Oklahoma State Unveils QR Codes on Helmets Linking to NIL Fund for 2024 CFB Uniforms

Oklahoma State football players' helmets will feature a QR code linking to a "general team fund" for student-athletes during the 2024 season, the program announced Tuesday.

The initiative is "believed to mark the first time that a college football team will wear QR codes in regular-season games to promote players' earning potential," according to the school.

The QR codes will take up 1.5 square inches of the helmet. The codes are expected to be scannable in "close shots during broadcasts, as well as postgame photos posted to social media," according to OSU.

It will also be visible throughout the season on players' bag tags, on coasters and signage throughout Boone Pickens Stadium, and on the team equipment truck, according to Oklahoma State.

OSU also plans to promote a link to the fund on all official social media channels.

The program's announcement came after head coach Mike Gundy said he was happy to turn his attention away from the NIL negotiations necessary to draw players to Stillwater through the NCAA transfer portal.

"The good news is, the next five months we can just play football," he said earlier this month, per ESPN. "There's no negotiating now. The portal's over. All the negotiation's history. Now we're playing football.

"The business side of what we do now—we have to have those conversations with [the players]. 'Tell your agent to quit calling us and asking for more money. It's non-negotiable now. It'll start again in December. So now we're able to direct ourselves just in football, and that part is fun."

In Oklahoma State's press release, Gundy called the helmet QR codes "a revolutionary step forward to help keep Oklahoma State football ahead of the game."

"I'm thrilled about this opportunity for our players," Gundy said in the statement.

The QR code will direct potential donors to Pokes with a Purpose, the nonprofit collective launched in June 2022 to organize NIL opportunities for OSU athletes.

Direct revenue sharing with athletes could begin as soon as the 2025-26 school year, which is likely to change how collectives function in the NIL landscape. There is a possibility that at that point the organizations could become officially part of school's athletics departments, Eric Olson previously reported for the Associated Press.

For now, OSU is part of a wave of college programs working to promote third-party collectives ahead of the 2024-25 season. Schools have found other ways to direct funding toward collectives, like Alabama, Ohio State, and Nebraska selling tickets to open practices or player autograph sessions to benefit NIL funds.

Oklahoma State's QR codes are set to make their debut on Aug. 31 when the team kicks off the 2024 season at home against South Dakota State.