University of Maine men’s hockey defenseman and co-captain David Breazeale has become the latest Black Bear to land a Name, Image and Likeness agreement.
He is partnering with UScellular and will attend a Meet and Greet on Sunday, Feb. 25 at the UScellular store located at 877 Stillwater Avenue in Bangor. It will last from 1-3 p.m.
Breazeale, a junior, will be the third UMaine student-athlete to team up with UScellular along with women’s basketball star and reigning America East Player of the Year Adrianna Smith and women’s soccer player Sophia Santamaria, who was a senior defender on the school’s first America East championship team last fall.
An NIL deal enables a student-athlete to receive compensation for the use of their name and image through an arrangement with a third party such as a brand, company or individual. The NCAA began allowing NIL deals in 2021.
UMaine athletic director Jude Killy said there are currently fewer than 10 NIL deals involving UMaine student-athletes and fewer than 10 companies involved.
UScellular has partnered with 23 student-athletes at eight universities.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Breazeale, a native of Grandville, Michigan, has been a reliable and effective defenseman for the Black Bears ever since he arrived in Orono.
Breazeale said his compensation will be financial rather than material and said it will be determined by “appearances and media posts.”
Samantha Hegmann-Wary, the UMaine associate athletic director for compliance and the senior women’s administrator, said the compensation ranges “anywhere from $15 per social media post they publish on their individual pages to $1,000 cash and business gift card combined.”
Breazeale is excited to be in the partnership with UScellular and pointed out that one of the things he likes about it is that UScellular is emphasizing that fans enjoy sporting events and socializing at those events rather than spending time on their cellphones during them.
Breazeale has two goals and four assists for six points in 24 games for UMaine this season and leads the team in blocked shots with 29. The swift-skating Breazeale is plus-seven in plus-minus for the 17-5-2 and seventh-ranked Black Bears.
Players receive a plus-one if they are on the ice when their team scores an even-strength or shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the opponent scores one.
He came to UMaine from the Shreveport Mudbugs of the North American Hockey League. He was a two-year captain of the Mudbugs and registered nine goals and 36 assists in 140 games over three seasons.
His 2020-21 Mudbugs team won the Robertson Cup which goes to the playoff champion.
In a press release, Brandi McClune, the USCellular director of sales and operations for New England, said “NIL partnerships provide UScellular a unique opportunity to create a program that aligns to our values and gives a platform for student-athletes to tell their individual stories.”