NIL talent surcharges are here

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Hey there,

Happy Tuesday. Did you know that Tennessee is adding an NIL “surcharge” to their ticket sales? or that Georgia universities can now legally pay athletes directly thanks to a new law? What about whether the House Settlement could hurt the USA’s Olympic gold changes? Well good news — if you didn’t know, we’re telling you right now. The NIL news is coming up right now!

Questions? Concerns? Hot takes? Send them to [email protected].

— Cole, Justin and Collin

The Big 3

Tennessee Adds NIL Surcharge to All Ticket Purchases

Starting in 2025, the University of Tennessee is adding a 10% “talent fee” to every ticket purchase. In other words, it’s an NIL tax of sorts – an additional revenue stream to keep top tier players coming to Knoxville. 

“That connection between resources and competitiveness has never been tighter,” said athletic director Danny White in a video that went out to season ticket holders, “Only now we have the ability to share these resources with our athletes. We can generate revenue that will go directly to our players.”

The move hasn’t been popular with everyone. SI’s Noah Henderson called the 10% fee an “insult” to the fans. “After begging fans to donate hard-earned money to their NIL collective for the last three years,” Henderson said, “The Volunteer Athletic Department also wants those same fans to subsidize their athlete payment costs. How far can Volunteer administration expect fans to stretch their wallets?” (More)

New Georgia Law Allows Schools to Pay NIL Directly

The governor of Georgia just signed a new law that disallows third-party organizations, like the NCAA, from taking “adverse action” against schools facilitating or offering NIL compensation to players. In other words, schools can now pay players directly in the state.

As it stands now, the law isn’t permanent. It’s only in place until either a federal NIL law is enacted, or else a settlement of sorts is agreed upon. Right now, the latter is in jeopardy thanks to holdups in court surrounding the House v. NCAA settlement. 

A similar law was passed in Virginia earlier this year, putting those two states at a legal NIL recruiting advantage for the time being. Even if a settlement is passed, it likely won’t take effect for another year or so. (More)

Could Rev-Share Kill U.S. Olympic Gold Chances?

The United States’ Olympic diving coach thinks the House Settlement’s rev-share model will disproportionately hurt sports like diving, even suggesting the settlement decreases our odds at beating China’s diving team (which just sept the event in Paris) in the 2028 L.A. Olympics.

“Top colleges now must decide how to fund their athletic programs with much lower budgets going forward,” he said in an Op-Ed he wrote for USA Today, “They could lose 20-25% of their funding ‒ and the easy way to cut costs is to eliminate sports with lower financial value and audience engagement.”

In the piece, he gives four potential “solutions” to saving Olympic Sports from the settlement… But you be the judge of whether they would actually fix the problem. (More)

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ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Jalon Daniels

• School: University of Kansas 

• Sport: Football 

• Position: Quarterback 

• Class: Redshirt Junior 

• Accolades: 

• Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year

• Maxwell Award Watch List 

• Preseason All-Big 12 First Team (Big 12)

• Preseason All-Big 12 First Team (Athlon)

• Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team (Phil Steele)

• The Wuerffel Trophy Watch List

• Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Preseason Watch List

• Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year Award Watch List

• Manning Award Watch List

• Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List

NIL: Daniels has used Opendorse to land him deals with EA Sports, Apple, Metritrust, Frosted Flakes, Adidas, Applebees, and March Madness. 

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Deion Sanders says that the media attacks college football players because they’re “envious” about athletes out-earning them

♦️ UTSA announces “Flash Give” NIL strategy – which lets fans immediately give players NIL money during the game

♦️ Ohio State wideout Jeremiah Smith signs an NIL agreement with Red Bull

♦️ Joe Moglia: The NCAA can barely run a business right now... why are they running college sports?

♦️ Leaf trading cards announces their women’s collection, which is packed with NIL superstars like Livvy Dunne, Paige Bueckers, and more

♦️ Mississippi State football just received an $8M gift – the largest in the school’s history

♦️ College Football 25 video game has struck deals with 6.5 million players so far

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Will Adrian Wojnarowski be able to take St. Bonaventure back to the NCAA tournament in his first year as GM?

• Yes, his connections in the basketball world are beyond valuable - 48%

• No, the role isn’t really suited for a one-year transition into success - 52%