GIRARD, Ohio (WKBN) – Sports fans may remember Mark Waid, the highly decorated quarterback from Girard. Waid went on to play college football and now he’s using his experiences to launch a business associated with NILs — the name, image and likeness deals that have become a big part of college sports.
It’s called FanFunded.
Five years ago, Waid received his second WKBN Big 22 Player of the Year award.
“It has opened up an opportunity in college football that we have not seen before,” Waid said at the time.
Now, Waid discusses his new website called FanFunded from his Boston apartment.
“With FanFunded, I wanted to find an opportunity to bring transparency to the athletes while also making an impact for the fans and ultimately bringing the fans into their favorite college football teams and allowing them to truly be a difference in recruiting,” explained Waid.
Through the FanFunded website, people can pick their favorite team or teams and then give money to position groups on that team.
They can also vote on which high school recruit they’d like to see fill the position. High school recruits, meanwhile, can create their own profiles and watch the pot grow for the positions at all the schools.
If they sign with the school, they get the money. If two sign, they split the money.
“It incentivizes the athlete to be able to see with full transparency what they would get if they attended that university. It also gives them the opportunity to see what percentage of fans want them to attend that university,” said Waid.
In 2018, Waid led Girard High School to the state football finals. He then played and graduated from Youngstown State and is now the quarterback and studying for his MBA at Bentley University in Boston.
FanFunded will make money by taking a percentage of the money donated. At first, it’s focusing only on football and basketball.
“It truly allows the fans to be the difference, to make that impact, be the impact. Allow help, grow their favorite teams by putting the best players on the field for Saturday,” said Waid.
The NCAA does not allow people to give money directly to athletes. By having the money given to position players at specific schools, FanFunded is circumventing the rule and allowing the money to go directly to the players.
For more information on FanFunded, you can visit them here.
