Pathway Sports & Entertainment and College Sports Co announce multi year strategic partnership

College Sports Co, the athlete-driven media company building content networks with universities and athletes across the country, today announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Pathway Sports & Entertainment, which has also joined the company’s latest funding round as a strategic investor. The partnership pairs College Sports Co's media and content engine with Pathway's industry-leading athlete rights, licensing, and commercialization platform to expand opportunities for college athletes at scale. 

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“From day one, our mission has been to build the most influential athlete-driven media company in college sports—one that creates lasting value for athletes, universities, and brand partners alike. Pathway has established itself as the leader in athlete rights and commercial representation, and bringing them on as both an investor and strategic partner strengthens our ability to scale that vision.”

-  Porter Grieve, Co-Founder and CEO, College Sports Co

The collaboration brings together two of the fastest-moving companies in the new college sports economy. College Sports Co, founded in 2022, powers athlete-driven media networks at Penn State, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Miami, Virginia, SMU, and BYU helping universities build durable NIL revenue while amplifying the personal brands of their athletes. Pathway, founded by Casey Schwab, has continued to use their deep executive experience in the sports and entertainment industry to expand their college athletics footprint by securing commercial opportunities for male and female college athletes across various sports as evidenced in their recent multi-year agreement with Panini America.

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Beyond its investment, Pathway will serve as a commercial partner to College Sports Co — helping extend College Sports Co's media model to additional school communities and connecting its content platforms with local, regional and national brand relationships with Pathway's athlete centric rights platform. Together, the companies aim to turn athlete likeness and storytelling into sustained commercial value across media, licensing, sponsorship, experiential and consumer products.

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“College Sports Co was built around the belief that college athletes are not just participants in the sports economy — they are media brands, community builders, and commercial partners. Pathway brings the rights and licensing infrastructure to help us expand that model beyond content and into broader NIL, sponsorship, and consumer opportunities. Together, we can give schools, athletes, and brands a more scalable way to create value around athlete storytelling.”

-  Russ Wilde Jr., Chief Operating Officer, College Sports Co

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“College Sports Co understands better than most on how to turn an athlete's story into real, authentic, commercial value. Our collective approach will extend Pathway's mission to build the most credible athlete-centric commercial ecosystem in college athletics, and to bring more athletes, brands and fans into it.”

-  Bob Philp, Executive Vice President, Pathway Sports & Entertainment

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The companies said the partnership will focus on expanding the number of school locations participating in athlete-driven media and on developing new commercial programs that connect brands directly with college athletes and fans. Additional details, including the scope of upcoming athlete and brand activations, will be shared in the coming months.