By Brian Murphy, WRAL

Heels4Life, North Carolina’s collective for name, image and likeness for the Tar Heels’ football program, is closing. And a new all-sports collective – Old Well Management – will begin operations on Aug. 1.

Heels4Life will be closing over the next week and all accounts, subscriptions and data from its platform will be gone by July 15. The collective announced the move in an email Thursday signed by chief operating officer Colleen Minton and executive director Graham Boone.

“We, again, thank you for your gracious involvement with Heels4Life,” they wrote.

Boone, a UNC graduate, was hired in August. Heels4Life was founded in February 2022 by former UNC football player Shakeel Rashad.

In July 2021, the NCAA allowed players to receive money for use of their name, image and likeness, sparking a boom in collectives designed to pool money from donors to provide deals for players.

In January, Heels4Life announced a $5-million campaign, seeking to increase its membership to 5,000 fans. The “Hold The Line” campaign set and met a $1-million target “to protect and enhance our roster.”

“I strongly believe that it’ll have a massive impact on UNC football and help us get past that eight, nine wins that we’ve kind of hit the wall with,” UNC football coach Mack Brown said.

Earlier this year, North Carolina athletics director Bubba Cunningham and John Montgomery, executive director of The Rams Club, said that Heels4Life, men’s basketball-focused Secondary Break and the all-sports NCHOF were in discussions to move under one umbrella organization.

“This should help streamline communications and the process for those who want to support NIL efforts,” Cunningham and Montgomery wrote.

Old Well Management “will be working in close partnership” with the athletic department, coaching staffs, players, local and national brands and the Rams Club, according to the announcement from Heels4Life.

NC State put all of its collectives under the One Pack umbrella in January. Simplicity for donors was among the top reasons the Wolfpack combined collectives.

“”It makes it a lot easier for supporters of NC State to understand,” said Chris Vurnakes, the general manager of One Pack.

Source: wralsportsfan.com