Newsletter #74 | BYU's Trey Stewart, Adidas Criticism, Player's Lounge NFTs, + ICYMI Ticker
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for athletes, administrators, agencies and other sport professionals.
Recapping NIL This Weekend:
Default Happiness: How BYU freshman guard Trey Stewart is blazing trails by building a business
BYU freshman guard Trey Stewart didn’t see much time on the court this season, but he’s making an impact in both visible, and subtle, ways.
Stewart started a business called Default Happiness, which prints positive messages that have been placed on shoes, T-shirts and sweatshirts worn by his Cougars teammates, as well as other BYU athletes. His mission is to promote “happiness and hope,” he said.
In February, he announced he had signed two BYU athletes, Alex Barcello and Jaren Hall, to deals with Default Happiness. “I wanted to work with athletes at our school to promote things that are important to them,” Stewart said. “It’s the first-ever athlete-owned company signing other athletes. With Jaren, we’re going to do an anti-bullying campaign because that means a lot to him. With Alex, we’re still deciding. Pretty excited about it.”
Among the mantras printed on shoes that Stewart has created include “Be Relentless,” “Turn Frustration into Fight” and “BLRA” (Best Locker Room in America). He’s produced customized shoes for BYU women’s basketball star Shaylee Gonzales and quarterback Jacob Conover as well as the BYU women’s soccer team, among others.
Coach Mark Pope said Stewart started discussing the creation of Default Happiness last summer. “I love it. He’s talked publicly about some of his mental health challenges. Regardless of that, it’s a great way to live life. Very few of us reach that space,” he said. “It’s been really fun to watch him, step by step, grow his business. He’s actually contracted most of the work out now. It’s super exciting. He’s built a website, he’s got a marketing team, he’s got a manufacturer. He’s signing his first athletes to NIL deals, which is super cool.” (Per Deseret News).
Adidas NIL announcement sparks criticism
News of Adidas’ nationwide NIL program, open to current college athletes at all of its 109 affiliated Division I universities, hit Emanuel “Book” Richardson like “the ultimate smack in the face.” The former Arizona assistant basketball coach was one of at least four people sentenced to prison in 2019 for their role in what the Department of Justice initially focused on as a conspiracy to create “a pay-to-play culture” in college basketball by bribing star recruits to attend Nike- and Adidas-sponsored schools.
Adidas unveiled its NIL network on Wednesday while James Gatto, the company’s former director of global sports marketing for basketball, as well one-time Adidas consultant Merl Code, are still serving sentences in federal prison for defrauding the schools whose athletes they bribed.
“I have a felony, I can’t do what I love, my passion was taken away,” Richardson said. “I lost my family, my career, my house, my everything—and now, [in] five years it went from [the FBI saying], ‘I have your playbook,’ to now, ‘I am going to pay you on the books officially for your NIL.’ I just wonder how Americans feel that your tax dollars were used to investigate college basketball coaches.”
In a separate Twitter thread, Overtime CEO Dan Porter openly criticized the Adidas model, saying that it won’t act as a way to pay SAs fair wages. “The MAJORITY of NIL deals are about MARKETING and brand POSITIONING. Not about athletes getting paid fair wages for labor. This is a great splash by Adidas. But it's essentially a referral program.” Porter added that the move is a “smoke screen.” More HERE.
The Players’ Lounge signs 52 Power Five student athletes
The Players’ Lounge, a digital community built to empower relationships within the collegiate sports world, has signed 52 power five football players. Former University of Georgia football players Keith Marshall, Aaron Murray, and brothers Ty and Trent Frix started the company with the goal of connecting current and former college athletes to their respective fan bases through NFT collections.
Once purchased, the NFT gives owners access to exclusive real world experiences, while providing opportunities for student athletes to monetize their individual brands. The Players’ Lounge recently exceeded 7,500 active members on Discord, the digital platform utilized to communicate with participating student athletes. On Discord, fans have an opportunity to participate in exclusive events highlighting the student athletes’ personality and interests.
Following a successful launch of the DGD Mafia at Georgia where NFTs sold out in 3 hours and raised $305,000 for student athletes (or $28,000 per athlete), the demand for The Players’ Lounge digital communities at other schools skyrocketed. Recently at LSU thirteen athletes signed up to be part of the Bayou Bengals digital community. In addition to LSU, communities will be launched at Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, and UNC over the next several weeks. Full list of participating SAs can be found HERE (per NIL Newsstand).
ICYMI Ticker
Clemson has announced a partnership with Altius Sports Partners. Key elements of the partnership include tailored educational workshops for student-athletes, coaches and staff centered on marketing, branding, financial literacy and recruiting, per a Clemson press release.
There’s a new NIL collective for Florida International (FIU). Inside the Cage, “provides a way for fans, students, alumni, businesses, and brands to get in on the game by making sure Panther athletes are competing not only athletically, but financially in the era of NIL.”
Penn State announced the launch of its NIL collective "Success With Honor", named after the phrase made famous by former football coach Joe Paterno. The advisory board includes former football greats Lavar Arrington, Todd Blackledge and Michael Robinson. The platform is dedicated to all 850 Nittany Lions athletes and will have an office in State College, Pennsylvania.
According to On3Sports, Arch Manning’s NIL valuation stands at $1.6 million. On3 sports adds that only two other high school athletes currently have NIL Valuations surpassing $1 million: viral basketball sensations Bronny James and Mikey Williams.
Here’s a *definitive* list of the most fun NIL deals to date, courtesy of For the Win. Favorites include Doug Edert and Kool-Aid McKinstry.
Stephen F. Austin is auctioning off NFT’s of Nathan Bain’s game-winning shot over #1 Duke from 2019. Proceeds will benefit Bain as well as The Purple Lights Vault. More info HERE.
ESPN broke down some of the top MBB and WBB NIL earners competing in this weekend’s Sweet 16. Full article HERE.