In a big NIL move through Valiant Management, MDen has announced it is now offering officially licensed trading cards for the Michigan football team.

Valiant Management was contracted by MDen and the players to handle the group licensing for this program. MDen is selling the packs through its website, currently accepting pre-orders.

Jared Wangler, CEO of Valient Management Group spoke with Maize and Blue Review about the announcement.

"We are excited about this, to our knowledge it is the first-ever team-specific card offering," Wangler said.

Most importantly to Wangler, is the validation of everything Valiant has been doing for the student-athletes at Michigan.

"It's awesome because it is proof that these programs can benefit Michigan, its partners, and the players in a big way. This is phase 1 of the program, we are looking to expand this onto other sports on campus."

The site lists the following details;
-Each Pack Contains 10 Officially Licensed Trading Cards Featuring Members From The 2022 Michigan Football Roster
-Look For Limited Edition Autographed Trading Cards Randomly Inserted Into Packs
-Every Pack Sold Results In Direct Financial Support To Members Of The Michigan Football Team
-Officially Licensed Collegiate Product

Wangler confirmed that student-athletes will receive the majority of proceeds from the revenue from card sales. They will be distributed evenly among the players. The vast majority of the roster is currently included, and Wangler says they hope to have every rostered player by some time this fall. The program will continue growing in more ways.

"We are working to eventually include an autographed card in every pack," Wangler said.

MDen has previously worked with Valiant to sell other NIL items like t-shirts. Players have reached deals with other trading card companies, but those also have not officially licensed so they did not feature any Michigan branding, including the winged helmet. This is another big move by Wangler and the group at Valiant, and Wangler says more are on the way.

"We are working on a lot of exciting projects and can't wait to work with players to announce them in the future."

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