Sports Center announces NIL partnership with Players First

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Players First, the collective name for Kentucky basketball NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) events, has partnered with Sports Center, the state-of-the-art facility by Fayette Mall.

The building will now be known as the White, Greer, & Maggard Orthodontics Players First Sports Center.

Kentucky guards Kellan Grady and Sahvir Wheeler met with us on Sunday afternoon to announce the partnership. This multi-year deal will feature Wildcat players at youth basketball camps so that they can connect with kids in the Commonwealth.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for us,” said Kentucky guard Kellan Grady. “It’s a lengthy deal. It’s going to go on for future players, it gives us a space where we can have intimate relationships with fans and younger kids and gives us an opportunity to not only provide mentorship, but also to provide some instruction.”

“Can’t really put it into words,” said Kentucky guard Sahvir Wheeler. “Super grateful for the opportunity to be able to impact someone else’s life outside of my immediate community and my family and outside my home city in Houston. To be able to travel to a new place especially at a college environment and being around kids you can impact is truly one of a kind and I am super grateful.”

Additional Players First events involving the basketball team are being scheduled for 2022 and beyond as part of the multi-year partnership.

Copyright 2021 WKYT. All rights reserved.