only sponsored Khan during the Southland Conference tournament. “Hindsight is 20/20 but wish we did the full tournament now,” Zorn said. The goal with the tie-up was to “drive that first impression for new users.” The deal consisted of Khan putting a front-facing TickPick sticker on his boombox during the team’s walkouts and posting on social media immediately after the games.
“This was a fun opportunity to partner with a great person in Amir and be part of something unique,” Zorn said.
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