🏅Meet the FCS athletes fighting cancer with NIL

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NIL news is coming from every angle today. We’ve got updates on the brewing tensions between coaches and NIL GMs, How some FCS athletes are using NIL to raise money for pediatric cancer research, and why Opendorse’s dataset looks so different from the recently published Washington Post data. It’s all coming up now – let’s lock in!

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The Big 3

Rising Tensions Between Coaches and GMs?

There’s a subtle tug-of-war happening just beneath the surface of college sports; a clandestine power struggle of sorts between college coaches and NIL general managers. What’s the battle over? Control over their respective school’s program.

“Any specialist GM tasked with the intricacies of building and sustaining a basketball program might, at times, bring a perspective that differs from those of head coaches,” said Loyola Chicago Professor Noah Henderson. Thanks to NIL, now college programs are being put to the test.   

For some, divesting power away from college coaches is a good thing; for others, it’s putting power in the wrong person’s hands. If GMs don’t work closely and effectively with their coaches, we could start to see things get ugly, and fast. (More)

FCS Athletes are Fighting Childhood Cancer with NIL

After being diagnosed with cancer, Alexandra Scott started a lemonade stand to raise money for childhood cancer research. When she passed, her mother carried that mission forward by creating a full-fledged nonprofit. Now they turn to NIL.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand, as the non-profit is now called, is partnering with twelve FCS football players to raise money this year. Their goal is to reach $250K from social media outreach and NIL campaigning.

“For us, we're just really pleased to be a part of the whole thing,” said Kevin Marshall, who works on the project for FCS Nation Radio, “It's a really great use for NIL, which gets such a bad rap at the FBS level because it's basically money for nothing.” (More)

The Numbers Don’t Add Up

Opendorse’s Blake Lawrence recently made a video comparing data from his own company to the Washington Post’s most recent figures, found in their Hidden NIL Economy piece. The results don’t exactly line up.

Here’s an example: According to the Washington Post, high-end ACC basketball players are making about $415K per year. Opendorse, on the other hand, says they’re making $2 million a year. That’s a very big difference.

Okay, then why the disparity? Well, the Washington Post only has data from eight schools, as opposed to Opendorse’s data set, which is about ten times larger. The Washington Post piece provides more contextual analysis for easy consumption, but it’s operating within a tightly constricted data set. (More)

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ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Azzi Fudd

• School: UCONN

• Position: Guard

• Sport: Basketball

• Class: Redshirt Junior 

• Accolades: 

• 2022 NCAA Tournament Bridgeport All-Region Team

• 2022 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team

• Three-time Gatorade Washington, D.C. Player of the Year

• NIL: Azzi has partnered with Curry Brand and appeared in commercials for big names like American Eagle Outfitters, TikTok, BioSteel, and Chipotle.

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NIL BLITZ

♦️ Akron’s mascot “Zippy” just signed a first-of-its-kind NIL deal

♦️ Top junior golfers are earning NIL money like they’re professionals now

♦️ Oregon AD: “We don’t have unlimited resources”

♦️ Adrian Wojnarowski lands a huge NIL deal to help propel St. Bonaventure basketball forward

♦️ Vandy QB Diego Pavia is denied a temporary restraining order against the NCAA

♦️ Here’s what Cooper Flagg’s New Balance partnership looks like

♦️ UNLV Athletics generates over $100 million and nearly 1400 jobs per year for the local economy

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Will Paige Bueckers be the highest female NIL Store earner through the college football season?

• Yeah, I think so - 49%

• No, I’ll take the field - 51%