The University of Pittsburgh announced Tuesday it has contracted JMI Sports to operate H2PNIL, a centralized platform routing name-image-likeness compensation to student-athletes across all sports. The move makes Pitt the first Power Four program to hand NIL orchestration to an outside agency rather than rely on donor collectives or in-house compliance staff. JMI will structure deals, vet sponsors, manage payment rails, and report to the NCAA. Financial terms were not disclosed, but two people familiar with university NIL budgets said Pitt expects to facilitate north of $2 million in athlete payments annually through the platform.
H2PNIL consolidates what had been a fragmented process. Until now, Pitt athletes negotiated individual sponsorships, appeared in booster-funded social posts, or joined group licensing deals coordinated by collectives like the Victory Club. The new system funnels opportunities through a single dashboard where athletes can accept pre-vetted offers, upload content, and receive payment within 48 hours. JMI will take a percentage of each transaction—standard agency terms run 12-20%—and guarantee compliance review before money moves. The platform launches with partnerships already signed: a regional auto dealership, two Pittsburgh-based health systems, and an apparel brand targeting the football roster. One person close to the program said the football team alone will generate $1.4 million in year one, with basketball and Olympic sports splitting the remainder.
The significance is structural, not symbolic. JMI Sports competes directly with Learfield, which has sewn up multimedia rights and NIL infrastructure at dozens of schools through its COMPASS platform. Pitt's decision to bring in JMI—a smaller firm with 19 university clients—signals that schools are treating NIL vendor selection the way they treat uniform suppliers: as a negotiated service contract, not a bundled media-rights add-on. JMI already manages Pitt's sponsorship sales and premium seating; H2PNIL extends that relationship into athlete compensation, creating a vertical stack that mirrors what Learfield has built elsewhere. The firm's pitch, according to a third person briefed on the bid, emphasized speed and single-point accountability. One compliance officer gets one invoice. One tax filing. One call when a deal goes sideways.
Sponsor interest is the subplot. Pitt is selling corporate access to 450 athletes as a unit, not a roster. A health system can buy an H2PNIL package and get social posts from a volleyball middle blocker, a men's soccer forward, and a track sprinter for the price of one influencer campaign. JMI handles casting, content approval, and usage rights. The agency model removes the friction that has kept regional brands out of NIL: no athlete negotiation, no compliance guesswork, no direct payment. The auto dealership's deal, for example, covers 12 football players for $180,000 over 12 months, with appearances baked into the contract. Before H2PNIL, the dealership would have needed 12 separate agreements and 12 tax forms. Now it signs once.
The timing is competitive. Tennessee launched Spyre Sports' centralized Vol Club platform in late 2023. Ohio State is piloting a similar system through The Battle. Notre Dame uses a hybrid model where its collective, Irish Guardians, operates through Opendorse software. Pitt's choice to outsource entirely—rather than build or acquire—suggests schools are concluding that NIL is a service business, not a strategic asset. Let the agency manage it; redirect staff to recruiting and facilities. That logic explains why Panini America this week signed Pathway Sports & Entertainment to handle its collegiate NIL program instead of negotiating school-by-school. The market is consolidating around intermediaries who can deliver scale and compliance without requiring universities to hire new departments.
What to watch: JMI will staff the platform with two full-time employees in Pittsburgh and route compliance questions through Pitt's existing staff. The first reporting cycle hits in mid-February, when the NCAA's interim NIL policy requires schools to disclose aggregate athlete earnings by sport. If H2PNIL delivers clean filings and faster payments, expect JMI to pitch the model to its other clients—UCLA, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech—by spring. The football recruiting class arrives in June; if Pitt can show croots a guaranteed NIL floor via H2PNIL, that becomes a closing tool. Learfield will respond by adding features to COMPASS or undercutting on fees.
Pitt's move is not a revolution; it is procurement. The school looked at its NIL operation, decided it was a vendor problem, and hired someone to solve it. The person who answers the phone when the NCAA calls is now on JMI's payroll, not the athletic department's.
The takeaway
Pitt outsources NIL deal flow to JMI Sports, setting up a vendor war with Learfield as schools treat athlete payments like any other contract.
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