🏅 Over 10% of College Ballers just entered the Portal

Hey there,

Well, if you’re in our NIL Wire Bracket Challenge Group, you’ll know it was a pretty rough weekend for me. I had my alma mater, the Baylor Bears going all the way… then they laid an egg vs. Clemson. Oh well, there’s always next year, right?

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KICK-OFF

Blue-bloods Are In Trouble

In a recent interview, legendary Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright described how the combination of NIL and the transfer portal could spell the death of basketball blue-blood schools. His logic, admittedly, makes a lot of sense.

Essentially, the transfer portal allows a player to get playing time (and get paid) much quicker than before. So instead of sitting on the bench at a prestigious institution, a former 5-star recruit can now go to a different school and become the player he would have been at the other school, but a year earlier. In essence, the talent level spreads out.

Look no further than the NCAA tournament bracket to see proof. Blue-bloods like Kentucky, Michigan State, and Kansas didn’t make it out of the first weekend, in large part due to the rapid alterations in their roster year-to-year. Blue-bloods will never go away completely, but their status may be changing thanks to NIL. (More)

College Basketball Portal Explodes

On a related note, 836 Division I men’s basketball players officially entered the transfer portal, which opened last Monday – that’s 10% of the sports’ athletes. The explosion of transfer decisions nearly all happened within 48 hours of the portal opening, when over 550 players announced their intent to change schools. 

However, while many will point to this statistic as another ugly outgrowth of NIL, there’s good reason to believe these decisions have very little to do with NIL compensation. Only 0.9% of the portal entries could be classified as a “Top 100 ranked college player” according to Bart Torvik’s PRPG! metric, while over 80% of entrants are classified below a “Top 1000 ranked college player.”

What’s that mean? Most portal decisions aren’t coming down to NIL dollars so much as they involve on-court opportunities. Playing time is the primary factor in players switching schools, not cash payments from collectives. (More)

The NCAA and Overtime Elite

While Rob Dillingham’s Kentucky team failed to make it out of the first round of March Madness, he was still able to cash in on his NIL all season for the Wildcats. Some of his teammates at Overtime Elite (OTE), however, were not quite so lucky.

We’ve covered OTE here before, but if you’ve missed it, the program serves as an alternative path for NBA teams to scout professional talent. Rob Dillingham played there, but because of a change from “salary” to “scholarship” payments in 2022, he was eligible to play at Kentucky after OTE. 

His teammates, the Bewley brothers, were denied eligibility though. They joined OTE in 2021, meaning they were paid “salaries” instead of “scholarships.” As a result, they’ve been in (losing) legal battles with the NCAA over their eligibility this entire season. The story serves as a cautionary tale in the immeasurably complicated student-athlete professionalism debate. (More)

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK

March Madness’ Wildest Moment Yet

Sunday night gave us perhaps the most exciting March Madness game yet, with Texas A&M squaring off with the nearby Houston Cougars in round two. The Aggies clawed their way back to 83-86 before hitting this sensational buzzer beater to send the game to overtime. A&M may have lost this game, but this end of regulation shot encapsulates the magic of March perfectly. Check it out below!

DOWN TO BUSINESS

A “Prime” Investment Opportunity

Amazon Prime Video just unveiled an NIL investment meant to drive fans toward watching March Madness on their platform. As part of an effort to funnel viewers to the games, the company signed non-basketball athletes to social media promotion deals in order to boost the tournament. 

The logic behind the deals: If your favorite football/softball/volleyball player is telling you to watch March Madness, then you will. Partnering with massive college sports brands like Nebraska, Tennessee, and Alabama, the goal is to grab non-basketball fans and widen the audience of college basketball. (More)

• Campus Ink just raised $2M to expand NIL Store operations to more schools. The wildly popular Mark Cuban-backed company has paid out over $1M in revenue shares to athletes to date.

• JP Morgan is creating a sports investment banking division, and college sports are likely on the table. The expansion of NIL has given companies inroads to invest in athletes at the college level at a fraction of the cost of professional leagues.

COLLECTIVE 101

Texas’ NIL Country Music Concert

The University of Texas is enlisting an array of music superstars to bolster their NIL presence this May. The school’s Texas One collective is putting on an NIL-fundraising concert featuring country royalty Brooks & Dunn as well as performances from Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen. Proceeds will go directly to the school’s NIL fund.

The country-concert fundraising route has been successful for collectives in the recent past. Eric Church played an NIL concert for North Carolina in August, and Georgia Southern alumni Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell will host a similar event next month for their alma mater. As collectives try to combat donor fatigue, live events such as these are becoming increasingly popular. (More)

• Syracuse’s NIL collective reveals they’re eying a $2M to 2.5M men’s basketball team budget in the future. They’re also saying they want to dedicate $1M to women’s basketball.

• Miami’s collective is partnering with a Hurricane fan-based blog, CanesInSight, for NIL promotions. “Unlike other programs to the North, we have professionals in charge of our NIL game,” the announcement said, “Let’s get back to killing teams.”

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Alyse Then

Alyse Then's journey to Division 1 soccer embodies resilience and determination. As a first-generation college student with Dominican Republic roots, the recruitment process seemed daunting. Despite facing uncertainty, Alyse remained steadfast in her pursuit of her dreams — even after an injury setback, she refused to let go of her aspirations. Returning home, she channeled her determination into her game, scoring an impressive thirty goals in one season for a local Division Three school. 

Through hard work and perseverance, Alyse caught the attention of college recruiters, ultimately receiving an offer from UNLV, among others. Alyse’s grind didn’t stopped there though; she's been reaching out to companies and using the App mogl to receive NIL deals with companies like firefly, salt athletic, and liquid IV. 

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NIL BLITZ

♦️ Adidas doubles down on Haley Van Leith’s NIL brand

♦️ Kansas superstar talks NIL and March Madness

♦️ Rutgers re-ups Playfly Aspire partnership

♦️ Marshall Athletics hosts NIL workshop 

♦️ Caitlin Clark’s fame and NIL, by the numbers

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

What’s the best American postseason sports event?

• March Madness - 51%

• College Football Playoff - 21%

• NFL Super Bowl - 16%

• NBA Finals - 5%

• MLB World Series - 7%