San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
NIL STRATEGIES DEPEND ON PROGRAM
Some schools raking in millions, but some just getting started
It has been nearly two years since college athletes were able to be compensated for their name, image and likeness.
The NIL landscape is ever evolving, with collectives for some schools already raking in millions of dollars while others play catch-up getting organizations off the ground.
Also evolving is how to distribute the money. Should it be showered on quarterbacks the way they do in the NFL? Do you spread it around equally among starters or seniors? Do you dangle dollars in front of prospective transfers? Do you use it more to retain players being wooed by other schools?
These are among the questions programs are trying to get a handle on. A sampling of Nil-related activity across the country:
• Cleveland.com reported last year that Ohio State coach Ryan Day spoke to a group of community business members and told them he believed $13 million was needed in NIL money to keep his roster together.
Ohio State collectives such as the Cohesion Foundation, The Foundation, The 1870 Society and Ohio RTC are positioning the Buckeyes accordingly.
• At the University of Florida, the collective Florida Victorious this month announced that its goal was met in the “$2 Million Match Challenge.” New pledges and subscriptions resulted in a successful $4 million fundraising campaign.
• In Missouri, a law was revised last month — it still requires the governor’s signature — that would allow athletes to begin receiving NIL money as soon as they sign with an in-state school, meaning high school seniors could start getting compensated some 8-9 months before even arriving on campus. “That is certainly pushback against the NCAA,” John Holden, an associate professor at Oklahoma State who specializes in the rights of student-athletes, said On3.com. “They’re the first state that I’m aware of to basically implement that you’re allowed to use NIL for recruiting.”
• SMU, the school often rumored along with SDSU as an expansion target for the Pac-12, is poised to pay its football players $36,000 a year through its Boulevard Collective.
• Texas Tech, where San Diego State safety CJ Baskerville transferred, will see each player receive $25,000 a year through its Matador Club collective.
• Last season, Boise State tight end Riley Smith shot a TV commercial for a local car dealer. Smith received a new Ford F-150 in exchange for his services, according to Boise’s KTVB7.
• In April, Boise State announced a social media creator certificate, awarded by taking three online courses titled “Name, Image, Likeness,” “Creating Digital Value” and “Social Storytelling and Leadership.” In the NIL class, students “focus on developing strategies to identify opportunities for using name, image and likeness that are consistent with the brand and values.”
Athletes, especially, could benefit from the ideas and information presented in the program.
• In May, the Deseret News reported that former Utah State football coach Gary Andersen is co-founder of the Blue A Collective. In a radio interview last week with KSL Sports Zone, Andersen said the goal is not to generate $1 million to pay a quarterback.
“Ours really is designed to give young men a better opportunity, young women a better opportunity to the simple things in college,” said Andersen. “Maybe they eat a little bit better. Maybe they have a car payment that they can make a little bit better. Whatever it may be down those lines to better their situations in college.”
Like many collectives, Blue A Collective will include a charity component with the compensation to athletes.
• In the interview, Andersen said his research indicated that there are four or five Mountain West schools that have raised “more than a million dollars” for their men’s basketball programs.
SDSU was not among them.
• Fresno State hired former offensive lineman Aaron Mitchell, who played rugby locally with the San Diego Legion, as its director of NIL.
“I was laughing the other day that if NIL was around when I was around, I would have been making some good money with my long hair and big red beard,” Mitchell told 247Sports.com. “I don’t necessarily see it as a missed opportunity. I see it as how the landscape is changing, and how these athletes have more power than they’ve ever had before.”
• One of the biggest NIL stories came out of Fresno State with the endorsement deals received by twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder on the Bulldogs women’s basketball team.
The twins were in the news more recently — in the first Nil-related infractions case.
Haley and Hanna transferred to Miami before the 2022-23 season. They said NIL did not factor in their decision.
Miami head coach Katie Meier was suspended three games by the NCAA for setting up a meeting between the Cavinders and Hurricanes booster John Ruiz.
And so it goes.