Two Circles’ Nick Garner Named to Silver Waves Media’s 100 Most Influential People in NIL

Two Circles Executive Vice President Nick Garner has been named to Silver Waves Media’s 2026 list recognizing the 100 Most Influential People in the NIL Space. 

The annual list recognizes executives, athletes and thought leaders shaping the evolving Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) landscape and creating new opportunities across college athletics. 

Nick leads Two Circles College, our collegiate business focused on professionalizing and transforming the NIL ecosystem for athletes, schools and brands. Launched in 2024, Two Circles College combines Nick’s deep experience in college athletics and NIL with Two Circles’ expertise across data, content and marketing to help universities and student-athletes maximize the value of their NIL rights. 

With more than 20 years of experience across multimedia rights, sponsorship and NIL, Nick has worked with hundreds of universities, administrators, athletes, and brands across the country. In recognizing Nick, Silver Waves highlighted his “athlete-first approach, deep industry relationships, and expertise in building data-driven, revenue-focused NIL programs.” 

That work is increasingly part of a much bigger commercial transformation taking place across college athletics. NIL, revenue sharing, realignment and changing media consumption are reshaping the economics of the industry, while growing financial pressures are requiring athletic departments to think differently about how they generate, capture and sustain commercial growth. As our recent research explores, competing in this environment requires an increasingly connected commercial strategy spanning partnerships, licensing, ticketing, hospitality, content and NIL.  

Nick has been helping lead that conversation alongside Two Circles colleagues Zack Sugarman and Doug Bell through The Future of College Sports Commercialization, a three-part research series examining how athletic departments can position themselves for the next era of college sports. 

Part 1: Why the Traditional Commercial Model is Under Pressure explores the forces driving change across college athletics and why institutions are seeking a deeper understanding of their audiences, stronger ownership of fan relationships and greater control over how commercial value is created and captured. 

Read Part 1 and download the report here

Part 2: Building the Modern Commercial Model for College Athletics looks at what that evolution means in practice, outlining the capabilities institutions need across commercial operating structures, audience intelligence and data, marketing and fan lifecycle, revenue strategy, and skills and culture. 

Read Part 2 and download the report here