NIL Newsletter #144 | NIL Hearing Breakdown, Texas A&M Lobbies, March Madness Deals, + 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:
House Committee Hearing Produces Little Except Soundbites
This past Wednesday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing focused on NIL compensation for student-athletes.
Representative Gus Bilirakis shared his support for standardizing NIL nationwide with a federal law: “The lack of uniformity across different states and institutions has created confusion and uncertainty and a federal standard is needed, so all athletes are playing by the same rules.”
Jason Stahl, the executive director of the College Football Players Association, refuted this statement, believing that any NIL regulations would only serve the interests of schools, conferences, and the NCAA.
“The federal government should stay out of the NIL free market.”
While not at the hearing, new NCAA president Charlie Baker shared his support for a federal NIL law in a later statement: “NIL is a powerful vehicle that rightfully allows student-athletes the ability to earn compensation from their unique market value. At the same time, the lack of transparency in today's NIL marketplace puts student-athletes in jeopardy of exploitation by bad actors.”
A number of observers pointed out that although the hearing was centered on NIL, there was a starkly small number of testimony from the athletes, Universities, or collectives who primarily take part in its execution.
The full hearing is available HERE.
Texas A&M Athletic Director Takes Visit to State Capitol
On Monday, Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork testified in front of the Texas House Committee on Higher Education regarding House Bill 2804.
The bill, introduced in February, proposes to change language of Texas’s original NIL bill. Most notably, it allows university employees to “identify or otherwise assist” student-athletes in making NIL deals, so long as the employee is not the athlete’s agent and does not receive compensation.
“At the highest level, the expectation that our student-athletes have is that we are more involved,” Bjork said. “The universities are more involved. Until we have that national standard, maybe that will come from the federal government, maybe that will come from our governing body, the NCAA. But until then, we believe that the Texas state law should keep us as competitive as possible in these changes.”
Another possible change introduced by the bill would make NIL records held by universities protected from public records. In the first year of NIL, A&M student-athletes made over $4 million.
More information on the testimony is available HERE.
March Madness Brings April Deals
Given the massive exposure potential for student-athletes present during the March Madness tournaments, it is no secret that companies would hope to capitalize on new-found stardom.
After last year’s Cinderella run, St. Peter’s mustachioed Doug Edert signed an NIL deal with Buffalo Wild Wings on his way to a top-10 NIL valuation according to On3.
This year, some brands—such as Pringles—entered the tournament with advertising strategies in place. Others, such as Leaf trading cards, found athletes as the tournaments progressed.
Leaf partnered with Miami (FL)’s Cavinder twins, who advanced to the Elite 8 before losing to eventual champion LSU.
Ryan Detert, the CEO of Influential, believes that athletes were better prepared this year to take advantage of NIL opportunities in March.
More on the story is available HERE.
ICYMI Ticker
The Kingdom NIL collective is now an official sponsor of UCF athletics, taking the position of “premier NIL partner.” LINK
SDSU’s NIL collective swiftly reached their $350K fundraising goal, thanks in no small part to their incredible run to the championship. LINK
LifeWallet CEO John Ruiz has reportedly invested between $12 and 14 Million into NIL deals with 165 Miami (FL) athletes. If their basketball program’s are any indication, football fans may have something to cheer about this upcoming season. LINK
The FAU-focused Paradise Collective raised $65K in a brief window after launch, once again driven by a March Madness run. LINK
UT Arlington launched the MAKIN’ BUCKS NIL Marketplace in the most aptly named marketplace yet. LINK