Luka Garza launches NFT group to help athletes monetize likeness

Iowa center Luka Garza became the first college athlete to sell his own NFT card last month and is now looking to help others capitalize on the digital trend.

The 2021 Wooden Award winner told TMZ Sports he recently launched his own company, the Luka Garza NFT Group, in the hopes of helping other student-athletes use NFTs to profit off their name, image, and likeness.

"I wanted to be able to help those athletes be able to monetize off their names in the way of an NFT," Garza said. "And that's why I launched (Luka Garza NFT Group), which is gonna be a place where people can go to and I can help them be able to make these NFTs and do it under the same way that I did to be able to be successful."

Garza believes the NFT movement should appeal to the NCAA since it doesn't take any money away from the organization.

"We won't have to get a salary from the university," he said. "We won't have to bother any of the advertisement deals they already have or the TV contracts they have. That's still theirs, but this is a way that we can make money for ourselves with not even touching the NCAA's money and what they've been able to do."

Garza's first NFT card, which featured highlights from his college career at Iowa, was auctioned off for $41,141, according to ESPN's Kelly Cohen. He's able to profit off his name, image, and likeness because he has no eligibility left.