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- 🏅 ACC Newcomer raises $160 million
🏅 ACC Newcomer raises $160 million
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Hey there,
Is there a sleeping NIL giant in Dallas, Texas? Is March Madness expanding? Is Oklahoma ready for SEC-level NIL fundraising? In today’s newsletter, we’ve got updates on all of this and more. Keep reading to catch up on all of the weekend’s news!
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KICK-OFF
Oklahoma Consolidates NIL Collectives
The University of Oklahoma – which possesses one of the nation’s most innovative NIL collective infrastructures – just consolidated its collectives into a single entity called 1Oklahoma. The move comes as the school prepares to officially join the SEC on July 1st.
“We are establishing a new benchmark to empower Student-Athletes to focus on their game and providing real ROI to businesses and value to consumers,” said 1Oklahoma CEO Jeff Weber of the move, “This initiative embodies collaboration, innovation, and the creation of enduring value through exclusive access and content for all stakeholders.”
This is an efficiency move more than anything. Instead of trying to coordinate multiple collective efforts, Oklahoma will now be able to streamline its vision more effectively. (More)
FCS School Calls Foul on NCAA, House Settlement
Houston Christian University, an FCS school that competes in the Southland Conference, just filed a legal motion in hopes of untangling themselves from the impending House v. NCAA settlement. The motion alleges that the current proposal will “adversely affect HCU,” and that the NCAA violated its bylaws by not consulting HCU or its conference about the proposal.
It’s important here to understand precisely what the school is arguing. In HCU’s eyes, they’re getting punished for the profits Power Five conferences have been pocketing for decades. As a result of the settlement, they’re forced to divert funds from academics to athletics.
It gets tricky legally here, because while HCU is potentially implicated in the damages via its association with the NCAA, it didn’t really receive profit like big Power Five programs. (More)
NCAA Wants to Add Teams to March Madness
The NCAA is reportedly tinkering with March Madness, pitching new tournament models that would expand the field to four or eight more teams.
In February, the power conferences considered how they could allow more of their teams to play in the postseason. If March Madness were to stay the same, that would mean cutting some of the 28 small-conference qualifiers, who receive automatic bids if they win their conference tournament. Seeing as that solution is wildly unpopular, the logical next option would be to expand the field.
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander pumped the breaks on this idea, though. With House settlement payments likely coming soon, this move doesn’t actually generate much more money. (More)
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VIDEO OF THE WEEK
JJ Redick Could Have Been An NIL Superstar
JJ Redick was just hired as the Los Angeles Lakers’ new head coach, but let’s not forget his legendary career at Duke. Had he been able to make money off of his NIL from 2003-2006, he might have surpassed every other player in the country in NIL valuation.
Check out some highlights from his illustrious career below. How much NIL money do you think he would have been worth in 2024? Let us know by replying to this email.
Happy birthday to one of the best Duke players of all time and Duke all time leading scorer, @jj_redick!
— Blue Devils (@BlueDevils)
1:44 PM • Jun 24, 2023
DOWN TO BUSINESS
Learfield Report Signals NIL Market Growth
Learfield just released its second annual NIL impact report, which shows the company’s rapidly growing NIL footprint since this time last year. During the 2023-24 academic year, student-athletes earned $13.6M in cash + trade value from Learfield NIL sponsorships – a 70% increase from the year before.
That’s not all. The company saw 100% growth in year-over-year sponsorship deals, as well as 100% growth in participating student-athletes – the total number swelling to 2,000. Their median NIL deal size was $3K.
Of course, this story is important to Learfield, but it also speaks to the burgeoning market of NIL services. As the demand for NIL tools surges, service providers like Learfield are becoming more crucial to the landscape than ever. (More)
LSU superstar Flau’jae Johnson says her NIL deals amount to “about $4.5M” in total, which would give her the second-highest NIL valuation in the country if accurate.
The 2024 Softball Player of the Year, NiJaree Canady, appeared at the MLB’s PlayBall Weekend as part of an NIL agreement. Canady is likely looking to expand her brand as she enters the transfer portal.
COLLECTIVE 101
SMU Raises $160M for ACC Jump
SMU’s big-money donors have rallied this year in anticipation of the school’s conference change this fall. During the 2023-24 school year, the Mustangs’ athletic department rose a record-setting $159M – not too shabby as the financial future of college sports remains in flux.
How did SMU manage to garner such a large amount of support? Well, you can thank a singular week in September for that. Once the school announced its transition to the ACC, it collected $100M in donations over the course of a single week. They also have boosters covering the school’s media rights losses as a result of the conference transition.
SMU may not be a football powerhouse now, but they could see a resurgence soon thanks to the school’s deep pockets. They received 82 six-figure gifts this year, 35 seven-figure gifts, and 4 eight-figure gifts. (More)
75% of House damages money will go to Power 5 football players who played from 2016-2023. Then, men’s basketball will get 15%, women’s basketball will get 5%, and all other D1 athletes will get another 5% combined.
Marshall University is partnering with Athlete Advantage for NIL management. Their plan? Lure corporate sponsors to give money to the school’s NIL collective.
ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT
Donovan Edwards
School: University of Michigan
Position: Runningback
Sport: Football
Class: Senior
Accolades:
Three-time letterman (2021-22-23)
Big Ten Griffin-Grange Championship Game MVP (2022)
Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 28, 2022)
Shared team Offensive Rookie of the Year honors (2021)
First player with multiple 40-plus-yard TDs in the CFP National Championship Game (2024)
NIL: Landed NIL deals with top brands like EA Sports College Football 25, where he's a cover athlete, Burt Watson Auto Group, and Essentia Water, among others.
NIL BLITZ
♦️ Washington State’s former AD talks about the school’s NIL future
♦️ Here’s a thread on the three House damages classes for easy reference
♦️ Vestible app hits the market for fans to invest in players’ career earnings
♦️ Marquette volleyball announces NIL support for two local volleyball clubs
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BATTER UP
Today’s Poll Question:
Would you like to see the March Madness field expand by four or eight teams? |
“I don’t know… As fast as the NIL landscape is developing, we are keeping all our options open on what the future would look like. We are not going to close any doors right now—no pun intended.”