Newsletter #85 | Administrator Task Force, Commissioners to DC, NIL Survey Results, Ed O'Bannon on Emmert + 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:
Administrator-led task force on NIL to release guidelines soon
University administrators, part of a task force to review NIL, are finalizing additional guidelines that are expected to clarify that boosters and booster-led collectives are prohibited from involvement in recruiting, multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated. The guidelines will provide more guidance to member schools on what many administrators say are NIL-disguised “pay for play” deals orchestrated by donors to induce prospects, recruit players off other college teams and retain their own athletes.
The guidelines, still in draft form, outline that booster-backed collectives should be prohibited from associating with high school prospects and college transfers, potentially opening the door for contentious legal challenges between the association and boosters.
The draft of guidelines is being circulated this week in Phoenix, where more than 200 administrators and coaches from at least four conferences hold their annual spring meetings. The administrative council of the NCAA Board of Directors meets Monday, at which point they can rubber stamp the draft.
Schools that do not control their donors’ spending could be found to have violated NCAA rules and will be sanctioned, according to the document. The NCAA enforcement staff have made inquiries only into a small handful of programs so far, but the guidelines could spark deeper investigations into improper inducements tied to NIL payments.
“We let things get out of hand,” says one official with knowledge of the guidelines. “We have to get [the boosters] out of contacting recruits and bartering with them.” Full story HERE.
Pac-12 and SEC Commissioners to meet with US senators on Capitol Hill
Amid unrest within college sports, two Power 5 commissioners are traveling to the nation’s capital to lobby lawmakers for the creation of federal legislation to regulate NIL, a U.S. Senate aide told Sports Illustrated on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey will meet with U.S. senators on Capitol Hill to fight for a congressional mandate to regulate what has evolved into the NCAA’s latest festering problem. Sankey and Kliavkoff, two of the industry’s most influential leaders, are teaming up to encourage lawmakers to pass an NIL statute. They are also expected to seek senators’ help in preventing what they believe is another potential issue looming for college sports: employment status for college athletes.
The two commissioners have meetings set with at least two senators, including Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and potentially additional lawmakers, the aide told SI on the condition of anonymity. While not unusual - NCAA leaders have spent three years lobbying Congress for an NIL bill - Sankey and Kliavkoff’s trip comes amid a somewhat chaotic stretch in the sport.
On Capitol Hill, the disagreement among leaders from the two parties centers on the structure of a bill. While Republicans want a narrow bill that focuses only on NIL, Democrats are supporting more broad legislation—a sort-of college athletes bill of rights that touches on topics such as revenue sharing and long-term healthcare. The two sides could not reach a compromise despite movement last May.
Lead 1: 90% of surveyed ADs are concerned NIL is improper recruiting tool
LEAD1 Association, which represents the athletics directors of the 130-member schools of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), announced the results of its FBS athletic directors survey which revealed 90% of polled ADs are concerned that collectives are using NIL payments as an improper recruiting tool. Full results HERE.
The survey, which contained feedback from approximately 80 FBS athletic directors around the nation, also revealed strong support for more structure for the transfer portal (87%), reducing the number of NCAA Division I schools (67%), and distributing NCAA revenue units to schools based on NCAA women’s basketball tournament performance (61%). Additionally, 58% disagree with a model which would provide individual conferences to have full autonomy on key issues such as NIL, prospective student-athlete compensation, and scholarship regulations.
90% are concerned (73% being extremely concerned) that NIL payments from collectives are being used as improper recruiting inducements, both for HS athletes or college transfers // 78% agree NIL collectives will impact traditional athletic department fundraising which may lead to a reduction in both participation opportunities and the allocation of essential resources for student-athletes // 77% agree an unregulated NIL market will lead to increased scandals, such as a sports betting scheme and/or athletes being taken advantage of
92% disagree that NIL payments being used as “pay for performance” should be allowed (e.g., NIL payment(s) for scoring a certain number of points) // 87% disagree that NIL payments being used as “pay for play” should be allowed (e.g., NIL payment(s) solely for being on an athletics team) // 72% agree NIL payments should be tied to market value
Ed O’Bannon, the named plaintiff in O’Bannon v. NCAA, writes about Emmert
Below are excerpts from Ed O’Bannon’s op-ed in Sportico entitled “MARK EMMERT WOULDN’T CHANGE, BUT NCAA MUST WITH NEW LEADER.” Full op-ed HERE.
“I wish Mark Emmert well on his retirement, but his term as head of the NCAA will leave a lot to be desired. I’m very familiar with Emmert and the worldview he represented. I brought a federal case for name, image and likeness rights for college athletes, including those who had been featured in video games without their consent, let alone pay.”
“I remember during our trial in Oakland in 2014 how much Emmert struggled on the witness stand. I honestly felt bad for him. Emmert argued that college athletes shouldn’t be paid for their NIL because he said it was exploitative—to the athletes. I’m not a lawyer, and I’m not an economist, but that made no sense to me. As it turned out, it didn’t make sense to Judge Claudia Wilken or to judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, either.”
“We were open to settling with the NCAA, just like we settled with Electronic Arts, if the NCAA leaders agreed to change NIL rules. They wouldn’t. And they lost the trial, lost the appeal and then, a handful of years later, were forced by state laws to allow NIL. The U.S. Supreme Court also found their system of amateurism rules problematic in the Alston case. The whole controversy was avoidable.”
“Emmert didn’t create the situation, but he didn’t do what was necessary to end it. He owns that. I hope with new NCAA leadership come new values that treat college athletes with the respect and dignity they deserve.”
ICYMI Ticker
Michigan MBB’s Hunter Dickinson critique of UM’s NIL policies: “The NIL process is pretty difficult, I'm not going to lie. Especially during the season, it can be overwhelming because you've got contracts that you're trying to sign, you've got to be aware of the obligations that the companies are holding you up to, because it's like, you've got to post something or something like that. I remember I had to post something the night before a game - before the Villanova game, a company hit me up the day before, early the day before the game. I know for a fact that Juwan and Coach Harbaugh are trying to plead with the administration. At some point, they're going to realize that you've either got to be all-in or you're not going to get anybody. That's my take on it.”
Matt Brown (Extra Points) is reporting that OneTeam Partners is terminating The Brandr Group as its agent. The release says that student athletes that want to participate in any OneTeam group licensing program (jerseys, trading cards, etc) must now go through the Compass NIL App. More HERE.
Jackson State HC Deion Sanders: “It’s becoming free agency, real free agency, and if you don’t have it (money), you’re not going to be able to compete. It’s just another way, to me, to keep the schools that don’t have the proper funding down.” // “I want you to focus on the NFL, not the NIL. You ball out, and you prepare yourself for the NFL. If you get comfortable when you’ve already got (NIL money), I mean, come on. How hungry are you gonna be to go out there and work and go get it?”
Kentucky MBB HC John Calipari: “The problem is the name, image and likeness should not be a part of it and it’s become a part of [the transfer portal].” // “You come here because of the culture. To be developed, the environment, the fans, trying to compete for national titles, having other really good players to play with. That’s why you come here. ‘Coach, how can you develop me? What can you add? What can you do?’ Not, ‘How much is the NIL?’”
The University of Dubuque will be the first NCAA Division III school to partner with the INFLCR Exchange in order to help provide opportunities for student athletes at an advanced level, typically only seen in NCAA Division I programs. Success NIL Exchange will be free to students and commercial enterprises that use it. It will help customize and manage NIL reporting while providing fulfilling NIL transactions.
Great story from Sportico’s Michael McCann on the legal ramifications of the NCAA interfering/banning NIL collectives. Full story HERE.
ATHLYT, the NIL marketing technology platform, announced it has closed its seed funding round from venture capital firms and private investors. According to ATHLYT’s CEO Kirk Uhler, the investment will be used to hire new staff to manage the incredible growth in new athlete attraction. ATHLYT also intends to bring in additional staff to assist with helping small and medium sized businesses connect with college athletes for marketing campaigns. Press release HERE.
Former USC great Matt Leinart is partnering with current Trojans’ quarterback Caleb Williams to launch Hall of GOATs, an NFT platform for amateur athletes to build their personal brands and boost their NIL value through digital collectibles. More HERE.
Little Rock announced it has partnered with FanWord as part of a new, innovative SA directory boost called FanWord Boost. More HERE.
West Virginia unveiled local NIL marketplace powered by Icon Source.
George Washington announced a new partnership with Teamworks.
Memphis debuted MaximUM - an NIL resource program by Opendorse.
Marquette has tapped Altius Sports to expand its NIL program.