Teaming up with

Hey there,

As part of our effort to continually take you behind the curtain of NIL, today’s edition features a conversation with Lone Star NIL’s founder Tom Burnett. Tom’s wide-ranging career is hard to encapsulate in a single bio, but we’ll try our best to do so here. 

Mr. Burnett served as commissioner of the Southland Conference from 2003 to 2022, which made him the longest tenured leader in the conference’s history. He also served on the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for five years, including a stint as the group’s vice chair after the Covid-19 pandemic, and chair of the group in 2021-2022. In other words, Mr. Burnett is (as his Twitter/X bio states) an “actual NCAA bracketologist.”

Now Tom is in the NIL game. Lone Star NIL operates a bit like a state-wide NIL collective, but as Tom is apt to point out, it functions more as an “anti-collective” more than anything else, as they have zero interest in the on-field/court success of a singular school.

We ask Tom about NIL from many angles – as a former commissioner, as a bracketologist, and of course, how it pertains to Lone Star NIL. We hope you enjoy!

As always, we’d love to hear from you. Send an email to editor@nil-wire if you’re interested in business partnerships, or even if you just want to give us feedback.

— Cole, Justin and Collin

Interview with Tom Burnett

You’re a former Division I commissioner. What’s the temperature like right now for conference commissioners? What are they monitoring daily, struggling with, and worried about right now? Is there a consensus opinion on what needs to be done?

As I’ve become disconnected from the DI commissioner’s room over the past couple of years, I still know that these leaders remain laser-focused on the greater good of the collegiate athletic enterprise. Specifically, how do we ensure continuing to develop successful student-athletes through unmatched educational opportunities and graduation, competitive experiences, life skills, governance involvement, inclusion, integrity and fairness? And can that remain within the “Big Tent” of Division I that the conferences agreed on a few years back.

Regardless of the issues, and probable challenges and solutions ahead, I’m bullish on the collegiate athletic space and trusting of those in charge of its success, especially my commissioner colleagues.

Obviously the Big Ten and SEC have been pushed to the top of the conferences, and they’ve been vocal about taking things into their own hands if the NCAA can’t fix the issues it currently faces. What are your thoughts on the possibility of conferences, not the NCAA, controlling college sports?

Interestingly, I don’t recall a time when the Big Ten and SEC weren’t the “top of the conferences,” so I don’t know what’s necessarily changed! Granted, finances have evolved dramatically through the years beyond anyone’s wildest dreams and those two leagues will continue to be the tip of that spear.

However, I remain a proponent of the NCAA, believing this self-governing national organization is the best opportunity to unite, maintain and sustain the enterprise. If not the NCAA, then what? There will always have to be some level of national governing oversight. I think it’s a bit naïve to believe we can just get rid of it, as that’s not how this really works. Plus, for every reason someone has for its demise, I’d offer 10 thoughts on why we must hold on to it.

Further, if we adopt some alternate conference control, wouldn’t we just move the targets – legal and otherwise -- off the back of the NCAA and onto the backs of the leagues? Many if not all conferences, including at the autonomy level, don’t really want that. Just like most things in society, we need rules and oversight.

Teaming up with

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With Lone Star NIL, LLC, you’ve created an NIL collective, but instead of a school, it serves a whole state. Why did you feel this was an important addition to the NIL world? What purpose do you hope it serves?

Lone Star NIL was formed in the truest sense of what we thought name, image and likeness was supposed to be when it became permissible in 2021, not what it’s necessarily become. We are what I would call an independent “anti-collective,” as we have no interest in the competitive standing of any athletic programs, nor do we become involved in any program’s recruiting efforts. We do not engage with individual program boosters and supporters, instead working directly with companies and brands. And, as most people know, our program is exclusive to Texas-based college athletes enrolled at any of the 116 in-state universities and colleges.

In addition to beneficial NIL transactions, we also connect our homegrown student-athletes to professional development opportunities, community service and charitable activities with the Texas corporate community that may also grow and enhance our future statewide workforce.

NIL has changed the way college sports operate forever. Where do you see the future of college athletics headed?

Separate from NIL, some programs and leagues will need to come to terms with their burgeoning financial largesse, and if and how some of this revenue is shared with future student-athletes, who may become employees at some institutions. 

While there’s no question many schools need to address what may need to be a “professional” model going forward, I truly hope there’s the real opportunity for the larger majority of universities to remain entrenched in an “educational” manner of integrating their athletic programs as an important aspect of the institution’s academic mission. In that scenario, those choosing the educational pathway for student-athletes can still provide traditional academic and athletics scholarships as we know it, plus offer Alston, Pell, and NIL funding.

Also, I can see some programs having the means to bring NIL collective operations within their university structure down the road if that’s permitted, while in some cases, there will continue to be universities that will not have successful NIL activity. Instead, perhaps they can focus on Alston academic awards on a consistent and sustainable basis. 

You’re a real bracketologist. Taking into account the legal developments in the last few months, what do you envision the future of March Madness specifically looking like?

March Madness is the greatest sporting event in the world, and while I’m more traditional in my thinking about holding to its current structure, I also believe it’s reasonable to consider some degree of bracket expansion. There are a lot of smart people in the NCAA that can figure that out along with broadcast partners, venues, etc., to see what works best while still retaining structural integrity.

However, as I can tell you from my men’s basketball committee experience, there’s no amount of tournament expansion, limited or sizable, that will resolve everything. Some teams in a given year just don’t win enough games and fall short of the Big Dance, and that will never change.

BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question: