Newsletter #36 | NJ HS NIL, Paige Beuckers x StockX, NOCAP Sports + DYME Interview & ICYMI Webinar Highlights
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for athletes, administrators, agencies and other sport professionals.
This Thursday Newsletter includes:
1. Recapping NIL this week
2. Interview: DYME’s George Pappas and JT Rogan talk to OSC
3. ICYMI: Recapping OSC’s 1st NIL Webinar
Recapping NIL This Week:
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association passes high school NIL
The NJSIAA’s landmark proposal that will allow high school athletes to profit off their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) was officially approved, passing a second reading before the Executive Committee. The committee voted in favor of the rule, 35-1 with two abstentions. The meeting was held virtually on Wednesday afternoon.
NJ joins CA and NY as the only known states to explicitly allow high school athletes to profit off of their NIL. Many state athletic associations have no mention of NIL in their bylaws.
New Jersey high school athletes will be allowed to profit off their NIL beginning in January.
Paige Bueckers signs first major NIL brand deal with StockX
Paige Beuckers, the 2021 AP Player of the Year, Naismith award-winner and Wooden award-winner, has signed her first major brand deal with StockX. Per Kristi Dosh, Beuckers has remaiend relatively quiet on the NIL front since July- just filing a trademark for “Paige Buckets” and signing with Wasserman for representation.
StockX is a global e-commerce platform for sneakers, toys, electronics and apparel, serving 30 million global monthly visitors in 200 countries. It has signed Bueckers to a multi-year partnership for an undisclosed amount. Through the partnership, StockX says it’s looking to highlight women's sports and basketball with Paige as the centerpiece.
“My partnership with StockX is about equity and authenticity,” said Bueckers. “It’s about product I love and about shining a light on all the creatives that drive culture. I’m here to celebrate them and together with StockX, invest in making sure women and women athletes are prioritized, elevated and recognized for their style and their leadership.”
“Not only is Paige Bueckers a world-class athlete slated to be the best of her generation, she is also a fighter, committed to shining a light on communities deserving of the spotlight. Which is why we couldn’t be more excited to announce our partnership with Paige as her first brand partner and one of the first multi-year partnerships under the new NIL rules. The way Paige approaches innovating her game on and off the court is similar to how we aim to innovate access to current culture for customers around the world. Which makes this a perfect pairing,” StockX said in their YouTube post unveiling the partnership.
NOCAP Sports secures $2.5 million seed round, led by Florida Funders
NOCAP Sports announced on Wednesday that it has secured a $2.5 million dollar seed round, thanks to financial support coming from a wide variety of investors. The fundraising round included Florida Funders, the Florida Institute, the Acquired Wisdom Fund, Bakari Sellers, as well as executives from the Philadelphia Union, Wasserman Media Group, College Hunks, Orreco and Pulse Sports and Entertainment, among others.
NOCAP Sports is an inclusive digital marketplace that allows athletes, schools, and businesses to connect and conduct automated, compliant, transparent and verified NIL related transactions with full oversight from independent third parties.
“College sports is in the midst of its most significant and impactful change in its history of existence,” said Nicholas Lord, Co-Founder and CEO at NOCAP Sports. “In an ecosystem that’s massively fragmented, and for the first time ever, we’re providing free and equal access at the fingertips of college athletes to compliantly monetize their name, image, and likeness. We are excited to have closed our seed round with an incredible amount of support from so many recognized organizations and individuals that believe in our mission.”
OSC’s Austin Meo interviewed NOCAP’s CEO Nicholas Lord last week.
Exclusive Interview: DYME’s George Pappas and JT Rogan talk to OSC
They’re changing the way student athletes create content and talk to fans. The University of Arizona has already bought in, and now they’re looking to expand to other Power-5 schools. Meet DYME- an NIL platform that has made it to the app store.
Interviewed by Austin Meo (@AMeo31)
1. What are your backgrounds and how did that lead you both to working in college athletics?
GP: I was a baseball player at the University of Texas. It was always a pipe dream of mine to somehow combine sports and business. And then by accident, it became name, image and likeness. The conception of the venture really came from the fan’s perspective and seeing how NIL from the beginning was misidentified. It’s very commonly perceived that the value of student athletes in the space is your social following and your engagement- that’s partially true but not entirely. To me the value of a student athlete comes from fans, love for the team, and love for the school. And that’s unrelated to your Twitter following. So I hit the whiteboard and asked myself how you could leverage a fan base and do something collectively as a team, but also do something commonly known in the world of student athletes. And that was the beginning of the company.
JTR: I played football at the University of San Diego from 2004 to 2009 for six years with guys like Josh Johnson. Coached at Stanford in 2010 and decided I wanted to try to play professionally and tried out for the CFL, UFL and NFL and didn’t make it. Then I got into broadcasting with the PAC-12 Network and Fox Sports San Diego, before going to Michigan to serve as Coach Harbaugh’s Director of Communications from 2016 to 2018. I got a chance to see a lot there- and not just football. Basketball, gymnastics and the so-called “non-profitable” sports and the overall structure with general counsel, partnerships and other things. Then I got into fundraising at the high school and lower levels. So I have a good idea of what youth sports looks like, collegiate student athlete landscape, and when I got to talking with George about what DYME is, it was clear to me that it solves a lot of problems and doesn’t create a divisive locker room. It allows for individual earning potential while also placing a team floor for everyone to earn. We feel like it really is a familiar subscribe-and-consumer behavior that is sustainable. It’s great for the athletes, departments and the teams involved.
2. Describe what DYME is and who you are pitching to specifically? Is it directly to SAs, conferences or athletic departments?
GP: The company is a platform for SAs and their teams to monetize their media. And the idea is that they’ve been giving away content their entire life, but now here is a way to get paid for it. At a very high level, it’s Netflix for athletes. Fans subscribe to a team and within that team subscription they have access to media content, player hosted video calls, and the ability to message with players. And the revenue model is that when someone subscribes to a team- for example Arizona basketball for $5.99 - that $5.99 is pooled equally to every SA on the roster (so 18). Everyone gets an equal share. But if you get tipped or someone joins your lobby, or if you post really good content, that goes directly to a specific player. We’ve become a NIL offering for international athletes who can make passive earnings through the subscription model. To our knowledge, we are the only NIL offering that can serve international SAs.
JTR: We’ve been speaking with teams from around the country. We didn’t know what approach made sense. We’ve talked to coaches, and they can direct us to SAs but ultimately athletic departments need to sign off on it. The dream scenario is to get the athletic department to sign off on logos and trademarks … we’ve presented to a dozen schools: Clemson, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida State, Illinois and more. A lot of schools want more information. Those are Zoom calls and we’ve exchanged emails with 18 other schools focusing on the power 5. The University of Arizona has been a great partner. But we’ve had to navigate group licensing and talk to immigration attorneys (difference between active or passive work). The subscription model will evolve- we’ve got a V2 and a V3 that can attach to season ticket sales and other marketing aspects. But none of that matters if we don’t have the main thing. Great content to subscribers and the ability to access players is the most important thing. The functionality is a lot like Twitch with tipping SAs in exchange for content. The resource that George built is revolutionary; because what is the value of talking to Dalen Terry or Justin Kier? Well these guys could change your jump shot and help you get a scholarship. It’s fun to see the potential but you need to see the proof of concept and get the ball rolling.
3. How did the platform get built? What brought you to the content side of NIL?
GP: We built it from scratch but used existing platforms as a model and how that combines with the modern athlete. We are on the app store- you search “DYME” and you’ll find the app just like YouTube or Twitch. And when you get on the app you can subscribe to a team. The space itself- when we talk to players they just want to ball. Yes, people eat up Instagram and Twitter, but more times than not they just want to be ballplayers. And platforms like Cameo where you’re posting content individually (not as a team) all the time is out of people’s comfort zone. What we are monetizing social brand but rather the players themselves. Players talk about their environment, how they got to where they are- we set up a hot mic and let them talk. We’re not here to promote a particular brand- just the athlete’s themselves and what makes them special. That’s the differentiator for us.
JTR: To add on, the proof of concept is there with Cameo. You can pay $200 for a birthday wish from Spencer Rattler- they say your name, but to some extent you can find any Oklahoma Sooner fan named John and send that out. Our thought is that live on-demand conversation with someone in the locker room or after practice or at the team hotel - all that access is incredibly valuable. I worked on the season with the Michigan Wolverines for Amazon and I got a chance to see what that was like. There’s an appetite for shows like Hard Knocks, even in-season with the Indianapolis Colts. The appetite for that content hasn’t ever been satiated. We’re not trying to promote a third party- we want the athletes to benefit from what they are already giving away for free. We don’t know what the market will pay or who the most marketable player is or what the most valuable resource in the collective group. But you look at Montana Fouts at Alabama who’s the number one star on Cameo. How does this change the competitive landscape? If every Arizona WBB player is getting $1,000 a month plus additional revenue? I know we’re only four months in, but it is fun to think about what the possibilities are.
4. What are the issues facing international athletes?
GP: The biggest hurdle they face is that there is nobody to appeal to if something happens to their student visa. The next step is to go to the consulate of their country- and the only person that can reach out to that consulate is a state senator. So basically, you are risking your eligibility for NIL if you’re considered working. When we first got to one school they announced us as an NIL company- and immediately the international SAs said they didn’t care. That is what’s going on in their world. So, we found a way to have them passively earn by being a default member of their team. So when someone subscribes to a team each member gets a portion. It’s not like every opportunity for a domestic player, but it’s something to get them involved.
JTR: We spoke to numerous immigration attorneys on our end to make sure we weren’t compromising their Visa statuses. The University of Arizona’s lawyers had to make sure they felt good about the statuses. The differentiation between active and passive work- you’re going to be on the team and naturally in the team content on the platform. But you won’t be engaging in the video calls and actively creating content. That passed the test for multiple attorneys.
5. How has working with the University of Arizona been and what are your plans to expand?
JTR: George moved there, and we’ve got an eye for making it scalable. George posted internships with the schools of business along with film and television.
GP: I’ve been here since August and before I got to Arizona, we made DYME become a class credit internship. Each team is assigned a couple of interns and they help create content. I would say the biggest lesson for us, even though it’s not a change behavior, is breaking up a traditional pattern. A third party coming into film and pay players is new and there’s no blueprint to follow. We are constantly asking questions and reflecting.
JTR: There are so many stakeholders and people that are territorial about what’s going on there. We talked to the athletic director, the compliance officer, the chief business officer… then the SIDs and the ops people and content- they can all feel like they are being infringed upon. So we had to clearly communicate and plan everything- here’s the personnel, staffing and what we want to achieve. It really takes the buy-in and support from the university. There’s group licensing, general counsel, facilities and all these people who can be roadblocks. Arizona has been a great partner in letting us facilitate this vision.
6. The University of Arizona has been very accepting- as you present to other schools is that same sentiment felt? Is there a commonality across schools?
JTR: Everyone has liked it and they all seem to value it. But no one wants to pull the trigger. We’ve got Georgia MBB and Louisville WBB asking for it- their coach just called me saying we need to get this done. People are worried about facilitation- we don’t pay the university and they don’t pay us. SAs have to opt-in to this. It’s a completely athlete driven initiative that is supported by the athletic department. Everyone has wanted more information, but they haven’t been able to find the smoking gun or say why this won’t work. Clearly Arizona is moving forward with this and hopefully pioneer the space. They’re going to take people who are fearful of helping SAs to fearful of missing out.
GP: The consensus from every school we’ve talked to is that they haven’t seen anything like this before. But to JT’s point, it takes a lot of innovation to be the one that pulls the trigger. It takes someone like Arizona to pave the path for someone else. Once we got that partnership, the same consensus saying to come back to them. It’s worked out to our benefit because I’m not sure we could do more than one school right now. So, be all in on Arizona and crush it here, and then take on what’s next.
Thanks to George and JT for taking the time to discuss DYME. You can follow DYME on Instagram and Twitter + download the app in the Apple App Store.
ICYMI: Recapping OSC’s 1st NIL Webinar
OSC would like to thank all our panelists and attendees for joining our first ever NIL Webinar. Thank you to Oliver Luck, Khalil Wilkes, Arun Thottakara and the entire OSC team for putting on an informative discussion about the highlights of NIL four months in. Be on the lookout for more webinars coming soon!
“Vast majority of the dollars are coming from the local market of that particular school. And because it’s localized, schools should get involved. While the NCAA’s principal is that schools should not be facilitating deals, the NCAA has not given any guidance on how else to go about this.”
- Oliver Luck
Check out all four parts of the NIL Webinar below, or head to OSC’s newly created YouTube channel to watch!