🏅2024's NIL Store Best Sellers

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Hey there,

Welcome back. Today we’ve got good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad news: we’re officially approaching the end of the college football season. There are only three games left – Thursday’s Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State, and Friday’s Cotton Bowl between Texas and Ohio State. Then we’ve got the National Championship on January 20^th before the football offseason.

But here’s the good news: We’re not going anywhere. The transfer portal is ramping up, and college basketball is in full swing. The NIL news doesn’t stop, so we don’t either. College sports are a 24/7 endeavor in 2025, so we’ve got year-round coverage to keep you looped in.

Today we’ve got some good stuff – first, the highest selling schools and players at the NIL Store for 2024. Then we’re giving you a wild update about how the NCAA may further change their eligibility rules. Lastly, two football coaches throw around the idea of Nick Saban becoming college football’s commissioner. It’s all coming up right now – let’s go!

— Cole, Justin and Collin

The Big 3

The NIL Store’s Top Sellers in 2024

If you’re wondering who dominated jersey and merchandise sales last year, look no further: The NIL Store just released a few “top sellers” lists for 2024 – including the top-selling schools, athletes, and exclusive merchandise drops.  

Let’s start with the schools that sold the most. Coming in at #1 was Purdue, followed by UConn at #2, Illinois at #3, and Iowa rounding out the top four. Only one SEC school – LSU – made it into the top ten.

Now to players: UConn’s Paige Bueckers topped the list for women’s athletes, followed by her teammate Nika Mühl at #2. As for the men, Zach Edey took home the top spot, followed by Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty. Both the men’s and women’s lists were dominated by basketball players. (More)

The NCAA is Considering Five Years of Eligibility…?

In the wake of Diego Pavia’s massive legal win, we were expecting a shift in philosophy around how the NCAA handles eligibility in the future. What we weren’t expecting, however, was how quickly it would happen:

So basically, if they decide to go through with this idea, every player would have five years to play college sports instead of four. That would also mean that if a player took a redshirt year, they’d be playing college sports for six years.

Of course, there’s going to be pushback from just about every angle on this measure. But as I said when talking about Pavia’s case, I could see eligibility itself being under attack soon. The fundamental logic of Pavia’ suit still applies: The NCAA can’t legally impose an eligibility restriction if it’s restricting potential NIL compensation. (More)

Coaches Like Saban as College Football Commissioner

Ahead of their Bowl matchup in the Gator Bowl, Ole Miss’ head coach Lane Kiffin and Duke’s head coach Manny Diaz agreed about one thing: College football is screwed up right now, and the sport is in desperate need of a commissioner.

Who better a candidate than Nick Saban? “He would be phenomenal," Diaz said of the possibility that Saban would become commissioner, “But you have to give the guy power. Right now the power is with the leagues.”

Kiffin was in agreement: “I can't imagine there being a better person who genuinely has the best interests of the game and the kids," he said, having worked for Saban briefly about a decade ago, “He always has been old school that way. There couldn't be a better person.” (More)

Teaming up with

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ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Kam Jones

• School: Marquette University 

• Sport: Basketball

• Position: Guard

• Class: Senior

• Accolades: 

• Unanimous Preseason All-BIG EAST First team selection in 2024-25

• Named to Jerry West Award Preseason Watch List

• One of 20 players on the NABC Division I Player of the Year preseason list

• Named to Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy National POW preseason list

• Named to 2024-25 John R. Wooden Award Top 50 Preseason Watch List and Lute Olson Award Early Season Watch List

• Named BIG EAST Player of the Week (11/18/24, 11/25/24), five times in career total

• Claimed Associated Press Player of the Week accolades (11/26/24)

• NIL: Jones is making waves in the NIL world. He's now the second-highest valued college basketball player, with an estimated NIL value of $2 million. 

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Leaf trading cards signs Kai Trump, Donald Trump’s granddaughter, to an NIL partnership

♦️ Reggie Bush: “NIL is not the fix”

♦️ The pre-NIL world wasn’t fair to athletes, but is the new NIL world fair to anyone else?

♦️ Bowl game swag bags are introducing NIL tax liabilities

♦️ Here’s how much NIL money the top eight CFP teams were working with

♦️ The NCAA is inviting more lawsuits with this new measure

♦️ Sacramento State hires former CFL executive to be their NIL GM 

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Will student athletes become employees in 2025?

• Yes - 49.4%

• No - 50.6%