RL Pizza Co Partners with Student Athlete

ELEANOR GUERRERO

CCN Senior Reporter

Local businesses or even individuals may wonder how to further the career of young student athletes. A path has now been opened to permit exactly that to happen.

Lauren Cummings is a Freshman Division 1 Basketball Player at Long Beach State University. She was born and raised in Billings.

Cummings explained,“I have family ties to Red Lodge and grew up skiing and recreating at our family cabin in Red Lodge. I recently partnered with Red Lodge Pizza Co.and leveraged my Name,Image and Likeness to help promote their business. As a business major, I am diving right into the NIL market and promoting myself to help cover my costs, build relationships and work on my own marketing.”

NIL stands for Name,Image and Likeness and it was approved by the NCAA allowing student-athletes to be compensated for their NIL as of July 1, 2021. Cummings,a CUSLB Women’s basketball player.The partnership with Red Lodge Pizza Co.gains more exposure and while taking advantage of a new wave of influencer marketing.Cummings is an All State Basketball player who now is a D1 scholarship recipient.

According to Sports Illustrated (si.com): “NIL gives players the right to publicity that ordinary citizens already have, but that the NCAA previously didn’t allow. Players can accept money from businesses in exchange for using them in products or advertisements, and can also promote themselves or other companies in public appearances.”

Cummings described her specific ties to Red Lodge and especially to Red Lodge Pizza Co. Years ago, the restaurant was called Natalia’s Cafe. In 1947, her great-grandfather John Massick met her great-grandmother Delores Kahler. Lauren’s family still owns property in Red Lodge, a cabin that has been in the family for three generations.

Cummings has great memories of her childhood in Red Lodge. Lauren has enjoyed countless family diners, celebrations, events and ice cream at her favorite Red Lodge Restaurant the Pizza Co. Lauren is monetizing her Name, Image and Likeness to help promote Red Lodge Pizza Co.

The opportunities are endless now that NIL has come,as the student can get creative.Cummings said,“This summer I even brokered a deal with a local transportation company to ship my 2006 Ford Ranger from Billings, Montana to Long Beach!”

She is amazed how the NIL Connection can stretch all the way from the slopes of Miami Beach (on Red Lodge Mountain) to Long Beach, California.

Red Lodge Pizza Co.contact, Hanna Kohley,at marketing@ redlodgehospitality.com said,“Our sponsorship we did was actually called an NIL (Name Image Likeness).”

Cummings said she will promote “Red Lodge Hospitality and Red Lodge Pizza Company with my social media followers.”

Contact Eleanor at: eguerrero@carboncountynews.

com