Welcome to the New World of NIL

[Bobref]

[Muda69]

The Government Shouldn't Stop College Athletes From Making Money: https://reason.com/2023/01/12/the-government-shouldnt-stop-college-athletes-from-making-money/

Quote

...

Only 1.6 percent of college football players make it to the NFL. And even if they do make it, the average NFL career is just over three years. Given the incredibly limited amount of time college athletes have to earn money based on their hard work and natural talents, it is both unconstitutional and unethical for states to restrict their earning potential. 

But that's exactly what they do.

In 2021, the Supreme Court made some progress for college athletes in NCAA v. Alston by striking down NCAA regulations limiting the education-related benefits that schools may offer to student-athletes, such as scholarships or internships. Following the decision, the NCAA began dismantling restrictions on athletes making money off their names, images, and likenesses, commonly referred to as "NIL." 

Allowing college athletes to begin receiving NIL money was a much-needed first step in creating a better environment for college athletes. But as is often the case, this modest step forward was almost immediately met with two steps back in the form of state regulation. 

According to law firm Saul Ewing's NIL Legislation Tracker, 32 states have passed laws restricting student-athletes' ability to enter into NIL deals. For example, Florida legislators passed a law prohibiting athletes from receiving a NIL deal "in exchange for athletic performance or attendance at a particular institution." This means that a fan of the University of Miami cannot give a NIL deal to a high school prospect in exchange for the athlete playing for the Hurricanes.

Although some companies surely want to give NIL deals to athletes for commercial purposes only, it is much more likely that fans who own companies will give NIL deals to top athletes to secure their services. Indeed, billionaire and noted Hurricanes benefactor John Ruiz has already reportedly spent over $7 million on NIL deals for over 100 athletes. Florida's law is placing an unconstitutional prior restraint on Ruiz's fandom. 

Georgia permits colleges to force players to put a portion of their NIL money into a "fund for the benefit of individuals previously enrolled as student athletes" at their institution. That means that the Georgia champions won't receive a dime from the revenue generated by the game—but they can be forced to give up their own NIL money to pay athletes who used to play at Georgia (robbing Stetson Bennett to pay Herschel Walker)! 

A Texas law prohibits athletes from endorsing any product containing alcohol, even if the athlete is 21 years old. So, Texas Christian University quarterback Max Duggan cannot receive money from an alcohol company—but his school sure can. Considering that the Big 12 Conference has had two hard seltzer sponsors during Duggan's four years at TCU, there's no reason why Duggan himself should not have the same opportunity. Even the College Football Playoff has an official beer sponsor. 

None of these restrictions were inevitable. Instead of rushing to place nonsensical restrictions on student-athletes' ability to make money off their own likenesses or outright steal players' NIL money to pay previous players, legislators should have come up with a way to share revenue with the players. 

No one should be surprised that states chose the path of unconstitutional restrictions over reasonable regulations. NIL restrictions ought to be challenged because they place unconstitutionally vague and overly broad restrictions on athletes and fans alike. Florida, for example, asserts that its restriction on fandom is necessary to "maintain a clear separation between amateur intercollegiate athletics and professional sports." However, as Justice Brett Kavanaugh observed in his concurrence in Alston, invoking the "spirit of amateurism" as a justification for restraining an otherwise lawful commercial transaction between two individuals hardly seems to pass constitutional muster. 

Moreover, laws like the one in Georgia authorize state institutions, like the University of Georgia, to take a portion of a player's private contract money without compensation in order to pay former players that attended those public institutions in violation of the Fifth Amendment's taking clause. 

Athletes cannot stand on the sidelines while states trample on their constitutional rights. The unconstitutional and unethical restrictions on college athletes must end. 

There needs to be lawsuits filed in these states that have passed these unconstitutional laws.

NIL is here to stay, and state governments need to butt out.

 

[tango]

2 hours ago, Muda69 said:

The Government Shouldn't Stop College Athletes From Making Money: https://reason.com/2023/01/12/the-government-shouldnt-stop-college-athletes-from-making-money/

There needs to be lawsuits filed in these states that have passed these unconstitutional laws.

NIL is here to stay, and state governments need to butt out.

 

Its pretty simple really... Old, white, male legislators attempting to prevent young, black athletes from making money. 

[temptation]

Sorta off topic:  Over/under 2.5 years until the Colorado football program/Deion are levied with sanctions due to tampering?

Dude doesn't care if you are in the portal or not.

[Whiting89]

4 hours ago, temptation said:

Sorta off topic:  Over/under 2.5 years until the Colorado football program/Deion are levied with sanctions due to tampering?

Dude doesn't care if you are in the portal or not.

From what I’ve read/heard the ncaa is toothless so doubtful 

[temptation]

18 minutes ago, Whiting89 said:

From what I’ve read/heard the ncaa is toothless so doubtful 

Unless you illegally buy a recruit a hamburger…

[Bash Riprock]

Interesting article about Dasan McCullough leaving IU.  An interesting conclusion is that with NIL, a coach will sometimes need to recruit the same player year after year.....

https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/prized-recruit-dasan-mccullough-walked-but-indiana-coming-up-short-on-nil-money-not-only-reason-why

With NIL, the landscape of college football has changed, and it will never be the same again.....the rich will get richer

Edited January 14, 2023 by Bash Riprock

[Muda69]

NCAA to Congress: Stop us before we NIL again: https://deadspin.com/ncaa-congress-name-image-likeness-charlie-baker-1850008475

Quote

The NCAA needs a reality check. This week the vanishingly relevant college athletics institution has once again asked Congress to help it stabilize the college sports system, but unless Hunter Biden is suiting up at linebacker for LSU next season, it’ll be hard to motivate the people in charge to fall in love with this cause.

This isn’t 1922, and the NCAA isn’t America’s Pastime. Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption is 100 years old, but trying to get some bespoke version of that for a college sports labor market instead of crafting it through deliberative policy is like deciding not to work for a living and buying a lottery ticket every week.

The provocative issue is the arrival of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), which allows college athletes to make money off their status without drawing a salary from schools. It’s been a boon for many players, a bane for schools, and the chaos of a new market means that it isn’t a level playing field, so the NCAA would like Congress to nationalize the rule. Anyone could have seen NIL coming, but rather than trying to get ahead of the storm, the NCAA spent the last decade pouring cash into lawsuits that eroded the institution’s authority and options.

 

After current president Mark Emmert announced he was stepping down, the NCAA tapped former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to take over. Choosing a politician to head the organization speaks volumes.

You know who else wants Congress to save an industry from itself? Mark Zuckerberg signaled he was open to legislation starting in 2018 and now is lobbying around Section 230 in a way that would preserve Facebook’s advantage. And professional sports leagues have been clamoring for federal legislation around sports betting as most U.S. states have now legalized it in some form or another.

As unsympathetic as Zuckerberg and most professional sports leagues are, there is broad agreement that both social media and sports betting would greatly benefit from sound legislation. Social media has been found to have some damaging side effects for young people, and sports betting is a snarl of different state rules and little independent oversight.

But even those issues aren’t what’s in line in front of the NCAA’s request. Instead, you have things like HR 263 being brought to the house floor, proposing to ban rules that would outlaw gas stoves. It’s straight culture war nonsense.

Is protecting the NCAA offering the same kind of red meat to the base of these lawmakers? Unless Nick Saban is diagramming plays using Critical Race Theory, or the server with all of Hillary Clinton’s missing emails is buried under the 50-yard line at Ohio Stadium, this is just not a cause that will resonate with this cast of politicians.

But to be fair, this Congress is having trouble just paying the bills already. And it took 15 rounds of voting just to get a Speaker of the House.

Politicians are all about performing their fandom for the voters. In 2018 the mayors of Athens, Ga., and Tuscaloosa, Ala. bet some craft beer and charitable donations on the outcome of the Alabama-Georgia CFP title game. And who can forget Rudy Giuliani’s famous affinity for the Yankees when he was New York’s mayor?

And in some cases, those loyalties can greenlight stadiums and infrastructure. But as Boland notes, plenty of politicians are fans of teams, but a USC allegiance probably doesn’t mean any affection for the NCAA. No one has a Mark Emmert rookie card in a shoebox under the bed.

In fact, there might be more enthusiasm for individual athletes these days now that they can express themselves on social media. Face it, the model of amateur athletics is on the way out.

So here comes the NCAA, asking us to look back to the glory days of your favorite era, as long as it came before the O’Bannon decision, and rewind the hands of the clock. But nostalgia isn’t the solution, although it has preserved the revenue-generating machine long beyond its expiration date.

A system that pays men’s football, and basketball coaches millions while refusing to compensate players is no longer a business model. There is way more money in the game now, and the trade that athletes make for tuition is more restrictive than what other scholarship students are asked to do. NIL is actually a pretty elegant solution since it generates revenue for players from outside the colleges.

Looking to Congress for the Hail Mary won’t change any of that.

 

[Muda69]

Jaden Rashada’s failed Florida NIL deal resembles a coach’s contract — so what’s the issue?: https://deadspin.com/jaden-rashada-college-football-nil-deal-florida-miami-1850083009

Quote

Sports is one of the few industries in which a person’s salary is public knowledge. It’s how we know what Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh, and Brian Kelly are making. But in the case of former University of Miami, University of Florida, and now Arizona State-commit Jaden Rashada, a quarterback prospect that was once on the verge of receiving $9.5 million and $13.85 million NIL deals at two different schools, we’ve reached the point to where player “contracts” may be on the verge of resembling coaching contracts.

An unjust system that’s made billions off the back of unpaid players for decades is evolving into a place where some of the oppressed are experiencing financial freedom.

And if you have a problem with that, then it says so much about you — not them.

The details of Rashad’s failed NIL deals are mind-blowing

According to recent reports, the details of Rashada’s failed NIL deal with the Gator Collective have been released. And if things would have played out — he would have gotten PAID! The former Gators recruit was set to make $500,000 upfront, similar to a signing bonus that pros and coaches receive all the time. He was then set to make $250,000 per month as a freshman, $291,666.66 per month during his sophomore season, $375,000 monthly as a junior, and $195, 833.33 every 30 days his senior year. To earn that money, Rashada was going to be required to do monthly Twitter and Instagram branded posts, reside in Gainesville, do eight fan engagement events annually, and autograph 15 pieces per year.

Mind you, this was after the deal he reportedly had at Miami that would have paid him close to $10 million.

Check this out from a report by The Athletic:

“That $13.85 million figure exceeded the highest known number for a college player and is barely less than Pittsburgh Steelers first-round quarterback Kenny Pickett’s rookie contract ($14.1 million over four years).

“Then, in mid-January, Rashada did not enroll at Florida as expected. The Gator Collective had reneged on its deal in early December, two days after the initial payment was due, and on Jan. 17 the quarterback was granted a release from his letter of intent. Rashada, once seemingly poised to benefit greatly from a perceived bidding war between Miami and Florida boosters, was suddenly without a school and without NIL dollars.”

 

How is Rashada any different from coaches who get paid?

If you’ve reached this part of the story you probably feel one of two ways. Happy that the kid and his family were about to get life-changing money for playing in a system that shells out billions to everyone but the players. Or, you’re enraged at the idea of “pay for play” and think that NIL has gotten out of hand. If you’re thinking lines up more with the latter than the former, I have a few questions for you.

• Were you this perturbed when it was recently announced that Brian Ferentz — Iowa’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach — just got an amended contract based on incentives that include winning at least seven games and averaging 25 points per game?

• Did you get pissed off when the Big Ten signed a new media rights deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC that will pay the conference $7 billion over seven years, in which the athletes won’t get any?

• And were you angry every time a big-named college football coach signed a huge contract filled with incentives? For context, here’s a list Bleacher Report put together outlining the deals, as it includes Saban, Kelly, Mel Tucker, Jimbo Fisher, Dabo Swinney, and James Franklin.

The answer to those questions is “no,” because besides the, “wait, how much is that guy making?” questions that we ask when new contracts are signed, no one cares when coaches get paid for games they don’t actually play in. However, since the inception of NIL, people have gone out of their way to snitch on themselves by showing just how much they quietly enjoy this injustice system we call “amateurism” and take issue with an unpaid labor force receiving some sort of compensation in a capitalistic society.

Ironically enough, last year Miami was connected to another NIL situation that had people upset. Star Hurricanes guard Isaiah Wong became the scapegoat after it was alleged that he would transfer to another school if his NIL deal wasn’t renegotiated after he had outperformed it, and watched as a new teammate who was transferring into the program was set to make significantly more than him.

Wong got crucified when he should have been championed as a pioneer.

In 2014, Dabo Swinney once infamously said that he’d quit if players started getting paid. When NIL began on July 1, 2021 — Swinney didn’t resign. In December, Clemson’s head coach claimed that his program had been built in “God’s name, image, and likeness.”

That’s blasphemous, and God don’t like ugly. Or the fact that the people who are mad that college athletes are finally getting millions above the table is a plantation-like mentality to have. Being pissed off at Jaden Rashada is pointless. Be upset with the fact that he’s even in this situation, to begin with.

 

[Bobref]

Another example of The Law of Unintended Consequences. Doubt anyone saw this sort of thing coming.

https://www.outkick.com/olivia-dunne-lsu-instagram-tiktok-nil-valuation/

OLIVIA DUNNE SEES MASSIVE NIL VALUATION BOOST, RANKS 3RD IN AMERICA

by DAVID HOOKSTEADMarch 30, 2023, 10:24 am

Olivia Dunne’s profile is only rising with every passing day.

In 2022, On3 gave the LSU gymnast an NIL valuation of $2.3 million. That was already among the highest in America.

Well, the rich often get richer, and Dunne definitely is an exception to that rule in life. In the latest On3 NIL valuations, the social media superstar has a valuation of $3.4 million. That’s third in America. Only Bronny James and Arch Manning are ranked ahead of her. 

Caleb Williams, who won the Heisman in 2022, has a valuation of $800,000 less at $2.6 million. Think about that for a moment. Olivia Dunne is viewed as more marketable than arguably the most marketable Heisman winner college football has had in years.

Olivia Dunne remains unstoppable.

In case you didn’t already know, Olivia Dunne is a force to be reckoned with in the online content game. In terms of female college athletes, nobody can hold a light to her.

That’s why she has the highest valuation among female college athletes in the country. She has 11.1 million followers between TikTok and Instagram.

She’s not just popular. The LSU gymnast is an online star – as well as a very good athlete.

Olivia Dunne has massive NIL valuation. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

For comparison, LSU’s basketball coach Matt McMahon’s contract pays him under $3 million annually. Women’s coach Kim Mulkey earns roughly $2.5 million annually. Only Brian Kelly earns more than Dunne on LSU’s campus at nearly $10 million a year.

She has the second-highest earning ceiling for people associated with LSU’s athletic department, and she’s not even legally old enough to buy a beer.

Olivia Dunne is a massive star online. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

We all knew the NIL era was going to usher in some athletes getting very rich and Olivia Dunne isn’t an exception.

She’s cashing in, and counting stacks of money. You can hate on NIL all you want (don’t be that kind of person), but you can’t hate on the player.

This is America, and Olivia Dunne is getting her cash. That’s something all capitalists should support.

 

 

[Irishman]

15 hours ago, Bobref said:

Another example of The Law of Unintended Consequences. Doubt anyone saw this sort of thing coming.

https://www.outkick.com/olivia-dunne-lsu-instagram-tiktok-nil-valuation/

OLIVIA DUNNE SEES MASSIVE NIL VALUATION BOOST, RANKS 3RD IN AMERICA

by DAVID HOOKSTEADMarch 30, 2023, 10:24 am

Olivia Dunne’s profile is only rising with every passing day.

In 2022, On3 gave the LSU gymnast an NIL valuation of $2.3 million. That was already among the highest in America.

Well, the rich often get richer, and Dunne definitely is an exception to that rule in life. In the latest On3 NIL valuations, the social media superstar has a valuation of $3.4 million. That’s third in America. Only Bronny James and Arch Manning are ranked ahead of her. 

Caleb Williams, who won the Heisman in 2022, has a valuation of $800,000 less at $2.6 million. Think about that for a moment. Olivia Dunne is viewed as more marketable than arguably the most marketable Heisman winner college football has had in years.

Olivia Dunne remains unstoppable.

In case you didn’t already know, Olivia Dunne is a force to be reckoned with in the online content game. In terms of female college athletes, nobody can hold a light to her.

That’s why she has the highest valuation among female college athletes in the country. She has 11.1 million followers between TikTok and Instagram.

She’s not just popular. The LSU gymnast is an online star – as well as a very good athlete.

Olivia Dunne has massive NIL valuation. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

For comparison, LSU’s basketball coach Matt McMahon’s contract pays him under $3 million annually. Women’s coach Kim Mulkey earns roughly $2.5 million annually. Only Brian Kelly earns more than Dunne on LSU’s campus at nearly $10 million a year.

She has the second-highest earning ceiling for people associated with LSU’s athletic department, and she’s not even legally old enough to buy a beer.

Olivia Dunne is a massive star online. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

We all knew the NIL era was going to usher in some athletes getting very rich and Olivia Dunne isn’t an exception.

She’s cashing in, and counting stacks of money. You can hate on NIL all you want (don’t be that kind of person), but you can’t hate on the player.

This is America, and Olivia Dunne is getting her cash. That’s something all capitalists should support.

 

 

One of the concerns when this started had been what would happen to many other sports and athletes? That they would suffer because so much would have to go to football and basketball players; this is an interesting twist to that concern. 
 

That said, I do think there are a couple other concerns that come to mind. Who is following her on social media is one, and two, looking at images and personality, it is clear why she is so popular. Call it a sexist or misogynistic comment but it is a reality in this case. 

[Bobref]

19 minutes ago, Irishman said:

it is clear why she is so popular. Call it a sexist or misogynistic comment but it is a reality in this case. 

I don’t think anyone realizes that more than her … and she’s cashing in on it. Good for her! Fama caduca est (Fame is fleeting.)

[Bash Riprock]

27 minutes ago, Bobref said:

I don’t think anyone realizes that more than her … and she’s cashing in on it. Good for her! Fama caduca est (Fame is fleeting.)

I guess....but what does it have to do with sport in her case??  Does she need sports to earn her revenue?

[temptation]

Meanwhile, college basketball trending towards 1200 players in the portal as of last check…

[Bobref]

11 minutes ago, Bash Riprock said:

I guess....but what does it have to do with sport in her case??  Does she need sports to earn her revenue?

There are an awful lot of pretty girls out there. But they can’t do what she can, so … yes.

[Muda69]

How IU football played defense to keep its best player: 'The tampering piece is going on and it's bad'

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/iu/2023/07/27/indiana-football-coach-tom-allen-played-defense-to-keep-jaylin-lucas-from-hitting-the-transfer-porta/70442093007/

Quote

Indiana football coach Tom Allen spoke candidly about his fears of losing Jaylin Lucas to the transfer portal at Big Ten Media Days.

Lucas reiterated what he told reporters in January that he planned to build a legacy in Bloomington at Lucas Oil Stadium, but Allen knows in the current landscape of college football that a freshman All-American was going to draw plenty of interest from teams across the country.

Interest that went well beyond what's allowed under NCAA rules.

"I never said have you gotten an offer from somebody else, I knew he did," Allen said, on Thursday. "I was born at night, but not last night. That's exactly what happened."

It's why the first piece of business for Allen after the season was to get on a plane headed for New Orleans to visit Houma, La., to sit down with Lucas and his parents.

"Usually you do that with recruits, we had to make sure he knew we were going to do a great job of helping him be rewarded for his performance," Allen said.

....

"The tampering piece is going on and it is bad," Allen said. "...When we have an individual like that we have to make sure we are being proactive. That's just the nature of how it is right now. We have to be aggressive and not assume anything."

Lucas benefited from Indiana's two collectives (Hoosiers for Good and Hoosiers Connect) raising more than $1 million in donations, sponsorships and memberships, a figure that was matched with an additional $1 million contribution from an anonymous donor. He was part of the Hoosiers for Good's winter class that connected 19 athletes with 11 different charities.

"He's being able to be a part of some things now to help his family, it's been a huge blessing for them," Allen said.

Let's just drop this NIL charade and just let colleges and universities sign players to a contract to play for them for an agreed upon amount of monetary compensation. 

[Bobref]

Yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. Caleb Williams’ doesn’t feel the kind of pressure to enter the draft that players in his position did … before NIL.

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/caleb-williams-father-says-qb-could-return-to-usc-without-good-situation-in-nfl-draft

Caleb Williams' father says QB could return to USC without 'good situation' in NFL Draft

Caleb Williams is a virtual lock to hear his name called first overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. The USC quarterback and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner has tantalized NFL scouts since stepping on the field as a true freshman at Oklahoma, before then following Sooners-turned-Trojans coach Lincoln Riley West the following offseason.

But if Williams does not believe he will land in a "good situation" in the NFL?

"The truth is, he can come back to school," Caleb's father Carl Williams told GQ in a recent profile of the quarterback.

Although he did not mention the Arizona Cardinals specifically, Carl Williams appeared to hint at the team that many expect to be the worst in the league this coming season. 

"The funky thing about the NFL draft process is, he’d almost be better off not being drafted than being drafted first. The system is completely backwards," Carl said. "The way the system is constructed, you go to the worst possible situation. The worst possible team, the worst organization in the league — because of their desire for parity — gets the first pick. So it’s the gift and the curse."

The Cardinals have been heavily criticized recently after ex-head coach Steve Wilks claimed in a deposition that he was mandated by team owner Michael Bidwill to contact general manager Steve Keim via a burner phone during the 2019 season, breaking the terms of a suspension Keim was serving at the time for a 2018 DUI arrest. Former Cardinals vice president Terry McDonough first alleged the burner phone scheme back in April while also accusing Bidwill of bullying, racial and gender discrimination, and abusive behavior.

Meanwhile, quarterback Kyler Murray, who also won a Heisman while starring for Riley in college before the Cardinals picked him first overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, has dealt with injuries and inconsistent performance, and he's feuded with the organization over a clause in his contract extension last offseason that mandated a weekly quota of film study. The clause was later removed by the team.

"I’ve talked to Lincoln, and Kyler struggled because of where he was drafted," Carl Williams told GQ.

The Cardinals will start either recent acquisition Josh Dobbs or rookie fifth-round pick Clayton Tune at quarterback in Week 1 as Murray continues rehabilitating from a torn ACL that could keep him out for most of this season.

Carl Williams also mentioned that he has talked to Archie Manning, who spent most of his time as an NFL quarterback on the struggling New Orleans Saints in the 1970s.

"His career was shot because he went to a horrible organization," Carl said of Manning.

But Carl Williams' interaction with the Manning family patriarch is notable for another reason — Archie Manning famously helped upend the 2004 NFL Draft by supporting his son Eli's refusal to play for the then-San Diego Chargers, who selected the younger Manning at No. 1 overall in that draft. But when Archie and Eli did not budge from their stance, the Chargers traded Eli to the New York Giants, where he went on to win two Super Bowls.

Similar to the Mannings, Caleb Williams' development as a quarterback to this point has been meticulously planned out, with Carl playing a major role.

"I’ve always been able to choose the team that I’ve played on," Caleb Williams told GQ. "And then everything’s been scheduled for me. I’ve had a plan for treatment, I’ve had a plan for workouts, I’ve had a plan for eating, I’ve had a plan for nutrition and things like that. … But now, going into this next part of my career, it’s weird ’cause it’s so uncertain. You don’t know anything. You can’t control anything but you and how you act. That’s honestly the weirdest part for me, is the uncertainty."

Even if Caleb Williams does not return to USC next season, it appears he and his father are not afraid to use that possibility as leverage to gain some more leverage — and less uncertainty — about his NFL future.

In the meantime, Williams is off to another strong start in his junior season. He has 597 passing yards, a 73.5% completion percentage, nine passing touchdowns in zero interceptions over USC's first two games of the 2023 campaign.

[Muda69]

45 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. Caleb Williams’ doesn’t feel the kind of pressure to enter the draft that players in his position did … before NIL.

Yep, money is no longer the primary factor for elite young college athletes when it comes to entering the NFL draft.   And this is a bad thing?

 

[Bobref]

32 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

And this is a bad thing?

More choices = good

[Coach Nowlin]

how bout UTAH:   Over 100 F150 Leases, good thru their scholarship ends

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristidosh/2023/10/04/all-utah-scholarship-football-players-receive-a-new-truck-in-nil-deal/?sh=58d36b8d1fde

 

 

[Goose Liver]

How long before the rest of the states follow Georgia's lead and make NIL legal on the HS level?  

[Muda69]

1 hour ago, Goose Liver said:

How long before the rest of the states follow Georgia's lead and make NIL legal on the HS level?  

I haven't heard about this.  Got links?

 

[Coach Nowlin]

The GHSA approved new bylaws that allow high school athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness. The idea of name, image, and likeness or NIL became widely known within collegiate sports in 2021. When the NCAA approved new rules that allowed college athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness.

https://www.wfxg.com/story/49802336/ghsa-approves-nil-for-high-school-students-what-exactly-does-that-mean#

[Muda69]

College athletes are getting paid and fans are starting to see a growing share of the bill: https://apnews.com/article/nil-college-boosters-67da0dc7cc98f6508915b36d629c99ec

Quote

At Tennessee, they are adding a ‘talent fee’ to the price of sports tickets. At Arkansas, they will charge 3% more at the concessions stands. At Michigan and Michigan State, athletic directors sent letters alerting boosters that winning is going to start costing more. And, in a first, Clemson is going to start adding an athletic surcharge to tuition bills.

Winning at big-time college sports has never been free, but in a rapidly changing era in which players are allowed to earn money and be paid by their own schools, it has never been clearer that fans will be picking up a bigger part of the tab.

“College athletics hasn’t professionalized as much as I think it was capable of,” said Nels Popp, a University of North Carolina sports-business professor who believes most schools still rely on fans’ emotional, long-held school ties more than bottom-line marketing strategies. “And now, I think this is forcing them in that direction.”

When the NCAA reluctantly approved payments to players for use of their names, images and likenesses (NIL) in 2021, boosters who used to give to schools and their athletic departments started funneling money to collectives — independent organizations that raised the money and paid the athletes. Those collectives are becoming more and more closely linked to the universities.

Under terms of a $2.8 billion lawsuit settlement that is on track to take effect next year, the NIL deals will remain in full force and the schools themselves will be dealing with other multimillion-dollar changes to their bottom lines, including:

— Each school with the money to do it will be allowed to share as much as $22 million in annual revenue with athletes — money they get from tickets sales, TV contracts and other sources. They can share less, but top recruits will be front of mind in the arms race for talent.

—The amount the NCAA pays more than 350 Division I schools every year is going to drop. The organization is on the hook to cover some $1.2 billion in damages under the settlement and the rest will be covered by conferences that will see less money shared each year from the NCAA and its lucrative men’s basketball tournament.

— Schools will be allowed to offer more scholarships across all sports and that costs money. For instance, a school could offer up to 20 additional scholarships for a total of 105 in football. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said adding scholarships across sports could add $29 million in education costs to the department’s bottom line. And that’s on top of the revenue sharing.

“Maintaining a high level of support for our 29 NCAA athletic programs will take an elevated commitment from everyone,” Manuel wrote to Wolverines fans last month.

One possibility for Michigan might be placing advertising inside of Michigan Stadium, a practice the Wolverines have steadfastly avoided over the decades. The school also sent out a recent survey asking, among other questions, if fans were willing to pay between $3,000 and $4,000 for a new tranche of chairback seats, which are rare outside of club sections at The Big House.

 

In 2023, it cost two fans an average of around $180 to attend a college football game and about $340 to go to an NFL game. After all, college sports didn’t have to worry about the biggest expense on a pro team’s budget — player salaries.

NIL started chipping away at that, and once the terms of the lawsuit settlement go into effect, that dynamic will shift even more. Michigan State AD Alan Haller told Spartans fans his department’s ’25-26 budget will include between $25 million to $30 million in added expenses.

“As a department, we will continue to explore new opportunities for both revenue generation and cost containment,” Haller said. “However, without a doubt, your continued generosity and involvement will be paramount to our quest for excellence.”

Some fans will undoubtedly keep writing checks to keep the players — and hopefully, the wins — coming, along with retaining their “rights” to buy a certain number of tickets for football games.

A tour around the parking lot before this season’s Michigan-Michigan State game found others who sounded more reluctant.

“The price of the education is out of hand,” said Michigan State fan Mike Bouchard, citing a more than $55,000 price for an out-of-state undergrad to attend his alma mater. “There’s absolutely no way I’m going to dig into my pocket over and above that amount. Tell them to use their hundreds of millions in endowments.”

“Absolutely not,” said Ann Arbor resident Michael Ketslakh when asked if he would give more to support Michigan athletics. “I think it’s excessive. It’s bad for the sports.”

Rick Karcher, the faculty athletics representative at Eastern Michigan, said fans continue to pay because, unlike pro sports where everyone knows the profits go to billionaire owners, the economic models in college are often hard to nail down.

“College sports fans, students and boosters are willing to continue absorbing the operational costs while the team’s coaches and administrators get richer because they view athletics as separate from the university,” he said.

Schools look for other ways of absorbing higher costs

Earlier this fall, Texas Tech said it was budgeting $14.7 million for this fiscal year — about $9 million more than the previous year — in support for the athletic program, which has a budget of nearly $129 million.

“I think if any unit on this campus was facing a 20-something-percent cut in their revenue, we would have to look at how we might respond, and we will in this case,” school President Lawrence Schovanec explained.

Texas Tech is hardly alone in contributing to its athletic program, but not every school runs by the same model. At Florida, for instance, sports are run by the University Athletic Association, which not only has funded sports but has often given money back to the school.

A story in the student-produced Florida Independent Alligator said UF sports revenue was eighth-highest in the nation; two of its biggest boosters have given eight-figure sums to the UAA’s fundraising arm.

Clearly, though, it’s not only eight-figure donations that will keep college sports running.

Tennessee was among the first to grab headlines early in the football season when AD Danny White said the school was adding a 10% “talent fee” for 2025 football ticket renewals. That was on top of a 4.5% hike in ticket prices.

“That connection between resources and competitiveness has never been tighter,” White said. “Only now we have the ability to share these resources with our athletes.”

At Arkansas, AD Hunter Yurachek explained the 3% fee on concessions in a letter to fans that noted the importance of continuing to “maximize additional revenue opportunities” At Clemson, which long prided itself on not charging fees or ticket prices to students, the plan is to raise between $7 million and $8 million by adding a $150 “athletic fee” per semester to the price of tuition. The Tigers have been to four national title games over the past decade and won it twice.

“I think it’s kind of ridiculous, but there comes a point when we have good enough sports teams that it’s kind of valid,” student Sam Gault told South Carolina’s WSPA-TV when the fee was unveiled earlier this month.

To win big, schools will have to pay big, and simply fielding a competitive team is no longer a given. The question hanging over college sports is where the money will come from.

“You can pay more for tickets, put a sponsor patch on the uniforms, cut non-revenue sports or (start calling) the Big 12, the ‘Dr. Pepper Conference,’” said Popp, the professor at North Carolina. “I don’t think fans are anxious for any of those, but what might they be willing to accept? I think that’s what athletic departments have to figure out.”

I can see it now:   "The U of M Big House, presented by Comerica Bank".   Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

 

Edited November 4 by Muda69

[Boilernation]

Non football related, but I read yesterday that Memphis basketball player Tyreek Smith has hit the portal before playing a single game for Memphis. And he was already paid $175K in NIL since committing to Memphis. Supposedly, he didn't like the way the rest of his NIL agreement was going to be handled. Yikes. 

As far as I can tell this guy isn't a legit NBA prospect. I can't help buy wonder how these cash grab decisions will impact college players in the real world. No F'n way would I hire someone with a track record of jumping schools for the highest NIL deal.