Who's got a lower approval rating than Congress? The CSC, maybe.

Hello, readers.

In today’s newsletter, we have some insight from athletic directors and administrators on the state of the College Sports Commission and NIL Go.

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— Kyle

Does your team make the cut?

Tune in live on Oct. 15 at 8 pm (ET) / 5 pm (PT) for the reveal of the Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll, recognizing the top offensive line units in the country. Hosted by CBS Sports personality Jenny Dell, this live YouTube event will unveil the best lines in the country with expert analysis from CBS Sports analyst Aaron Taylor, ESPN analyst Cole Cubelic and more.

The Joe Moore Award is the only college football award given out to a collective unit rather than an individual player, emphasizing the importance of unity, brotherhood and teamwork that define the culture of the offensive line.

Does your team make the cut? The only way to find out is to tune in live on Oct. 15.

Subscribe to the Joe Moore Award YouTube account today and be sure to catch a new episode of Trench Life every Thursday!

KICKOFF

Visit Reno Tahoe partners with Nevada athletes in unique NIL deal

Visit Reno Tahoe and Wolf Pack Sports Properties, LLC, have come up with a unique partnership, using University of Nevada athletes in promotional destination content with an NIL fund. 

Six Nevada athletes have participated in the partnership. The athletes have individual contracts. They have been featured in ads for the Best in the West Nuggett Rib Cook-off and the promotion of an event in Victorian Square in Sparks, Nev. 

The deal also includes appearances at high-profile events and “may include entertaining current and prospective meetings, conventions and sports events clientele,” according to Nevada Sportsnet.

The Visit Reno Tahoe NIL budget for the current fiscal year is $242,500.

We need Alabama athletes promoting the Unclaimed Baggage Center, a deal with Texas Tech athletes and the Cadillac Ranch and a South Dakota State-Corn Palace partnership.

More news and links:

• Opendorse is gobbling up many of the NIL collectives that were using Student Athlete NIL, a third-party operator that abruptly shut down last week.

• Fox and ABC refused to air a commercial starring Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell criticizing conference commissioners. It’s a campaign-style ad that is in favor of amending the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. 

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Stingy booster invades Fansville

Dr. Pepper has done a remarkable job in its eight years of Fansville ads, nailing almost all of them with parodies that verge on reality. The latest commercial features a booster who — gasp! — won’t spend enough money. It’s funny because the whole scene feels like something that plays out in college towns across the country.

DOWN TO BUSINESS

The CSC might be the only organization with a lower approval rating than Congress 

That’s not to say there is antipathy or resentment for the newly-formed College Sports Commission. Instead, athletic directors and administrators are mostly exasperated about the group’s inability to “operate within a flawed framework and environment,” as one athletic director told NIL Wire. 

The CSC was established to vet all third-party NIL deals to ensure they comply with the terms of the House settlement. Schools are using a platform called NIL Go, operated by Deloitte, as a clearinghouse to vet the deals. Each deal valued over $600 is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with athletes and collectives providing information to prove that it requires the promotion of a product or service and is not just a pay-for-play arrangement.

But the setup requires significant manpower, an amount of work that an entity with single-digit employees can’t comb through. As first reported by Front Office Sports last week, several major conference collectives are now bypassing NIL Go and the House settlement rules, perturbing fellow power conference programs and the Group of 6. 

One G6 AD told NIL Wire that the CSC is “probably a long shot because it appears the P4 is resisting much of what they put forth.” 

“The rules created by the House settlement around third-party NIL deals are actively in place and enforceable and apply to all current NCAA Division I student-athletes,” a CSC spokesperson wrote in a statement provided to NIL Wire. “Pay-for-play deals are not allowed under the rules and will not be approved in NIL Go. There is no safe harbor for breaking these rules and there will be eligibility consequences for student-athletes who do not follow them.”

The irony is that the CSC was the power conferences’ idea. Yet complaints about NIL Go began populating not long after it launched in June. The most common issue is the lag time between when a deal is submitted and when it’s approved, contributing to millions of dollars’ worth of deals being left in limbo.

Two power conference administrators expressed to NIL Wire that they have faith in the CSC and NIL Go, noting that the organization is still shy of 100 days old. However, reviews are mixed, even among the power conferences, although there’s a belief that NIL Go’s headcount will scale over time. 

Last month, the CSC announced it had approved 6,090 deals worth $35.42 million from June through August. Its first release incorrectly (and humorously) stated that it was 8,359 deals worth $79.8 million, a “clerical error,” the CSC said. In a nod to enforcement, more than 300 deals worth $10 million were denied. 

The man in charge of the CSC is Bryan Seeley, a former assistant U.S. attorney and MLB executive. His past work includes investigating the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox for their notorious sign-stealing schemes. If you polled college football stakeholders, from ADs to coaches, players and fans, they want rules and enforcement. The problem is that we’re in an era of constant litigation, with those who receive an unfavorable ruling going to court to seek a decision they agree with. 

As one AD put it, the CSC is full of “smart people, but set up to fail.” 

There’s another huge problem that has existed since Princeton and Rutgers played in 1869: the desire to win. Circumventing the rules is incentivized by winning. So far, the penalty has yet to mitigate the allure. 

Last week, the CSC announced a “snitch line” to report alleged NIL violations. Most of the calls might be about the CSC itself. 

“Frustration and exhaustion” is how one AD described it.

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ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Mendoza does more than throw TD passes

It’s good to be Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and not just because he has a $2.2 million NIL valuation or because he’s a Heisman Trophy favorite. It also pays to be kind, and that’s what Mendoza and his brother, Alberto, a backup QB for the Hoosiers, did last week, presenting their teammates with headphones from JLab.

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