Cincinnati Bearcats to Host College Football 25 Tournament

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The Cincinnati Bearcats will host an EA Sports College Football 25 video game tournament to benefit brand engagement, Cincinnati name, image and likeness (NIL) campaigns and to promote the release of the new game. The video game is 10 years in the making now that the NCAA has relaxed on NIL and player representation guidelines, so the Bearcats look to capitalize on the hype.

Details of the Event

The event will be held July 19 at the Rhinegeist Brewery Taproom in Cincinnati. The brewery will be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Cincy Light Lager, which is the Bearcat-branded beer that Rhinegeist produces. The sale of the beer benefits Cincinnati's NIL program Cincy Reigns, which benefits the NIL efforts of student-athletes.

The anniversary event will coincide with the tournament, with the anniversary party starting at 11:30 a.m. EST. The anniversary party will include an appearance from "Mr. Bearcat," Cincinnati's mascot, as well as the Cincinnati band, dance team and cheerleaders.

Special guests include former Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike, famous Cincinnati sports broadcaster Dan Hoard and Cincinnati players Corey Kiner and Dontay Corleone, among others. Pike will be broadcasting his show Cincy 360 live from the Taproom from noon to 3 p.m. There will be food from local vendors, autographs, posters, other events and games and obviously, beer. The event is free and open to the public.

Details of the Tournament

The College Football 25 tournament being held at the event will not begin until 3:30 p.m. Patrons at the event are encouraged to enter their names into the free raffle in order to be picked for the tournament and will have a chance to play against current Cincinnati players. The tournament will go to 7 p.m. and as of now, no details have been given on a potential prize.

© The Enquirer/Scott Springer/USA TODAY SPORTS

The tournament is mainly to promote the new video game as well as brand outreach for Cincy Reigns and Cincinnati Athletics. In the end, both the tournament and event benefit Cincy Reigns NIL Collective and serve as an opportunity for the Bearcats to engage publicly with their fans and alumni base, while also promoting the beer and the game in tandem.

Cincinnati Bearcats NIL Innovation

This is another example of Cincinnati using innovative public engagement opportunities to promote its NIL efforts. On April 11 of this year, the Bearcats utilized famous alumni Travis and Jason Kelce in promoting their NIL collective by having them do a live rendition of their famous podcast show "New Heights." The Kelce brothers have worked closely with their alma mater in promoting their show, Cincy Reigns and the state of Ohio at large, with this being their magnum opus of Cincinnati NIL support so far.

While the Kelce brothers will not be in attendance for this event, it can be assumed that they may have had a part in planning this event given their close ties with Cincinnati NIL. The Bearcats are continuing to find new ways to interact with fans as well as promote their NIL collective, which is perhaps one of the reasons the Big 12 Conference picked them up. The conference sought innovators and progressive minds much like the one of Commissioner Brett Yormark and we are seeing that creativity on display with events like these.

Will we see more in the future, not just from Cincinnati but from other schools? What is your school doing to promote their NIL efforts? Read more on the latest NIL updates, as well as the latest Cincinnati and Big 12 headlines here at College Football Dawgs.