NIL Newsletter #94 | OSU's Ryan Day sets NIL price tags, Connecticut HS NIL, Miami's Isaiah Wong + 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:
$2 million for QBs, $1 million for tackles and pass rushers, say Ohio State’s Ryan Day
Speaking to about 100 members of the Columbus business community on Thursday morning, Ohio State Football HC Ryan Day put a NIL price tag on what he believes it will take to keep the Ohio State football roster together: $13 million.
Day said his estimate was based on conversations with recruits and their families, and it factors in rates for specific positions, including $2 million for premier quarterbacks and $1 million for top offensive tackles and pass rushers.
“One phone call and they’re out the door,” Day said, as transcribed by Cleveland.com’s Doug Lesmerises. “We cannot let that happen at Ohio State. I’m not trying to sound the alarm, I’m just trying to be transparent about what we’re dealing with.”
Real estate developer Brian Schottenstein has said he aims for THE Foundation to become the largest NIL fund in the country after launching it in March. OSU athletes from all 36 varsity sports have earned nearly $3.5 million in NIL compensation over the last 11 months, the most in the country, the athletic department announced Thursday.
Connecticut becomes latest state to allow HS NIL
A Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policy allowing Connecticut high school athletes to profit from their NIL came to light this past week after the organization changed its amateur sports policy over the winter to reflect NIL language. Connecticut joins 10 other states that allow their high school athletes to profit from NIL activities.
CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini said the policy hadn’t changed much from the previous amateur sports policy. “Our amateur policy didn’t include any language on NIL, so when NIL came out, we reviewed the policy and looked at it through the lens of NIL and included NIL language in it,” Lungarini said.
Connecticut high school athletes may retain agents or lawyers and may be involved in “commercial endorsements, promotional activities, social media presence and product or service advertisements,” according to the CIAC guidelines. The athletes may not use the school’s name or logos, and no one employed by the schools may be involved in the athletes’ NIL activities except to enforce policy. Activities involving adult entertainment, alcohol, tobacco or cannabis products, controlled substances, gambling or weapons are prohibited.
Isaiah Wong will return to Miami for 2022-23
Miami guard Isaiah Wong announced Wednesday he was withdrawing his name from the 2022 NBA draft and will return for the Hurricanes next season. The Hurricanes’ guard tweeted his return to the program saying “let’s run it back” after aiding Miami in an Elite Eight run last season. Wong initially declared for this year’s draft on April 25 while maintaining his eligibility, allowing him to work out with several NBA teams including the Celtics and the Thunder.
In a wild offseason, Wong nearly entered the transfer portal in late April. Adam Papas, Wong’s agent, previously told ESPN that Wong would enter the portal if his NIL value was not elevated. Wong saw that Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack reportedly received $400,000 per year and a car from company, LifeWallet, to commit to Miami.
As a result, per Papas, Wong and his family wanted a bigger deal that met their expectations. However, in late April, Wong refuted his agent’s statement, saying it was made “without his authorization”, that it did not reflect his views and that he did not want to “jeopardize his relationship with LifeWallet or Miami.”
ICYMI Ticker
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey on conference oversight of NIL: “As you asked the question, is it legal? I’m not the one to answer. We’ve certainly seen court outcomes that speak to conference oversight of certain aspects of college sports rather than national. And that’s something we’d engage with our counsel in determining. To have a national standard, it appears to us that Congress has to act. And Congress may opt to not act. If that happens, we’re now in hypothetical land and the question is a relevant one about conference oversight.”
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is investigating potential claims on behalf of purchasers of MSP Recovery, who is led by founder and Miami super-donor John Ruiz. The investigation concerns whether MSP and its officers and/or directors have violated federal securities laws. MSP was valued at $32.6 billion in its merger with special purpose acquisition company Lionheart Acquisition Corp. II, the largest such combination ever in the US as measured by enterprise value. It began trading on May 24th on the Nasdaq, plunging more than 60% to $3.85 at 10:04 a.m. in New York, less than an hour after its debut. It is currently valued at $1.02 a share.
NC State freshman sensation slugger Tommy White, who recently broke Georgia Southern’s Todd Green’s freshman single-season home run record, sent shockwaves across college baseball on Thursday when he entered the NCAA’s Transfer Portal, potentially setting the stage for bigger NIL opportunities.
Campus Ink and Indiana University have announced a total school solution agreement that will provide NIL merchandising opportunities for all Hoosier student athletes.
Two Clemson graduates have launched a new NIL collective called Dear Old Clemson. It joins Tiger Impact as a NIL collective in place to support student athletes at Clemson. There are three places that fans can donate to. The first is the Roy Bus, which will go toward Clemson football players for NIL purposes. After that, there is the Lady Tiger Club, where donations will go toward supporting women’s sports. Finally, The Clemson Athletic Club donations will primarily go toward football, as well as all other sports.
According to a report, NC State’s student athletes earn on average $442 per NIL transaction. Brian Murphy of WRAL Sports reported through a public record request that up to May 19, 2022, there have been 80 total NIL deals for NC State athletes. Their overall value is $35,385.88, according to the report. Due to privacy concerns, the university has rejected offering any information on individual deals.
Auburn MBB HC Bruce Pearl: “It certainly has complicated the recruiting process. This was a totally different recruiting season that we’re just going to have to figure out. We’re all looking for guidelines and trying to figure out what’s the best way to do it, what’s the right way to do it. But the bottom line is, for the kids being able to benefit off of NIL, that’s a really good thing. Just trying to figure out how to navigate that properly, and that’s a challenge for all. I think we’re all still looking for solutions and all still looking for concepts and ideas. State laws are different from state to state, so basically, you have to follow as best you can your rules as written by your state. It’s all so new.”