NIL Newsletter #18 | Texas TEs, MSU Deal, Panthers/FAU Women + Deep Dive and ICYMI
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for athletes, administrators, agencies and other sport professionals.
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This Thursday’s Newsletter Includes:
Recapping NIL news this week
Deep Dive: FAU QB N’Kosi Perry signs NIL deal with Islamorada Beverages
ICYMI: Cameo releases highest NCAA student athlete engagement data
Recapping NIL This Week:
Texas TEs will partner with Surly Horns in the first full crowdsourced NIL deal
The creative “Burnt Ends” program will enable the Longhorns’ tight ends to monetize their NIL by tapping into the zealous community within the popular Texas message board, Surly Horns. Organizers are characterizing this initiative as the nation’s first fully crowdsourced NIL program, with all of the profits funneling directly to the Texas tight end room (per Eric Prisbell for ON3).
Funds are generated through an auto-renewal subscription with a signup link on the Surly Horns’ website and with all membership money going to the athletes. Vasquez said the message board, which is long on passion and short on censorship, is comprised of fans who are “unreasonably passionate” about Texas football and the state of Texas in general.
Signing up for the $10-per-month membership gets a fan access to a special part of their board just for the tight ends, who will take part in “ask me anything” chat sessions. The $25-per-month tier gets you a cup and bumper sticker. And $50 per month gets you a group dinner with all the tight ends, which will be sponsored by Pinkerton’s Barbecue, the popular Texas staple that is owned by Texas alum Grant Pinkerton.
Every Michigan State MBB and Football student athlete will receive $500/month stipend in NIL deal with United Wholesale Mortgage
United Wholesale Mortgage has offered NIL deals to every single member of Michigan State's football & men's basketball teams. All 133 Spartans, including walk-ons, can accept a $500 monthly stipend for the entire year.
Mat Ishbia, CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, is a former MSU basketball player. He donated $32M to the school earlier this year.
“The Spartan family sticks together, and that's what makes MSU athletics so special,” Ishbia said. “Each player contributes to the team in a positive way and we're excited to help support them, while also helping educate consumers about the benefits of independent mortgage brokers.”
Ishbia was part of the Spartans' championship squad during the 1999-2000 season, and his company has hired former MSU players Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bell and Adam Wolfe. Cleaves discussed how much a monthly stipend could have improved his life as a student-athlete, per Davis. “I was a star athlete and having access to resources like this would have made a huge difference in my career in a very positive way,” he said. “What UWM is doing for these Spartan athletes is unprecedented, and aligns closely with what Coach Izzo and MSU taught us, which is to always take care of our family.”
NHL’s Florida Panthers offer NIL deals to more than 200 FAU women’s athletes
The Panthers offered NIL contracts to every eligible women’s athlete for the FAU Owls, offering more than 200 student-athletes an opportunity to partner with the NHL team for potential endorsement opportunities. Florida is the first professional sports team to sponsor an entire women’s athletic program.
“We’re excited to announce this next stage of our ‘FLA Athlete’ program and bring an entire collegiate athlete women’s program into our Panthers family,” said chief strategy officer Sam Doerr said in a statement. “We look forward to supporting and collaborating with these talented female athletes in our South Florida community on innovative ideas and events in South Florida.”
This is the second landmark deal Florida has struck since the NCAA allowed college athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness (NIL) in July. In August, the Panthers inked an NIL deal with Miami Hurricanes quarterback D’Eriq King, becoming the first professional sports team to sign a college athlete to an NIL contract.
Deep Dive: FAU QB N’Kosi Perry signs NIL deal with Islamorada Beverages
A year ago, no one would have thought NIL and alcohol would mix. With limited guidance from the NCAA and minimal content restrictions in certain state NIL laws, N’Kosi Perry and Islamorada Beverages are the first alcoholic beverage NIL deal in the country.
Written by Austin Meo (@AMeo31)
The idea of “content restrictions” in NIL varies in every state’s NIL legislation. Common banned industries include Tobacco/Nicotine; Alcohol; Marijuana/Vaping/Controlled Substances; Adult Entertainment; Casino/Gambling; and Weapons- among others. Some states, like Arizona, California and Florida, do not discuss content at all. And in general, most SA NIL deals are subject to review by their own institutions for content violations. Ohio State, for example, bans sponsorship deals with distilled spirits- leaving the door open for beer and wine NIL deals.
So how did we get here? At one time, content restrictions made sense. Protecting athletes from entering into agreements with “sinful” industries seemed like a widely accepted principle. But like booster involvement, agency representation pipeline and minimal school interference (see BYU/Built Bar), guardrails from 2020 seem like ancient history now. FAU approved a deal in a state with no content restrictions in a country with no standard NIL law, where the main governing body (NCAA) has a one page NIL policy with essentially two rules to follow (and despite it being interim it has not been updated in months).
Perry’s deal is just another example of the wild west that is college athletics NIL. It is the first time an NIL deal has been struck between an alcoholic beverage company and a student athlete- and it will most certainly not be the last. And like the arms race in recruiting, compliance departments will be hard pressed to keep up with each other. As long as it doesn’t violate state law, almost every deal will be pushed through to keep up in recruiting and the NIL arms race. Schools can’t afford to make moral decisions on certain deals if it will push PSAs elsewhere
Having specifically outlined content clauses now might seem like the worst thing a state can have. Look at BYU in Utah- absent an NIL law that could have been stricter on school involvement and content, an entire group of football walk-ons will get to go to school for free. Florida, a leader in the NIL legislative timeline, perhaps made the best “less is more” decision by not having any references to content.
What ignored industry will be next? In states with legalized medical or recreational marijuana, will student athletes be allowed to endorses THC brands or CBD products? Under adult entertainment, could a student athlete sign with OnlyFans or another adult entertainment platform? And will states with content laws amend them if there is enough demand and push back from school officials? These questions might be answered in the coming days.
July 1st might have been the beginning, but NIL is still in its infancy stage. The status quo is no longer here; instead the limits of how far NIL can be pushed is the calling card athletics departments must see.
ICYMI: Cameo releases highest NCAA student athlete engagement data
Alabama’s Montana Fouts, who threw a perfect game against UCLA in this year’s Women's College World Series, has the most engagements on Cameo in the NIL era (per Brandon Marcello). The star pitcher already has 50 five-star reviews and over 465 “fans” since joining Cameo two months ago. The WV and KY native charges $55 for individual videos and $385 for business.
In addition to Cameo, Fouts has a website where fans can buy merchandise that includes her favorite phrase, “Be The Blessing.” She has 118k Instagram followers and 28k followers on Twitter, but her biggest platform is Tik Tok. She has accumulated nearly 2 million likes on her videos and has nearly 139k followers on the video sharing platform. Fouts is represented by David E. Rich of Rich Sports Management.
On a related note, the Division I Competition Oversight Committee on Wednesday approved expanding the Women’s College World Series to a nine-day event, beginning with the 2022 championship. The 2021 Women’s College World Series outperformed the men’s College World Series in viewership by 60 percent. The women’s tournament drew, on average, 1.2 million viewers, while the men’s tournament averaged 775,000 viewers. 13 of 17 WWS games aired on ESPN this year.
Every student athlete in the top-10 belonged to a Power-5 institution. Aside from Fouts, the remaining nine athletes all played either men’s basketball or football. Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler has the highest price tag amongst the group- charging $249 for individual videos and $10,000 for business. Bijan Robinson (Texas) and Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse) are the only other members in the top-10 who charge 3 figures for individual videos.
Cameo creators receive 75% of the booking price. The remaining 25% and any service, transaction, or order processing fee goes to Cameo. If a booking is done through the IOS app, creators will lose 30% off the top to Apple (per Cameo’s Help Center).