A 9-year-old Los Angeles football player from Snoop Dogg’s Youth Football League has signed a six-figure name, image and likeness (NIL) deal with a sports agency, making him the first person from the youth league to do so at such a young age, KTLA reported.
Ghalee Wadood Jr. signed the deal with Family 4 Life, a sports agency that represents players from NFL teams including the New England Patriots, the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants, the news outlet said.
“It’s kinda surreal,” Ghalee Wadood Jr.’s father Ghalee Wadood Sr. said to KTLA. “It’s humbling and exciting for [the agency] to see his potential and want to manage him.”
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While in his first year playing tackle football, Ghalee Wadood Jr. was named Snoop’s MVP, an honor that often goes to older players. “For him to win that, in his first year, it just speaks volumes. No first-year kid has ever won such a prestigious award in a really competitive league,” said Ghalee Wadood Sr., who works with the Los Angeles Rams organization.
Musician Snoop Dogg founded the Snoop Youth Football League in 2005 to provide the opportunity for inner-city children to participate in youth football and cheer, its website says. The non-profit organization “serves children between the ages of five and thirteen, teaching them the values of teamwork, good sportsmanship, discipline, and self-respect, while also stressing the importance of academics,” the website adds.
NFL players such as JuJu Smith-Schuster and Daiyan Henley entered the NFL after being at Snoop Dogg’s Youth Football League. Snoop Dogg tweeted about Ghalee Wadood Jr.’s NIL deal after KTLA disclosed it. As part of his NIL deal, Ghalee Wadood Jr. will take professional headshots and train ahead of the upcoming football season.
