What happens to NIL deals when a player quits?

Hello, weekend!

Hope everyone had a good week. You’ll find a few noteworthy NIL/money stories below. And if you need to catch up, here are links to newsletters from earlier this week about Rutgers’ NIL aspirations and Boise State “gothlete” Nora Hayd. We will be back on Tuesday with another exciting week of money in college sports!

— Kyle

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THE BIG 3

What happens to NIL deals when a player quits?

Kellis Robinett, a great reporter for the Wichita Eagle/Kansas City Star, had a story this week about a subject many college sports fans ponder: What happens to NIL money when a player leaves a team? 

The answer varies from school to school, and not every contract is the same. But Robinette was able to lay out the financial fallout of Kansas State running back Dylan Edwards’s departure. Athletic director Gene Taylor said Kansas State’s policy is to void the revenue-sharing contract of any athlete who voluntarily leaves the team. 

Edwards gets to keep the money he already pocketed, but he will miss out on two months of earnings. Kansas State’s payments are similar to those from a regular 9-to-5 job, hitting players’ bank accounts every few weeks.

But there was perhaps an even bigger financial hit: losing all endorsement money. 

The Wildcat NIL collective stops all payments when an athlete leaves the team. Edwards had deals with a car dealership and a restaurant. Ads with the car dealer featured Edwards driving a Mustang, a Porsche and a BMW. Now, he will be forced to find his own wheels.  

According to Robinett, Kansas State is spending roughly $15 million of its $20.5 million rev share budget on football. How much was earmarked for Edwards is unknown, but it’s safe to estimate he would’ve earned six figures. 

The decision to leave the team is odd, given that Edwards would have continued to get his money. I suppose you could say he was admirable for not collecting a paycheck when he didn’t want to be on the team. 

Another wrinkle is that since Edwards’ deals were cut off, Kansas State has extra money to find his replacement.

Toledo opens new revenue streams

It’s been a momentous week for the University of Toledo. 

On Saturday, the Rockets christened the Venture Courtside Club, a sleek, million-dollar hangout at Savage Arena for courtside seat owners, which features all-inclusive beer and food, flatscreens, couches and access to the team tunnels. 

Then, on Thursday, they announced a mid-six-figure partnership with KeyBank, which will become the official bank and title sponsor of Toledo women’s athletics. 

At a time when every dollar matters — even the Ohio States and Texases of the world are scrounging for every dollar — these two projects, which came to fruition over a few months, are a massive positive for a Group of Five athletic department. Toledo athletic director Bryan Blair and deputy AD Connor Whelan have proven adept at generating revenue streams.

The space for the courtside club used to be a storage closet under one end of the bleachers. Blair has been all-in on expanding Toledo’s premium spaces, and he found a willing partner in Venture Visionary Partners, a wealth management firm in suburban Toledo that was already involved with the Rockets. 

“We have a different level of expectation for what excellence looks like,” Blair said. “My job is to uphold that standard. I think this space takes things to a whole new level. It’s a statement about where we want to go as an athletic department, where, frankly, we shock you at every turn. You say, I can’t believe that’s Toledo athletics, I can’t believe that’s in Toledo, Ohio. And we say, watch what we do next.”

The club is only open to people with courtside seats. Toledo increased courtside seat prices and upped their number from 48 to 100, adding a second row and seats behind one basket. And for the first time, Toledo decided to sell men’s and women’s courtside seats as separate packages. 

A front-row seat for men’s games is $2,000 per ticket for the season. The second row is $1,750. Women’s games will have only one row of courtside seats, at $675 per ticket. Toledo, which routinely ranks among the top 30 nationally in women’s basketball attendance, had no issue selling out the women’s courtside seats. 

No detail was overlooked, as the club features two Wall Street-style tickers with scores and stats and a circular bar with a bartender. Toledo expects to make six figures in revenue from the space each year. 

Perhaps the most unique aspect is that men’s basketball coach Tod Kowalczyk will give a chalk talk in the club before each tipoff and after games, offering fans an inside glimpse at game plans and opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. 

The initial announcement about the courtside club in August was so positive among the donor class that KeyBank wanted to get involved in a big way with Toledo. So it agreed to the largest corporate investment in Toledo women’s athletics history. 

The bank will have its logo on the Savage Arena court and branding across women’s sports, including on coaches’ clothing and athletes’ warmups. 

For an athletic department trying to stay near the top of the mid-major world, these deals are viewed as a lifeline. 

Hawaii seeks NIL funds from state government

We hear lots of chatter in college sports about how difficult it is to remain competitive in rural, far-off locales like Pullman, Starkville and Lubbock. 

How about Honolulu? 

Building a consistent winner in the middle of the Pacific Ocean ain’t easy. Most people think, who wouldn’t want to play football in paradise? Well, athletes still want their families to attend games. And even for a college student, it’s expensive to live in Hawaii. Plus, there are numerous logistical hurdles. 

That’s why Hawaii athletic director Matt Elliott, football coach Timmy Chang and women’s basketball coach Laura Beeman were at the Hawaii state capitol this week meeting with lawmakers in hopes of getting approval for $5 million annually in NIL funds. The athletic department is expected to submit a formal proposal at the start of the next session in January.

To keep pace, the Rainbow Warriors/Wahine have to keep pace with their peers. Next summer, Hawaii is joining the Mountain West as a full member. 

“I just got a call last night that one of my players is worth $300,000 on the market right now,” Chang told Hawaii News Now. “It’s just backlogged, back-door talking through agents in the world we live in. The guy does not want to leave. He wants to be here. He wants to be a part of this culture and loves the guys that he’s playing next to, but that’s just the world we kind of live in right now.“

Elliott stressed that simply chasing dollars to retain students isn’t enough. If a program isn’t keeping and attracting talent in the transfer portal, remaining competitive is almost impossible at the non-power conference level. The Hawaii triumvirate said the athletic department can only do so much through fundraising and corporate partnerships. The $5 million would be a game-changer, especially as the school transitions into the Mountain West. 

“We are on the right path to continuing to grow young people in the right direction, and we can pay them,” Beeman said. “We have to pay them. If we don’t, we will lose them and our rosters will not look the same four years from now.”

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Washington State just fired its AD after only 18 months on the job, but it hasn’t stopped fans from making donations. In fact, the president’s all-in NIL rallying cry has led to three large gifts.

♦️ Iowa and Learfield announced an expansion of the Hawkeyes’ NIL efforts, creating three new positions dedicated to supporting athletes and brand partners.

♦️ Auburn AD John Cohen sheds light on the search for a new football coach, reiterating the school’s commitment to NIL resources.

♦️ Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Calipari has a new NIL idea: booster insurance.

♦️ BYU president Shane Reese and advancement VP Keith Vorkink discussed the Cougars’ NIL strategy.

♦️ Big Ten ADs can’t escape talk about Indiana. Maryland AD Jim Smith is the latest, as he develops a similar road map for the Terrapin football program.

♦️ Why is Oklahoma men’s basketball playing so many neutral-site games? NIL.

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Should revenue-sharing spending be public?

• Yes - 86%

• No - 14%