Penn State Taking Trademark Case to Trial, JuJu Watkins New Docuseries + ICYMI | Newsletter #288

Nov 14, 2024

Today’s Thursday newsletter includes highlights from this week, important news from last week, and what to watch for.

Keep up to date on all of our newsletters and content by checking out past Optimum Sports Consulting Newsletters, and following us on Twitter!

Recapping Major News This Week:

Jury Selection for the trial between Penn State and the online retailer, Vintage Brand, began Tuesday in a Pennsylvania federal district court.
In 2021, Penn State sued Vintage for selling “counterfeit Penn State-branding clothing and accessories” without the school’s permission, and they accused the company of blatantly using schools’ trademarks without permission to generate sales - the online retailer sells throwback T-shirts, hats, tees, socks, mugs, and other products associated with sports teams.
Michael McCann highlights the significance of this case in his article for Sportico where he states that “at stake [in the Penn State v. Vintage case] is whether teams’ imagery can be used without consent to create unlicensed products. But also at play is whether teams can exclude others from using historical memorabilia that, as relics of history, are already in the public domain.”
Purdue, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal Berkeley, UCLA, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, USC, Stanford, Utah, Washington and Washington State have also filed similar suits against Vintage.
CLICK HERE to learn more.

All-American Sophomore, JuJu Watkins, becomes the first women's college basketball player to star in and executive produce her own show.
The program titled ““On the Rise: JuJu Watkins,” is set to premiere with two episodes on November 23 on NBC and Peacock ahead of USC's marquee matchup against Notre Dame; and the docuseries will be released exclusively on Peacock for the remainder of the season.
Watkins is a star both on and off the court. She set the all-time scoring record for a freshman last year, led USC to the Elite Eight for the first time in three decades, and she has several groundbreaking NIL partnerships such as with Nike, Gatorade, Beats by Dre, and others.
CLICK HERE to learn more.

Updates to Diego Pavia’s case against the NCAA - LINK
Woj makes first major NIL collective deal as St. Bonaventure GM - LINK
Story on the hidden NIL Economy - LINK
Michigan partners with Passes - LINK
Connor Stalions coaching top recruit and Michigan target, Bryce Underwood, during high school playoffs - LINK

Vanderbilt Quarterback, Diego Pavia, Sues the NCAA over Junior College (“JUCO”) Rules

Diego Pavia sued the NCAA on Friday in a Tennessee federal district court claiming that NCAA rules barring his eligibility for the 2025-26 season because of his prior play at a junior college violate the Sherman Act.
Before joining Vanderbilt, Pavia played at JUCO New Mexico Military Institute for two seasons before transferring to New Mexico Sate for his next two seasons.
Pavia’s eligibility is set to expire following this season because of the combined effect of three NCAA bylaws: 12.8 (the Five-Year Rule); 12.02.6 (the Intercollegiate Competition Rule) and 14.3.3 (the Three-Year Limitation).
The Five-Year Rule allows an NCAA athlete to play four seasons of “intercollegiate competition” within a five-year window, and the NCAA interprets “intercollegiate competition” to include JUCO play even though junior colleges are not members of the NCAA. In addition, the NCAA limits junior college transfers to a maximum of three years.
Pavia claims that the NCAA shouldn’t count his JUCO years against his eligibility to play at an NCAA member school, and that his chances for NIL deals and professional prospects are harmed by doing so.
CLICK HERE to learn more.

Although the Transfer Portal has not yet opened, and National Signing Day has not yet commenced, college football programs are already working tirelessly on filling out their roster for the 2025 season. Most notably in the form of recruiting and retaining current players. In addition to recruiting high school and transfer players, schools now need to emphasize keeping their current players from leaving.
On Monday, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said that the team’s staff has already started working on deals for next year with current players. In his statement, coach Freeze said “You’re already actively having to engage in conversations with recruiting your current roster, which is not much fun and not something that I know of any coach that’s really for, but it is what it is.”
In addition, coach Freeze said that most conversations go through Auburns personnel department and the NIL collective team - not himself. “I’m thankful for them and that I don’t have to engage in most of those because that would be really, really very hard to do and difficult because you want to have genuine, real relationships that are built on trust and communication,” Freeze said. “And that’s more and more difficult to do if you’re having to handle every single facet and aspect of today’s game.”
To learn more about Auburn’s retention process, and the innerworkings of assembling a football roster in the NIL era, CLICK HERE.

Keep up to date on all of our newsletters and content by checking out past Optimum Sports Consulting Newsletters, and following us on Twitter!