NIL Newsletter #90 | Saban/Fisher Feud, CA's "College Athlete Race and Gender Equity Act" stalls, Hawaii Men's Volleyball + ICYMI Ticker
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:
Aftermath of Nick Saban’s comments ring throughout college football
On Thursday morning, Texas A&M HC Jimbo Fisher held a news conference in which he aggressively responded to Saban’s comments. “It’s a shame that we have to do this. It’s really despicable,” Fisher said. “It’s despicable that somebody can say things about somebody and, more importantly, 17-year-old kids. You’re taking shots at 17-year-old kids and their families. That they broke state laws, that we bought every player on this group. We never bought anybody. No rules were broken. Nothing was done wrong.” Full press conference from Fisher HERE.
“We were second in recruiting last year,” Alabama’s Nick Saban said the night before. “A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it.”
Saban went on College Sports on SiriusXM (transcript thread below):
The SEC issued public reprimands for both Saban and Fisher:
“I don’t know why Nick Saban would say what he said except he’s threatened,” Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork told Sports Illustrated. “There is a saying … an emperor who loses their dynasty lashes out. He seems to be making excuses. This is personal. Coach Fisher views this as a personal attack on his integrity and on Texas A&M’s integrity. To have personal attacks, to say that the only reason A&M is [recruiting well] is NIL money is wrong.”
“I haven’t talked to Coach Saban. I’m sure he’s tried to call. We need to talk publicly - not privately. What you said was public. That doesn’t require a conversation. Let’s talk publicly and let everybody hear the conversation,” JSU HC Deion Sanders told Andscape on Thursday. “You can’t do that publicly and call privately. No, no, no. I still love him. I admire him. I respect him. He’s the magna cum laude of college football and that’s what it’s going to be because he’s earned that.”
Miami Booster John Ruiz: “** SHOCKING** Saban stated in his speech that Miami (@LifeWallet) paid a player $400k a year but not for a true NIL. Saban’s statements contain admissions that he and the school involve themselves in their players NIL deals. WOW-CLEAR NCAA VIOLATIONS!” // Saban’s statements contain numerous admissions that he and the school violate NCAA rules by involving themselves in the players NIL deals! @LifeWallet we do it right!”
“There are some concerning trends,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said hours before Saban’s comments. “We're not seeing name image and likeness activity — we're seeing just straight payments. And I think it's important that we recenter ourselves on what's supposed to be happening here and the desire to keep that activity out of recruitment to benefit young people economically but to do so in a healthy way.”
Sportico’s Michael McCann talks about the legal issues HERE.
SB-1401: “The College Athlete Race and Gender Equity Act” is dead for the California’s Senate’s current legislative session
SB-1401, a California Senate bill that would have radically changed the economics of college sports in California, failed to pass through the Appropriations committee on Thursday.
Asked for a reaction to SB-1401 stalling in committee, an industry source offered the following response: “While most view this bill, and college athletics generally, through the lens of high-major football and men’s basketball athletes, this outcome is a win — for now — for the other 80 or so percent of student-athletes in the state, especially women’s athletes, as well as non-power programs.”
An analysis published by the Appropriations Committee projected an economic impact of $34 million to $36 million annually for the University of California and $1 million to $9.3 million annually for the California State University.
“Unfortunately CA SB 1401, which would pay college athletes w degree completion funds, was held in committee & won’t go forward. The legislative session isn’t over however, we’ll keep you updated. Thanks to @SteveBradford for authoring this bill and fighting for our rights!” The National College Players Association tweeted this week.
University of Hawaii Men’s Volleyball team are leaning into NIL
The University of Hawaii Men’s Volleyball team are leaning into NIL, fresh off their victory against Long Beach State last Saturday to win their second straight national championship.
“The men’s volleyball team has become the most profitable NIL team on the university-wide campus,” RKT Media President & CEO Ryan Kalei Tsuji told KHON 2 News in Honolulu. “I think because of their visibility, the success that they have, obviously as back-to-back national championships, make them very marketable and brands want to work with that. I think it’s evident when you saw people waiting for hours to get their autographs and photos with them.”
RKT Media works with more than 20 student-athletes. This includes middle blocker Guilherme Voss. He’s done NIL partnership ads with Off the Hook Poke Market and Uniqlo Hawaii on social media.
NIL money means a lot to student athletes on smaller revenue-generating teams- in men’s volleyball SAs on average receive 10-15% of a full-ride scholarship. According to the UH, the men’s volleyball team split 4.5 full scholarships across their roster of 23 players.
ICYMI Ticker
University of Oregon President Michael Schill, who is on NCAA Board of Governors, said NCAA's recent guidance re: NIL is “hopelessly vague.”
NIL data for Kansas Athletics that spans July 1, 2021 to May 5, 2022, obtained through a public records request, details 219 deals reported by student athletes to the department across that time period of a little more than 10 months. The total value of the deals, which in the information provided is broken up into 256 separate entries that could represent an entire agreement or part of a larger opportunity, comes out to $380,915.01 — meaning an average of $1,739.34 per arrangement.
After a two year review process, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is set to release formal rules governing the conduct and disclosures required of social media influencers. Influencers who fail to comply with the new rules are likely to face significant sanctions. Consumers will benefit from the disclosure of the material relationships between influencers and the products they promote. More to come on this.
Congressman Pete Sessions, whose district includes Texas A&M and Baylor, talked with WTAW’s Scott DeLucia about replacing state laws with federal laws regarding NIL rules for NCAA athletes. More HERE.
On3 did a profile of Attorney Michael W. Caspino- the lawyer with Forward Counsel (California) became a household name in college sports when it was revealed he represented a five-star recruit who signed a NIL deal with a collective worth an estimated $8 million.
Georgia Tech announced the launch of Icon Suite - more HERE.