Hendon Hooker and Cedric Tillman exit a lavish Mercedes-Benz shuttle bus, guarded by a suited-up security detail and trailed by their entourages. They waltz across Times Square and glance up at a towering screen that looms at this epicenter of Manhattan.
On one of the most visible jumbotrons in the world, Hooker and Tillman are the featured act, at least for a few minutes. Their names, images and likenesses are scrawled across the giant screen that hangs over Nasdaq headquarters in a fitting snapshot of college sports’ new era.
The Tennessee football players—Hooker, a senior quarterback, and Tillman, the Vols’ top wide receiver—are whisked around the city for meetings with brands, future partners and stock market executives, arranged and paid for by the Spyre Sports Group, a marketing agency that represents the players. Spyre agents paraded the players around the Big Apple like a pair of NFL stars or Hollywood celebrities. Before they left town, they visited the headquarters of Shake Shack, met the burger joint’s CEO, Randy Garutti, and other executives and ate a few off-menu items the company’s executive chef cooked in front of them.
