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Mercury, the digital fan engagement platform focused on collegiate athletics, has launched clemsontigers.io, a custom website that will provide inside access to Clemson’s sports teams along with digital collectibles.

As part of the three-year partnership, clemsontigers.io will post team updates, stage chat forums and host virtual fan interactions with athletes – many of whom are expected to eventually land NIL deals with the company. Users can become VIPs by signing up for a 2022-2023 Tigers Membership Pass, which unlocks full online access to competitions and a chance to collect redeemable Tiger Points. The first 100 fans to register will receive their membership card for free.

“This is something real that the university supports — this is a real Clemson platform,” Mercury CEO and co-founder Porter Grieve told SportTechie on Friday. “Because at the end of the day, the fans want to get closer to the athletes.”

Clemson and Mercury also collaborate on NFTs pertaining to the school’s athletic culture. In a few weeks, clemsontigers.io will release “Tombstone” digital collectibles that reflect the school’s custom of holding burial ceremonies for the ranked teams it has defeated on the road over the years, including the 2014 Orange Bowl win over Ohio State.

“At Clemson when the football team beats, I think the top 25 opponents on the road, they basically take that team and put them in the ground,” Grieve said. “And they have a cemetery on campus with all these tombstones against Alabama and South Carolina [and 22 others]. It’s this incredibly fascinating unique thing that only Clemson does.

“So we’re doing a drop where we’ve digitized and reimagined the headstones as digital collectibles, NFTs. And we’re doing a super limited drop, only 32 of them and the lucky fans who are there early and get one will be rewarded with amazing experiences year after year. So this year they do this amazing thing where they get to go to campus and run down the hill and kick a field goal and get a tour of the facilities and we’ll also reward them with memories.”

Mercury, which debuted in 2021, has similar brand partnerships with Kansas (rockchalk.io), Kentucky (ukbluechips.io) and Central Florida (chargeon.xyz). In the coming weeks, they will launch similar platforms for Oklahoma and Villanova, all with an eye toward customization.

“In Kansas, we took the James Naismith Court at Phog Allen Fieldhouse and we digitally cut it into 100 pieces and sold it in drops of five,” says Grieve. “And every single one sold out in less than three minutes. People can say, ‘I’m one of 80-100 holders of this lawsuit.’ And we’re happy to redo that for the football field and on other schools’ fields to make them compete to see have the most valuable field. Such as at [Kentucky’s] Rupp Arena.”

As many as 85 student-athletes from the four affiliated schools have already signed NILs with the Mercury. Former Penn State All-American football player Adam Breneman is the Mercury’s VP of NIL and Media and will host long-form interviews with many of the school’s players, such as Kentucky quarterback Will Levis, Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels and UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee.

Grieve said the company’s goal is not only to emphasize NFTs, but to customize virtual fan engagement for each campus community.

“Clemson is different from Kansas, which is different from Kentucky and UCF,” Grieve said. “So each requires a kind of tailored approach.”