About NextName
Fan engagement
for college sports.
Channel subscriptions for athletes, teams, and schools. Direct tipping baked into the app. Six fan levels for fans, six creator levels for athletes, all built for the people who actually show up.
80-90%
Creator revenue share
3
Channel access tiers
6
Fan engagement levels
Stripe
Connect-managed payouts
From the founder
Why we built NextName.
Ryan Thayer
Founder & President
Ryan and his father, Steven Thayer, started NextName in 2022 at the University of Illinois with a focus on supporting Fighting Illini athletes. A University of Illinois grad and current Northwestern JD-MBA student with a background in private equity and investment banking, he rebuilt NextName in 2025 around the recurring relationship between fans and the athletes they support.
What we do today
Built for everyone in college sports.
Every product decision answers to one of three audiences.
As featured in
Four years in
Athletes who built it with us.
The next era of college sports runs on relationships.
Subscribe, tip, level up, get paid. The whole thing in your pocket.