Coaches Complain, Collectives Campaign

Hey there,

What a weekend in college sports — and almost by definition, what a wild weekend in NIL. Today’s newsletter is packed with controversy — Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy backs an NIL collective, arguments about a gender pay gap abound, and an unhappy coach is begging fans for more NIL money. Where you land on these topics… well that’s for you to decide. We’re just here to give you the news.

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— Cole, Justin and Collin

Barstool’s Portnoy Partners with Ole Miss

Dave Portnoy has never been one to shy away from controversy – perhaps that’s why it’s a perfect fit for the Barstool Sports founder to throw his NIL support behind Lane Kiffin, the polarizing head coach of Ole Miss.

Portnoy’s Brick Watch Company is partnering with Ole Miss’ The Grove Collective in a unique deal that’s sure to drive up sales in Mississippi. For every watch sold, Ole Miss’ NIL collective will receive a $1,000 donation from Portnoy’s company – that’s about half of the proceeds going directly into Ole Miss’ pocket. (More)

Dallas is the Mecca of NIL

In the 1980s, Southern Methodist University’s football program was slapped with the death penalty as a result of their paying football players — a total ban on football at the school. Now thirty years later, SMU’s home-city of Dallas has become the epicenter of NIL.

From Dr. Pepper to AT&T, many of the largest NIL deals have passed through Dallas, and it makes sense once you think about it. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has established itself as the financial and business hub for the southern US.

Combine that corporate spending power with a football-crazed state like Texas, and the NIL deals start flowing freely. And that’s not even mentioning TCU’s efforts to become the leader in NIL learning. (More)

Not Just Title IX

NIL has raised a myriad of conversations around gender-equality. It started with concerns about Title IX, and now we’re seeing another complaint arise: concerns around a gender pay gap. The argument goes as such: On one side, women are paid far less than men in the NIL landscape, which many see as a fundamental issue of equity. The raw numbers bear out a discrepancy: research by Opendorse shows women only reap about 23% of the total financial rewards of NIL.

The other side of the argument would contend that the market is, well, the market. Seeing as though there’s no way to artificially inflate an athlete’s NIL, the market itself determines an athlete’s value, making it impossible for a completely equitable landscape. (More)

Collectives Tackle the Pay Gap

Let’s stick on this gender pay gap conversation, because it bleeds directly into the business of NIL collectives. When money comes into a collective, that group then determines where it goes, not necessarily the market. Collectives aren’t trying to achieve market value; they’re trying to attract talent by raising as much money as possible.

Okay, so what? Well, the gender-pay crowd will see that as a way that collectives artificially cap the market value of female athletes. The other side would point at the popularity of men’s football and basketball as the determining factor of market value.

Both sides make fair points, honestly. On one hand, Opendorse data shows that only 34% of school collectives even put together deals for female athletes. On the other, there can’t be a completely equitable financial system when football alone might eclipse the market value of all other sports combined. (More)

Decimated Depth

As Syracuse football stacks up injuries, head coach Dino Babers blamed NIL for their lack of playable players. “Depth is gone,” he said, “Our depth is in the transfer portal. You know how many guys we lost. You know what schools they play at. Schools like us, we’re not going to have a lot of depth because it gets bought away.”

Babers’ comments come after the fourth season-ending injury for a Syracuse starter and on the heels of an offseason that saw twelve players leave the Orange for bigger programs. Many have argued that NIL is creating parity in college football, but it sounds like coach Babers sees it a bit differently. (More)

Flash Funding

The most important piece of NIL collectives’ fundraising strategies is building sustainable, long-term growth plans to keep a constant flow of cash coming in. That said, it doesn’t hurt to get a rapid influx either, which is exactly what happened earlier this month when Louisville knocked off Notre Dame.

According to Louisville’s 502 Circle collective, the group raised over $50,000 during a “Flash Give” in the middle of the second quarter. Over the course of a timeout the collective called on fans to donate, and boy did they. Louisville’s no slouch, but one can only imagine the money a bigger school may bring in by using a similar strategy. (More)

The Pony Express

Kentucky’s Mark Stoops came under fire earlier this month for urging fans to “pony up” NIL money if they wanted to see success on the football field. “I just encourage them to donate more, because that’s what those dudes are doing,” he said, “I can promise you Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You’re allowed to these days.”

His “pony up” comments came after the Wildcats embarrassing loss to (you guessed it!) Georgia. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart didn’t take offense to Stoops’ comments, though. “I think Mark is trying to garner interest in money from his fan base for his collective,” Smart explained, “We’re all trying to do the same in terms of trying to get money for our collective.” (More)

Not Too Ruff

Imagine if you got the opportunity to broadcast how awesome your dog is to the entire world. Better yet, imagine you were compensated to do so. That exact opportunity presented itself to Tyler Shough when he signed an NIL deal with Wagbnb to promote their doggy daycare and boarding business.

The Texas Tech quarterback isn’t getting paid in the traditional sense. Instead, Wagbnb is giving Shough’s dog Murphy free services for his endorsement. That means whenever Tech plays an away game, Murphy gets an all-expense paid stay at the Ritz for dogs. (More)

Chase Griffin

UCLA quarterback Chase Griffin is showing how NIL can impact the community around him for the better. Click the link below to find out how the stud QB’s advocacy could change the NIL game.

♦️ FGCU Collective wants to make Eagles entrepreneurs

♦️ How NIL deals are getting UTEP players paid

♦️ Stetson University NIL collective announces NIL partnership

♦️ UConn hoops hosts “Bleed Blue” basketball clinic

♦️ WNBA expansion signals a growing women’s college basketball market

Todays Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Has NIL brought more parity to college football?

• Yes - 81%

• No - 19%