The Patriot Nation Collective, the country’s first player-directed collective is launched by members of George Mason Men’s Basketball

Select members of the George Mason University community and eligible scholarship members of the men’s basketball team, announced today the formation of a first of its kind player-directed collective. The Patriot Nation Collective creates NIL opportunities for all the scholarship and NIL eligible members of the men’s basketball team.

Player-directed means that all the student-athletes participating in the collective serve on the advisory board and provide input into the operations, marketing, and financial management of the organization. Men’s basketball student-athlete Josh Oduro was selected as the first Chairman of the Patriot Nation Collective.

The Patriot Nation Collective generates NIL opportunities in three distinct ways.

1) Connects businesses with opportunities to utilize the student-athletes’ name, image, and likeness in the promotion of their products or services.

2) Runs The Mason Player’s Club, a membership organization that connects individual fans with members of the men’s basketball team for exclusive events, autograph signings, and special gifts.

3) Sells player-branded merchandise with 50% of the net proceeds going to the student athletes.

“We are very excited to provide the Mason community and our fans a forum to interact with me and my teammates. NIL can be about more than making money. This collective will provide valuable leadership experience as we shape the organization and the value it provides to the fans and my fellow student-athletes,” said Josh Oduro, Chairman of the Patriot Nation Collective. 

The student-athletes are joined by three members of the George Mason University community.

• Chris Durlak, a partner at Purple Strategies and a member of the Board of Trustees of the George Mason University Foundation.

• Paul Kyle, a retired business executive, former member and Chairman of the George Mason University Foundation Board of Trustees and current Chairman of the George Mason University Patriot Club.

• Kathy McKay, the President of Jim McKay Chevrolet and a board member of the George Mason University Patriot Club.

“Some universities have chosen to put billionaire boosters at the center of their collective. We wanted to do collectives “the mason way” which means empowering our athletes and putting them at the center of everything we do. Our collective will be successful because we have the best group of leaders running it,” said Chris Durlak.