Newsletter #75 | NIL's Newest Craze, NCAA Accountability Act of 2021 Introduced, Rose Zhang x Callaway + 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 Week:
Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence breaks down the latest NIL craze
“We call them ‘directives,’” Blake Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of Opendorse, told On3. “Directives don’t announce. That’s the deal. That’s one of the issues. You’re not going to know the directives because there is no benefit to them announcing.”
Donor-driven, school-specific collectives pool funds from multiple parties, everyone ranging from fans who wish to contribute a nominal monthly subscription fee to deep-pocketed, long-entrenched boosters. A collective operator then determines which student athletes will receive compensation for which NIL activities. For most collectives, donors have no say in the way in which dollars are distributed.
Directives are different because they are one-to-one financial transactions, typically between a wealthy booster or businessman and a specific college athlete from the school they support. As Lawrence explained, “If I’m a major booster to XYZ University, and I know that I want this kid to get this amount of dollars, then they will directly do a deal with that individual, either through their own business that they already own or just directly with the two parties.”
“In this interim phase, or maybe in a permanent phase, while we are waiting to have a [collective] operator, there’s nothing stopping you (an athlete) from doing this deal directly with this guy (wealthy booster),” said one industry source familiar with directives. “That’s where it’s coming from. It’s happening in markets where no collective has been formed. Or it’s happening here where the donors themselves don’t play nice with other supporters, or think they know the best path to who to compensate at the highest level.
The NCAA does not wield subpoena power and is fearful of making itself vulnerable to further legal challenges in the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Alston v NCAA. So it has yet to demonstrate an appetite to wade into NIL enforcement waters.
Senators Booker and Blackburn introduce NCAA Accountability Act of 2021
The NCAA Accountability Act of 2021 has been released. The bipartisan bill would limit NCAA investigations to eight months and cut the statute of limitations from four years to two years. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Cory Booker (D., N.J.) introduced the bill on Tuesday.
The bill would prohibit the NCAA from using “confidential sources” as evidence for a decision. And a school can appeal punishments by using a three-arbiter panel, different from the NCAA’s current appeals committee. The proposal also requires the NCAA to submit an annual report of investigations to the U.S. attorney general and each state’s attorney general while also charging the Department of Justice to ensure the governing body of college sports follows the bill’s statutes. Violations will be dealt with severely.
The bill authorizes the Department of Justice to fine the NCAA as much as $15 million and to order the removal of any member of the NCAA’s highest governing body, its Board of Governors.
World #1 amateur Rose Zhang signs NIL agreement with Callaway
Zhang, a freshman at Stanford who is among the favorites at this week's Augusta National Women's Amateur, will play Callaway woods, irons, ball and an Odyssey putter. She won the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 2021 U.S. Girls' Junior among several college and amateur titles. She played for the victorious American team in the 2021 Curtis Cup and already has a spot on the 2022 squad.
The current world #1 amateur is represented by Kevin Hopkins of Excel Sports Management. Her Stanford teammate, Rachel Heck, is also a client at Excel (who boast PGA Tour talent like Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas and Justin Rose).
Zhang, who turns 19 in May, won her first three collegiate events in the fall, becoming Stanford's first golfer - man or woman - to accomplish the feat. To see all the clubs in her bag, click HERE.
ICYMI Ticker
The WWE is hosting 45 current and former college athletes at WrestleMania for a weekend tryout. The three-day tryout, taking place at Dallas Cowboys headquarters in Frisco, Texas, will include evaluations for performance and promotion as well as interviews and technical sessions in the ring. Full story from ESPN HERE.
Earlier this year, the University of Michigan became the 14th INFLCR client to add the INFLCR+ Local Exchange to their existing software partnership. In just the first few months of launching this new product, more than 25 of INFLCR’s 206 NCAA Division I multi-year software partners have now added the INFLCR+ Local Exchange. Michigan’s Executive Associate AD, Doug Gnodtke discusses it HERE.
Attorney Mit Winter, speaking to Eric Prisbell of On3: “There is talk in the NIL [and] college athletics world about collectives specifically crafting deals to keep certain players in school. I think some players that are borderline draft prospects will decide to take that guaranteed money instead of taking their chances with the draft. This will add another area of intrigue around the draft’s withdrawal deadline.”
High Point University and INFLCR have launched On Point Exchange.
Former USC All-American offensive tackle and first-round NFL Draft pick Sam Baker, along with a collection of former players, are creating an annual NIL initiative for current Trojan linemen- more HERE.
UCF and Icon Source are collaborating by bringing NIL Marketplace Services to Campus. Florida's NIL law prohibits colleges and universities from compensating current and prospective SAs for NIL deals. UCF's collaboration with Icon Source simplifies the process for student athletes and corporate sponsors. More HERE.
St. John’s Athletics has a new partnership with Boardroom.
Penn State has signed a deal with Altius Sports Partners.
The 901 Fund, which launched Tuesday, is a non-profit created to "drive awareness" of charities while deepening "the connection between Memphis and the student athletes who represent us." The fund establishes a baseline NIL for the football team and both men's and women's basketball teams.
In what is believed to be an NIL first, Texas A&M WR Demond Demas’s NIL representative A&P Sports Agency announced that he is transferring. He’s an ESPN 300 recruit from the Class of 2020 who had been suspended from A&M in the wake of assault allegations.
Paige Beuckers is taking a break from NIL during March Madness.
Locker Room Access, which operates blogs, podcasts, and message boards and creates merchandise dedicated to University of Virginia basketball, has established a partnership with Cavalier Futures to share resources and help student-athletes capitalize on their NIL.
Washington State is the first school to utilize Icon Suite by Icon Source.
Five-star cornerback and Michigan signee Will Johnson has inked a multi-year NIL deal with AFB Hospitality Group. The NIL deal is among the first of its kind in Michigan for a player who hasn’t yet taken the field, according to attorney Michael D. Stein, who represents Johnson.
Maine has sent their NIL bill to Governor Janet Mills- likely becoming 29th state to pass NIL legislation Maine is home to 12 NCAA schools. U of Maine (DI) & 11 DIII schools.