NIL Newsletter #114 | Kirk Herbstreit, Wisconsin's new hires, Indiana Law + ICYMI Ticker AND Tweets of the Week
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for student athletes, administrators, agents and other sport professionals.
Recapping NIL This Week:
Kirk Herbstreit blasts state of NIL in football, singles out Nico Iamaleava
Herbstreit shared his thoughts with the Los Angeles Times in a wide-ranging interview where he referenced multiple current and potentially future student athletes. It’s rolling NIL into recruiting that rubs Herbstreit the wrong way.
“That’s not what NIL was about,” Herbstreit said. “It was about Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud or a guy who was established on the field creating marketing opportunities. It’s not about trying to outbid another booster to try to get a recruit. That’s just not a healthy model.”
“It’s terrible for the sport. It puts these coaches in weird spots. What I’m about is the next wave — the ESPN money, the Fox money, it’s going into the Big Ten from Fox and the SEC from ESPN. I’m all about the players saying, ‘Forget NIL. Let’s negotiate and get a share of those dollars. Oh, we’re going to a 16-team playoff? How many billions of dollars? OK, we need a share of that.’”
“But I don’t like what it’s started out with the recruiting … I went to this school and got offered this, next week I’m gonna go to that school and get offered this. That is a bunch of bull—.”
One example for Herbstreit is Tennessee recruit Nico Iamaleava and a reported $8 million deal. “How can an adult with a good conscience say this is awesome for the sport? What’s going to happen when the kid from [Warren], as an example? Hopefully he’s a great player. But, with the reports about [him receiving] three years, $8 million, what if he doesn’t? What if he struggles? What happens then? I mean, that’s gonna happen eventually. How those guys in Knoxville gonna feel about that? How’s it gonna go over in a locker room, you know?”
Wisconsin names staff to lead NIL program
Wisconsin has named two staff members to lead the Badgers' NIL efforts. Deputy Athletic Director Mitchell Pinta announced the new roles Tuesday, naming Brian Mason Director of NIL Strategy and Bianca Miceli Assistant Director of NIL and Community Outreach.
“This is an investment in our student-athletes and the future of our department,” Pinta said. “The influence of NIL in college athletics has been immense and we must align our resources to continue positioning Wisconsin as a national leader in NIL success for student athletes. Brian and Bianca have been instrumental in our NIL efforts to this point. They have the vision our program and our student-athletes need in order to thrive in this evolving environment.”
Mason and Miceli, who report to Pinta, will lead the effort to continue building on a strong first year of NIL activation for Wisconsin student athletes. They will oversee the continued evolution of the Badgers' holistic NIL program, YouDub — a name that reflects the program's purpose of empowering student athletes to develop a personal brand that suits their personality, interests and business goals while positioning themselves for sustained success both in NIL and their post-graduate endeavors.
Mason will manage UW's strategic partnerships with industry leaders Opendorse and Altius Sports Partners and serve as a contact on NIL issues with key external stakeholders, including corporate partners, Badger Sports Properties and The Varsity Collective.
Hoosier athletes get an assist from law students through NIL Initiative
Student athletes at Indiana University Bloomington will get an assist from their peers at the IU Maurer School of Law under a new NIL Initiative through the school's Center for Intellectual Property Research.
“Our goal is to serve students who are negotiating NIL deals that might involve significant rights of the student but aren't likely to generate enough revenue to justify hiring expensive specialized legal counsel,” said Mark Janis, Maurer School of Law professor and director of the Center for Intellectual Property Research. “While the sports pages are full of stories about six-figure deals for star college football and basketball players around the country, we think that's the exception. We aim to help student-athletes locally who have some great NIL opportunities but don't always get extensive media attention.”
The NIL Initiative will be available to more than 700 student athletes at IU, with assistance provided on a first-come, first-served basis. It is also open to other IU students who have name, image and likeness opportunities. “We expect to take on standard NIL deals and market representation agreements, and we'll represent NIL clients using the protocols that we've developed in our work for clients over many years,” said Norm Hedges, clinical law professor at the Maurer School and director of the Intellectual Property Law Clinic.
Law schools have been slowly rolling out NIL programs to help undergrad student athletes over the past few months. Minnesota announced plans for a clinic in April, and sports law powerhouse Villanova has plans to launch a similar program as well.
ICYMI Ticker
US Bank and Opendorse have launched US Bank Financial Fitness, the customized financial literacy program curated specifically for student athletes. The more than 80,000 athletes on Opendorse will have the opportunity to learn how to gameplan for creating short-term and long-term wealth for themselves and their families.
The Players Trunk announced the September release of a limited edition set of 2022 Michigan State Football trading cards. The 36-card collectible is the first NIL trading card set of Michigan State football.
USC’s BLVD has launched a content series, with the first episode featuring Trojan QB Caleb Williams. On the first episode of “Run it Back,” Williams breaks down his love for Call of Duty with Sydnee Goodman, who will host the series next to other USC athletes. The two play a few rounds of capture the flag and discuss when Williams first started to play video games. “That teaser just showed bits and pieces of what we’ve filmed the last few weeks and what we’ll rollout this fall,” BLVD senior account director Spencer Harris told On3. “We filmed four different shows showing athletes’ passion outside of sports. Each week we will release a new episode with a new athlete. Everything you see from us, the athletes are being compensated.”
Suspended LA Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is looking for student athletes to promote his brand as part of an NIL deal. Bauer has not pitched for the Dodgers in 14 months, after being first put on investigative leave and then suspended for violating baseball’s policy on sexual assault and domestic violence. Bauer is appealing the suspension, but in the meantime he is offering college athletes -primarily baseball players - the chance to earn money and gain exposure by promoting his Bauer Outage line of merchandise.
Florida AD Scott Stricklin talked NIL with Steve Russell on Sport Scene.
Opendorse has launched the Athlete Rate Card™. More HERE.
Great article on Arkansas Senior Associate AD Terry Prentice, who joined UA’s staff in March of 2021. Full story HERE.
Maryland announced the launch of the Maryland Marketplace powered by Opendorse - it is one of the first licensed school NIL marketplaces in college sports.
Western Michigan announced Monday the creation of The ONWARD program. More HERE.
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is partnering with INFLCR.
Tweets of the Week
Not the NCAA but…
The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) took an initial step toward unionizing the minor leagues Sunday night, sending out authorization cards that will allow minor league players to vote for an election that could make them MLBPA members. It’s a monumental step for minor leaguers, who have been unable to collectively bargain for things such as their payment, housing, and name, image and likeness.