In the age of Name, Image, and Likeness deals in college sports, APEX Entertainment has been a key partner for Syracuse athletics.
APEX Entertainment is located on the third floor of the Destiny USA mall in Syracuse. It includes 55,000 square feet of various activities such as bowling, arcade games and laser tag. Since first moving into the mall five years ago, APEX has partnered with several SU athletes on NIL deals.
“I really just felt the importance in the community to work with some recognizable figures.” APEX Senior Director of Marketing Rob Luzzi said. “Obviously, SU student athletes are well known to the area and we’re trying to help market Apex to the community because it’s not a national brand, not a well known brand to everybody.”
Notable names such as Syracuse men’s basketball guard JJ Starling, SU men’s lacrosse attackman Joey Spallina, and ‘Cuse women’s basketball guard Dominiique Darius have all partnered with APEX for NIL deals.
“Any of our advertising we do, most of it is going to feature one of our student-athletes in it.” Luzzi said. “It’s just a different way to do some marketing here, because Syracuse’s community is just so unique compared to every other one (APEX) is in.”
For more, watch our Orange Zone extra interview with Rob Luzzi.