NIL Newsletter # 153 | NIL and Coaching Tensions, Pressure for Federal Legislation, Built Bar Shortcomings + 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:
NIL Changing the Game: College Admin and Coaches Comment on the Evolving Sports World
[University of] Nebraska President Carter, commenting on the current state of college athletics, said “NIL is still the wild, wild west. There’s more conference realignment coming . . . I worry about student athletes becoming employees . . . it really does start to look like a professional sports organization.” (link)
The NCAA resembling the NFL is not a minority opinion either.
During the SEC Spring Meetings, Auburn Football HC remarked that “We are the NFL right now. We just don’t have (player) contracts.” (link)
The NCAA changes in response to NIL have also changed how coaches are recruiting.
A group of anonymous basketball coaches shared their opinion on NIL changes, with one ACC coach highlighting the new importance of how quickly a high school player can contribute to winning. "With the ability to go into the portal . . . I’m less likely to [want to] wait as long for a high school player to develop.”
Nevertheless, some coaches, such as an anonymous Atlantic 10 coach, claim the recruiting portal creates more of a sure thing with much more data on players.
Find the full comments HERE
These changes are so drastic that it has led some, such as Baylor AD Rhoades, to believe they will outlast some of the best college coaches.(link)
Group of SEC Coaches Will Travel to D.C. to Push for Federal NIL Assistance
A group of SEC coaches are traveling to Washington, D.C., next week to meet with lawmakers and make a case for federal NIL assistance.
Alabama Commissioner Sankey said, “Congress is the place that can fix the issues we have.”
Further, Sankey seems to have hope about this meeting stating that the coaches “have the opportunity to contextualize what’s happening within college athletics right now.” (link)
Even so, SEC executives have been exploring solutions to manage athletes’ compensation in a more regulated way in case a federal solution is not made.
The league expects to reconcile its 12 state laws to allow for the conference office to oversee policy for NIL.
(See more on these efforts HERE)
California Assembly Votes to Approve the College Athlete Protection Act
The California Assembly voted to approve the College Athlete Protection Act which would allow student-athletes to receive payments from the school based on the team’s revenue.
The Act also states that if any athletes on any team at a school are owed revenue-sharing payments, the total amount of money designated towards athlete compensation would have to be split between men’s and women’s teams.
This change would spread the wealth from high-revenue sports such as football, to sports like volleyball that produce less revenue.
The Act still has to pass the state Senate and receive a signature from Governor Newsom.
More information on the Act HERE
Built Bar Falls Short on Its NIL Obligations to BYU Football Student-Athletes
In an expansion of last week’s ICYMI, Built Bar has yet to pay BYU football student-athletes all the money that was promised.
The Utah- based protein bar company stated that it would continue to pay tuition for walk-ons and that scholarship players would each receive one thousand dollars. Furthermore, Built Bar’s CEO Greer stated that 15% of the proceeds from the “CougarTail Bar” would do directly to the players that signed NIL contracts with the company. (link, link)
That said, while the scholarship and checks have cleared, many players claim that the CougarTail bar money has not.
In response to the BYU football players’ claims of Built Bar’s shortcomings, CEO Greer claims that players’ comments are a result of a misunderstanding.
According to Greer, the proceeds from the sales have yet to reach players because BYU is still working through the final accounting process, therefore, he does not have the ability to get the funds to players even if he wished to do so.
(see Greer’s full response HERE)
ICYMI Ticker
The Blue A Collective has formed to start providing NIL opportunities for Utah State student-athletes. (link)
The Brandr Group and Majority Strategies announced a partnership to “revolutionize the way that college athletes leverage NIL partnerships.” (link)
Campus ink has launched the Maryland NIL store. (link)
The Maryland Hard Shell Collective and Iowa State WeWillCollective have both partnered with NIL operations software company basepathNIL. (link)