🏅Shilo Sanders files for Bankruptcy

Teaming up with

Hey there,

In today’s newsletter, we’ve got continued updates on the NCAA settlement, a new athletes' rights group to emerge, and some unique new ways collectives are raising money. Keep on scrolling, and never miss out on anything in the world of NIL. Do you have any feedback for us? Reply to this email and let us know.

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KICK-OFF

Chase Griffin Defends Rights of College Athletes

UCLA QB Chase Griffin was a Texas high school football legend turned backup QB. Now, he finds himself in a new role: advocating for fellow student-athletes. Griffin testified before Congress, criticizing the proposed FAIR College Sports Act. He felt the bill got in the way of student-athletes receiving the compensation that they deserve.

“I had to offer truthfully and experientially my knowledge on what has been and what it can continue to be with unfettered access for college athletes to exercise their NIL rights,” said Griffin.

Representative Lori Trahan applauded Griffin’s rare courage and noted that Griffin’s testimony influenced the bill's fate. (More)

House Settlement Gives the NCAA Leverage over Conferences

Amidst the chaos preceding the recent House settlement, there were murmurs among power conferences about splitting from the NCAA to form a “Super League” of sorts. Now that the NCAA is footing a majority of the settlement bill, however, that outcome seems less likely.

Essentially, the Power Five conferences will pay $664M in damages over the next decade, while the other 27 smaller conferences (think MAC, American, and others) will collectively pay $990M. That leaves a whopping $1.1B left for the NCAA to pick up. 

Oddly enough, that massive amount of debt actually gives the NCAA some leverage. Because the conferences don’t want to pay that amount, they now have a common goal of supporting the viability of the NCAA’s profitability for the next ten years. In other words, don’t expect a breakaway tournament from March Madness anytime soon. (More)

South Carolina star partners with hair care brand

South Carolina’s basketball star Raven Johnnson has dominated the court her entire college career. Now, her off-court portfolio is beginning to look equally as impressive. A few days ago, she signed on with Parfait, a Black hair-care brand that utilizes AI to create personalized wigs. Yeah, AI can do that now.

Johnson wears wigs often during games, which is possible because of the way Parfait designs the tightening system. For her, wigs are a basketball necessity. “I like to get fly. I think that’s the Atlanta in me,” she said of the partnership, “You have to look good.” 

In a concise amount of time, the NIL market around women’s basketball has grown to rival men’s basketball. Johnson’s growing brand points toward that change. (More)

Teaming up with

Teamworks, the leading technology provider for collegiate athletic departments, will launch Teamworks Wallet this summer. Teamworks Wallet (“Wallet”) is a digital banking solution built specifically for athletic departments and student-athletes. Trusted by over 700 NCAA institutions and 1,000 elite sports organizations worldwide, Teamworks is uniquely positioned to deliver a centralized destination for student-athletes to receive, store, and spend their money.

At launch, Wallet will integrate with Teamworks Influencer to streamline NIL payments for student-athletes. This integration allows collectives, businesses, and donors to quickly transfer funds directly into student-athletes' Wallet accounts without incurring any fees from Teamworks.

Learn More>>

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Most Innovative NIL Program in College Basketball

Who has the most innovative NIL program in college basketball? This video by Opendorse founder Blake Lawrence breaks it down.

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Fontenot lawsuit will proceed despite House Settlement

House wasn’t the only class-action antitrust lawsuit the NCAA’s been fighting. There’s another one – Fontenot v. NCAA – brought forward by a former Colorado football player that focuses specifically on TV money in college sports. 

Well, big news just came out from that case: the lawsuit will not be absorbed into the House settlement, meaning it will move forward on its own. Athletes who choose to opt out of the House Settlement money can now join the Fontenot case in hopes of potentially more money in damages.

“Maybe it stays small, but if anything, this certainly weakens the idea that the House settlement represents an end to antitrust litigation against the NCAA over amateurism rules,” said Sam Elrich, who teaches sports law at Boise State, “That can’t be extremely comfortable for the NCAA to hear on the day that I’m sure they were looking to start moving closer towards the settlement.” (More)

• Shilo Sanders has NIL earnings questioned after filing for bankruptcy.

• Greg Sankey says cutting sports under the new revenue-sharing model needs to be avoided.

COLLECTIVE 101

Are NIL Collectives a Part of the Problem With College Sports?

The revenue-sharing agreement proposes that athletes will receive 22% of a Power League school’s revenue. This is a stark contrast from professional sports leagues, where the split is around 50-50. However, College athletes are not professionals and do receive benefits that professional athletes would not, such as athletic scholarships.

It seems this cap is implemented to prevent college athletics from becoming just another professional sports league. Nonetheless, collectives still exist to provide compensation outside of the revenue-sharing cap, as discussed in previous issues. Whether or not this is a positive thing for college athletics has been a heated topic of discussion in recent days. (More)

• St. John’s collective, Flat Top, is doing an NIL fundraiser through horse racing to benefit their basketball team.

• The University of Buffalo launches Built in Buffalo NIL exchange in partnership with Teamworks Influencer.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Maya Brady

• School: UCLA

• Sport: Softball 

• Class: Redshirt Senior 

• Accolades:  2-time Pac-12 Player of the Year (2024, 2023), 2-time USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Finalist (Top 25 - 2024; Top 3 - 2023), 2-time NFCA First Team All-American (2023, 2021), Pac-12 Batting Champion (2023 - .456 batting average), 4-time All-Pac-12 honoree (First Team - 2024, 2023, 2021; Third Team - 2022), Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team (2022), Pac-12 All-Freshman Team (2021), 3-time NFCA West All-Region honoree 

• NIL: Maya Brady has used her platform to land NIL deals with companies like Marriott Bonvoy, Absolutely Ridiculous, Waikea, and Nerf. 

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NIL BLITZ

♦️ Nicholas Clark was appointed as Coastal Carolina’s NIL general manager.

♦️  High School freshman Peyton Houston inks deal with Leaf.

♦️SDSU officially partners with Olé Foundation for NIL.

♦️ Deja Kelly and Flau’jae Johnson using candy business to boost NIL.

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Now that Universities can directly pay athletes, do collectives still have a role in college athletics?

• Yes - 52%

• No - 48%