The Full Story
The Maryland NIL Summit, "The NIL Renaissance," is a two-day gathering in downtown Baltimore built around a simple reality: Name, Image and Likeness changed the rules for an entire generation of athletes, and almost nobody handed them a manual.
Hosted by Renaissance Sports Group on October 23 and 24, 2026 at 4MLK, the Summit brings student-athletes, families, coaches, athletic administrators, brands and industry leaders into the same room. Day One is Careers in Sports: a career and college fair, resume and interview coaching, eligibility guidance, professional headshots and direct access to people who hire. Day Two is NIL Education and Empowerment: keynotes and panels on brand-building, contracts and compliance, financial literacy and mental health, led by the people actually doing the work.
Maryland is home to more than 119,000 high school student-athletes and dozens of colleges within an hour of Baltimore. The talent has always been here. This Summit is about making sure the knowledge is too.
Mission
Our mission is to make NIL education accessible to the athletes and families who need it most, not just the ones already represented, already recruited, or already in the room. We do that by putting real practitioners, NCAA officials, agents, brand executives, financial advisors and athletes who have lived it, in front of Maryland's young people and giving them honest answers, practical tools and relationships they can use long after the weekend ends.
Vision
We see a Maryland where a student-athlete's first brand offer is met with confidence instead of confusion, where a parent knows what questions to ask before signing anything, and where a career in sports is a visible, reachable path for a kid from any zip code in this state. Baltimore, not just the campus towns, becomes the center of gravity for NIL education and opportunity. This is year one of building that.
