Washington Commanders running back Austin Ekeler has never gone the traditional route.
He didn’t attend a big “football school," nor was he drafted to the NFL. Now, the eight-year veteran is attempting to revolutionize the way athletes and fans interact.
Ekeler launched “Eksperience” in 2023, a first-of-its-kind mobile app designed to create a conduit allowing fans access to one-on-one communication with their favorite athletes.
In August, Eksperience added its first university partnership, teaming with Ekeler’s alma mater, Western Colorado. And in September, Eksperience added its 100th professional football player.
“This is a place for you to make a lasting memory with your fans,” Ekeler said. “So, we call it the real fan experience.”
Ekeler, who has an extensive business portfolio outside of football and spent $800,000 of his own money on designing the app, wanted to create opportunities for athletes to control their own brands when interacting with fans.
“As athletes, we have a big fan base, but really don't have the means to be able to utilize it for ourselves,” Ekeler said. “Usually it's through brand deals and so on, which isn't a bad thing, but for myself, I felt used.”
Eksperience allows athletes to take control of their fan engagement. Whether it be one-on-one video chats, gaming sessions or social-media requests, the goal of the app is to generate more meaningful interactive relationships with fans and supporters.
“If you see me in person, let's grab a picture, let's chat, let's get something signed,” Ekeler said. “But most people don't have that opportunity. Our goal is to give you that opportunity.”
Ekeler himself, through the app, played video games with fans, hosted poker tournaments, signed jerseys and announced fantasy football draft orders. Those interactions, Ekeler believes, help strengthen bonds between athletes and their fan bases.
“I can expect to see this person back again, probably, you know, giving me some encouragement in the future,” Ekeler said. “So (we’re) really trying to create a real connection, more so than just the one-off type engagement.”
The app’s impact is heavily felt at Western Colorado. Deputy athletic director Greg Hinze spent most of his career at the Division I level and knows how valuable name, image and likeness opportunities can be for the athletes and for the community itself.
“If (the athletes) can reach out and engage a person in a community or a fan in a more personal way,” Hinze said, “then that results in that person actually coming to games and watching that student athlete. Well, then that's a win for everybody, all the way around. To me, that's what it's really all about.”
In many ways, NIL deals have been a great equalizer in college athletics, allowing for athletes from a variety of sports to make as much, if not more than football and basketball players, the two driving monetary forces in college athletes.
Bridget Feely, a defender on Western Colorado’s women’s soccer team, has been extremely active on Eksperience, Hinze said, to the point where Ekeler specifically cites her impact.
The senior is a campus captain and mental-health ambassador for The Hidden Opponent. And she has used her platform through Eksperience to answer questions from the community in Gunnison, Colorado, (where Western Colorado is located) about mental health
"That's been something that's been really personal to me, and something that I've been really excited to get the word out about," Feely said. "It's super cool to have this NIL opportunity, but then how can you turn it to, you know, speak on things that are really important to you."
And fulfilling a request is as simple as sending a text message, Ekeler told cllct.
“It's just straight up dings on your phone. ‘Do I want to do this or not?’ Yes or no, you accept, you deny. You accept, you deny. That's it. And then you go on your day. You don't have to promote it.”
Athletes not having to promote it themselves is where Eksperience differentiates from other one-on-one interactive services on the market.
Cameo, for example, requires talent to set their own prices and to market themselves. Eksperience acts as the middle man and the marketing agent.
“We don't rely on our athletes to do the marketing for us,” Ekeler said. “We are marketable, but we are not marketers.”
Athletes can focus on what they do best, Ekeler told cllct, being an athlete.
Eksperience sets prices for athletes depending on a few different metrics, mainly based on popularity and on-field success. But if an athlete wants to change the price Eksperience evaluates, it’s no problem, Ekeler said, and the company takes a 20 percent marketing fee.
As of now, Eksperience doesn’t have any exclusivity with its players, meaning if athletes join the app, it does not prevent them from capitalizing on endorsement deals elsewhere. In the future, Eksperience might seek exclusive deals, but Ekeler recognizes they're not in the position to do so now.
The app currently features players from 31 of the NFL's 32 teams (the Tennessee Titans are the one team without a player using it thus far), and there's clearly room to grow, which is one of the main goals. The other is simply to expand athlete-fan experiences.
“There's a lot of people that want access,” Ekeler said. “For us as athletes, if you're willing to do these types of engagements, then this is a perfect place to do that.”
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct.