NIL Newsletter #129 | Donor Decisions, Opendorse "NIL Book," + ICYMI
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:
Athletic Department Donors Face Giving Conundrum
As Seton Hall prepares to begin a $52 million dollar practice facility for their Men’s and Women’s Basketball programs, many are questioning the causal relationship between program investment, NIL investment, and team success.
Student Athlete NIL founder Jason Belzer: “You either make a decision to divert donor and corporate revenues to the student athletes or you don’t. It means telling donors to donate to the collective and if they say, ‘I can’t give to the school and the collective,’ you tell them the collective is more important. … They need to raise $500K a year minimum if they want to be competitive [in MBB], $1M if they want to have a chance at fielding a top-25 team.”
Seton Hall Athletic Director Bryan Felt disputes this point, stating that it is possible for donors to support Seton Hall through both NIL collectives and the Pirate Blue Athletic Fund.
This is perhaps one of the first public feuds between an athletic department and an NIL collective, but it is very likely not the last.
Opendorse Releases New “NIL Book”
This week, alongside with releasing data on a plethora of reported NIL deals, Opendorse announced the launch of their proprietary “NIL Book,” which provides earnings expectations for college athletes.
It is important to note that the book is kept private, and only available to schools that are both current Opendorse partners and contribute data to Opendorse about NIL transactions.
The first annual copy of the book will be shared with partners in January with individual books for football and basketball. More sports will be included in the July release, the second of the two annual reports from Opendorse.
Opendorse shared some data publicly. The expected yearly earnings for a top 25 Power 5 quarterback is approximately $196,000, while the expected yearly earnings for a top 25 Power 5 running back stands at $130,000.
ICYMI Ticker
Purdue’s Boilermaker Alliance NIL collective has facilitated 12 deals between Purdue student athletes and the Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana. LINK
Auburn’s On To Victory collective has completed deals with all members of Auburn’s Men’s and Women’s basketball teams, as well as the volleyball team. LINK
Adidas agreed to NIL deals with four men’s basketball athletes: Hansel Enmanuel, Gradey Dick, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Jalen Hood-Schifino. LINK
Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt signed a deal with World of Hyatt, which will provide gift cards to the families of Hyatt’s Tennessee teammates for their upcoming bowl game. LINK
UTSA QB Frank Harris announced his return to the program, helped by a six-figure deal with San Antonio-based advertising agency PM Group. LINK
The Horizon League became the first conference to launch a league-wide NIL marketplace through their partnership with Opendorse. LINK
The WWE partnered with athletic training company Exos to provide expert training and facilities for student-athletes participating in their NIL program. LINK
Florida State focused collective The Battles End is expressly focused on player retention. LINK