​Ahead of the season opener against Baylor in Atlanta, Auburn has entered into a lucrative NIL deal with the Aflac Kickoff Game, the Peach Bowl announced Tuesday. The agreement is worth “multi-million dollars,” according to the release.This year’s matchup between Baylor and Auburn was to take place at Jordan-Hare Stadium to conclude a home-and-home series. In October 2025, On3’s Brett McMurphy first reported the game would instead move to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Aflac Kickoff Game and Auburn athletes would be able to earn up to $5 million in NIL opportunities. The Peach Bowl did not disclose the exact figure.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement[ $19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage ]Up to 24 Tigers athletes will enter into third-party deals that include marketing assets and promotional appearances, starting in July through the Sept. 5 game, the Peach Bowl said. They will participate in social media posts, public appearances, advertisements, in-game promotions and media interviews while also appearing on signage and branding opportunities.“In the new NIL era of college football, this will be an innovative way to create wins for the teams, programs and student-athletes,” said Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO David Epps in a statement. “This new model is a true win-win scenario where Auburn and its student-athletes get a financial boost in the NIL space. At the same time, it’s a potential gamechanger for neutral-site games like ours who want to bring added value to participating teams and make it a more attractive and lucrative opportunity.”Third-party NIL deals have become an important part of the college sports landscape, especially in the post-House settlement era. While schools can directly share up to $21.3 million with athletes through revenue-sharing, outside opportunities are ways to get “above the cap.” Those deals are subject to the NIL Go clearinghouse.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter the news came out about Auburn’s decision to move the Baylor matchup to a neutral site, Tigers AD John Cohen said third-party NIL deals are essential to future success in the modern era. While it wasn’t an easy call, he noted the broader impact.SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter“When opportunities present themselves, you have to very seriously consider that knowing all the factors that we know – one of which is the fact that anytime you move a home game, you’re affecting lives,” Cohen told AuburnSports’ Justin Hokanson at the time. “There are a lot of businesses in and around Auburn. Dr. Chris Roberts and I both, along with our board members, realize that taking a game away from Auburn, Ala. and moving it somewhere else can economically hurt a community and it can have an adverse effect.“The challenge that we have is we also have to be extremely competitive in the third-party marketplace for NIL. We have to. … We have to get great, quality student-athletes.”