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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Every Wednesday at 9:36 AM EST, I break down the blueprint for basketball culture, covering industry insights, marketing strategies, and creator tools and resources.

Let’s get started…

NIL BLUEPRINT

This college basketball player could retire today from his NIL money, but he doesn’t even play in a major Power 5 conference.

Unlike other players, he didn’t need to chase the highest NIL offer in the transfer portal.

Instead, he’s built a seven-figure business model as an athlete-creator.

As of today, he has over 2.1 million followers across social media (and growing).

This is how College of Charleston transfer Eli Ellis has built one of the top NIL businesses in all of college sports.

First and foremost, his on-court highlights fuel his growth across social.

From his Overtime Elite career, he turned that audience attention into real opportunities.

That’s led to brand deals with Under Armour, Fortnite, Dr. Pepper and other top brands.

He even received a Chevrolet from a local car dealership, demonstrating that there is value in partnerships beyond just cash deals.

He also recently expanded into his own paid digital community that brings in over six figures of recurring membership from young athletes.

He’s also invested in real estate, having bought a lake house in North Carolina.

He recently launched a new podcast with The College Sports Company, and he already features some of the biggest guests in the world on his show, like Gary Vee.

So now, he has a business flywheel between basketball, content, and community, where each pillar feeds the next arm of the business.

But basketball continues to be the foundation as the main driver of it all.

This is how Eli Ellis is teaching the blueprint for this next generation of modern athlete-creator businesses.

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FREE THROWS

Sharing the tools and resources that I’m using this week:

🍌 Nano Banana 2 - By far the best AI image generator, super useful for deck imagery to help visualize big concepts and ideas.

📧 Instantly - Automate outreach to find the ideal leads and B2B database with this intelligent CRM platform.

📣 Creator Yappers - I've mentioned it before, but yapping on camera is going to be one of the most valuable skills to have, and these two creators consistently share tips and insights on becoming a better social media yapper.

2026 Performance Marketing Media Mix Guide

What can 600+ consumers across four generations teach about attention today?

Audiences are constantly scrolling, skipping, and multitasking across channels.

See how TV fits into the modern path to purchase. Explore this report for insights on capturing attention in 2026.

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POST-GAME

Thanks for reading! Here are a few ways we can stay connected:

🤝 Partner With Me: I work with brands, athletes and creators across their brand strategy, digital media, creator programs, partnerships, and marketing growth. Interested in working together? Get in touch here.

📊 Be First: I’m building Future Blueprint Sports — the definitive discovery and intelligence platform for sports marketing and creator culture. Get early access today.

👋 Stay Connected: Enjoyed this newsletter? Share it with a friend or colleague. Also follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok for more sports marketing and creator insights.

Thanks and see you later this week!

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻