Decades-old 12th Man group a boon for NIL fundraising

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M athletes have either made or agreed to make nearly $10 million in name, image and likeness deals in the 19 months since the NCAA allowed athletes to benefit from NIL, Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork said.

Now the real money fun starts for A&M athletes, based on the latest move by the university to keep on the cutting edge of NIL. Check that: not by the university — the A&M administration makes that crystal clear — but by the 12th Man Foundation, the athletic department’s longtime independent fundraising arm with its new 12th Man Plus Fund.

“We have a governing board that’s selected for the 12th Man Foundation outside of the framework of Texas A&M University,” said Travis Dabney, president and CEO of the 12th Man Foundation. “We have an affiliation agreement … but our governance is by a 15-member board of trustees. It allows us to enter into this (pact) in a way that other universities could not, because their development operation would be in-house.”

Aggies in 1950 weren’t looking seven decades into the future when they founded the Aggie Club separate from the university to help raise money for A&M athletics. But in the age of NIL, the concept works agreeably with NCAA and state mandates in streamlining donors providing money to athletes.

“There was a lot of attention paid to making sure we were compliant, that all the governing bodies and entities were aware of what our intentions were,” Dabney said. “There was a lot of attention to detail and a lot of work put in by a lot of different people.

“The last thing we would want to do is bring any dishonor to Texas A&M University.”

Dabney added that Arkansas’s Razorback Foundation is the only other athletics fundraising arm with a similar independent setup in the Southeastern Conference.

“The 12th Man Foundation has a 73-year history,” Dabney said. “We have some skins on the wall, people know who we are, and we’re transparent. We didn’t just set up our organization in the last 18 months and start calling people and say, ‘Hey, give us money.’ They know when they give us money, it causes action.”

While exact NIL numbers are not available from universities, Bjork said the $10 million at A&M puts the university among the nation’s elite in raising money for athletes.

“Based on the contracts that have been turned into our compliance office and the data we’ve seen from those, probably top five to 10 in the country,” he said. “You don’t really know, based on how things are set up (at other schools), exactly what is accurate.”

The 12th Man Foundation’s entry into the NIL mix helps simplify the process for contributors and also provides coveted “priority points” and taxdeductible donations. Priority points through the foundation lead to better seating and parking options at A&M sporting events, Dabney said.

“Every sport on campus will have a fund, and if a donor chooses to support women’s basketball, they can restrict that support to that specific sport,” he said. “We also have a general fund that they can make (donations to) in an unrestricted capacity to support (athletics).”

Donors cannot specify that a particular athlete receive a donation, Dabney said.

Football is king on campus, as it is at nearly every other university in the state, and less than a year after the NCAA made NIL legal, the Aggies signed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in February 2022 for the first time in the two-decade history of online rankings.

A&M failed on the field, however, going 5-7 in 2022 under Jimbo Fisher, prompting some former students to take a waitand-see approach under the sixth-year coach. Mike Lednicky is not one of them, and the 1996 A&M graduate believes the school’s more than halfmillion graduates need to keep the money rolling in for the Aggies to stay competitive in the SEC.

“It’s a good, organized way for people to donate,” Lednicky said of the new setup through the 12th Man Foundation. “We also know it will benefit our athletes because we know all the good the 12th Man Foundation already has done.”

The Aggie Club received $16,182 in donations in 1950. The 12th Man Foundation’s assets in 2022 totaled around $288 million, according to an independent audit. Now NIL has entered the picture, and Bjork said other universities might adopt similar models with their longtime fundraising arms, adjusting their overall independence to be able to do so.

“This is an innovative and modern-day approach that the 12th Man Foundation is taking,” Bjork said. “You have the credibility of an established program that’s been fundraising for a long time that the donors trust. Our athletes know about the 12th Man Foundation, and there’s a relationship there that’s natural. All parties can benefit from this setup.”

A&M men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams is submerged in a likely run to the NCAA Tournament with the No. 25 Aggies, and he said anything that simplifies the NIL process for coaches in recruiting (and maintaining) a roster is a good thing. That way, they can focus on coaching.

“I literally have no idea, and that’s even better,” Williams said of his knowledge of the intricacies of the 12th Man Foundation’s novel involvement in NIL. “And that’s better not just for me but for all the coaches here. … However all that works and how the lawyers got all that solved, it’s huge.”

A&M basketball guard Dexter Dennis said while he doesn’t have any NIL deals of note right now, he’s happy for those who do.

“Some of the athletes who came before us would probably be making a lot more money than some of us are getting,” Dennis said with a chuckle. “It’s cool that athletes get to put a little money in their pockets ... and others might be (helping) their families, and they really need the money.

“For (college) athletes to make money is really cool. As long as it’s in a positive direction and doesn’t interfere with the sport, it’s a great thing.”