NIL Nuggets of the Week Thread – (3/31-4/6)
In an attempt to stay tapped into all things NIL, I’ve sorted through and gathered some interesting NIL-centered news items today, the title of each section will redirect you to the initial article, as I did not translate all of the columns into this page. Just the best cliff notes.
I will continue adding more news as the week unfolds! Please feel free to link any informative or interesting NIL articles in this thread!
Cheers,
PS: If you’d like to advertise with Orangebloods, Sponsoring this Column or a show on Orangbloods Live, please reach out to @Sunny Nelson !
1. Part One: The Player Evaluation Gap in College Football
Cody’s Thoughts: The fact that this video has 72 views… Incredibly Incredibly insightful information about the landscape of our Sport.
I know @Ketchum will love this one..
If you’d prefer to get to the great stuff and stiffen your shorts, go to 16:34
2. 4-star QB Brady Smigiel’s NIL deal with Four Arm Fund puts financial security in spotlight
Four-star California high school quarterback Brady Smigiel is taking an untraditional approach with his new name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal: The money goes straight into an investment account.
Smigiel and Four Arm Fund announced the deal on March 18 in a press release stating that the firm will place the money directly into an investment account, which it will manage through a combination of investments, including stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrency, and commodities.
The company confirmed this is a five-figure NIL deal through its public relations partner.
Cody’s Thoughts: Another day, another interesting way for players to make money. One of these days, players will start getting paid in Red Meat from local butcher shops like Texas Beef Traders 🤷♂️
3. Seton Hall basketball practice facility, revenue-sharing plan unveiled
Bryan Felt walked into the 13,000-square foot practice gym that is the heart of the newly opened “Seton Hall Basketball Performance Center” Thursday with a broad smile.
“The finished product is absolutely remarkable,” the university’s director of athletics said.
The $55 million, three-story addition to the Richie Regan Recreation and Athletic Center has been years in the making, and its completion vaults Seton Hall from having the Big East’s worst hoops practice facility to arguably its finest – complete with a players’ lounge and dining room, a steam room and sauna, and wall-sized photos of program greats lining the halls.
Last year, program payrolls were dependent on fan donations. That proved problematic for the Hall, which had tapped its donor base for roughly $25 million to subsidize the practice facility (the rest was covered by bond). As a result, Holloway had just $1.5 million to spend on his roster this past season, which was believed to be the lowest or one of the lowest sums in the Big East.
The expectation within the Big East is that all of the schools will budget between $4-8 million for roster-building purposes, Gannett New Jersey has learned. Seton Hall’s budget projects to be in the middle of that range. A boost from outside of the athletic department is one of the keys.
Cody’s Thoughts: I’ll be honest, the footage of the new Seton Hall facilities are not that impressive… would rather have practice and games at Rucker Park with a $55 Million Dollar roster, than spend that money on this…
4. Smaller Schools Can Stay Competitive by Turning NIL Merch into Rev Share Dollars
“By acquiring player’s NIL licensing rights for merchandise, non-Power 4 schools can unlock new revenue streams and boost their competitive edge in revenue sharing”
“Most Power 4 schools will compensate up to the cap, while Group of 5 and mid-major programs that lack the revenue-generating capabilities of big-time programs will pay revenue-sharing sums in varying amounts under the NCAA’s payment limit.”
“Power 4 schools, however, are not strictly confined to that $20.5 million NIL revenue-sharing cap for athlete payment. The new arms race in college sports has become “above-the-cap payments,” where schools proactively facilitate legitimate brand deals and licensing agreements for their athletes to increase their total compensation beyond institutional revenue sharing — earnings that would not violate the restrictions of the NCAA’s NIL auditing arm.”
“Power 4 programs will dominate the direct revenue-sharing space. Group of 5 and mid-major schools should not attempt to copy the payment structures of top programs. Smaller schools can create competitive advantages by controlling and redistributing athlete licensing while ensuring roster-wide benefits.”
Cody’s Thoughts: This one adds another curveball to the Rev. Share conversation… if you only click and read one of these columns in full today, make it this one!
5. How Will NCAA Revenue Sharing Affect College Wrestling?
The full-time members of the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC.
Cody’s Thoughts: Texas doesn’t have to worry about dedicating cash to Wrestling, but I wanted to add this in because a lot of their opponents are 1. Good at Wrestling and 2. Will have to account for it. Think about Oklahoma and Ohio State as two direct recruiting competitors. Also note that this column from FloWrestling talks about the hypothetical of Wrestling garnering just 1% of the Rev. Share (likely for some), unlikely for the bigger schools like Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Oklahoma State, and Minnesota.
6. UGA Football Coach Kirby Smart Sounds Off On NIL And New Changes To College Football
On roster caps impacting practice approach:
“Yeah, that’s up in the air. I’m not sure 100 percent that we have to get the 105 by fall camp. As we understand it, it’s going to be by the first game, which is a big difference. So, we would be able to practice camp like we want to. I think everybody’s got to take a big pause right now and say deep breath because of what’s going on with basketball right now is crazy. And we don’t know everything that’s going to come out with April 7th, which might be April 7th, might be the settlement date, where we get a lot more information. But everybody’s on pins and needles because we don’t know exactly what’s going to come out of this. What I do know is that we’re going to continue to recruit people who love football, who are passionate about football, and that don’t put money as the number one answer. Like I’ve never met a really good player that that’s all they cared about. So, like the 105 number, the NIL number. ‘What’s the cap number, what is this going to be?’ There’s stuff going on right now, guys, in college football. I mean, there’s people reaching out to have a Zoom call and present all the players they represent that are on teams, including our teams, and they want to invite people to the Zoom so they can watch and see who’s going in the portal or shopping who’s in the portal before the portal. Do you want to get on the Zoom and look at all these players? I’m like, well, what if some of them are mine? I mean, it could be one of the most legendary moments in all of college sports with what’s coming up on this ruling and how people are going to try to manipulate a cap when all we’re trying to do is make for competitive balance. And it’s really unfortunate that I don’t know if competitive balance is going to come out of it. I don’t know if the kids win in this model that we currently have if they win long-term. Like long-term, when we have to cut sports and cut other things, are the kids going to be the winners of this? I don’t know, college sports has been around a long time and given many an opportunity. And by all means, I want these kids to make money. But what’s going on right now is not good for anybody.”
On if players inquire to coaches about matching NIL offers:
“No, nobody does that. I think they want that. Okay, deep down inside, that might be in the back of their mind. Ultimately, that’s the goal of every human nature. I think players have value, and they should be rewarded for that value. But at the expense of what? At the expense of us having three or four sports that can’t do anything and support anything? So, because they get the television revenue and because they raise it, should they get first dibs on all that and just not have other sports? I don’t think that’s right. And there’s a balance to be had. But, no, I don’t think kids come and — I don’t have kids coming. If they come in and say that, then I’m going to listen to them and talk to them, but I’m scratching them off the list. I’m over that because if that’s all that matters, then you need to send out a bid like they do for jobs and say, supplement your bid, let me take visits, and I’m going to go to the bid and go to the highest bidder. I really believe there still does matter a relationship, and if a relationship doesn’t matter, then I’m probably not going to have a kid that wants to play hard for Georgia. So, relationship matters. Work ethic matters. Like, do you want to be great? Do you have fire, passion, and energy? I’ll pay for that. I’ll pay a premium for fire, passion, and energy because in the market we’re in, there’s a lack of that. Kids are going to struggle the next 10 years when they look back and somebody says, I’m going to go back and look at this and say, what happened to the kids that went to two and three and four places? I will assure you we will not be happy with where those kids that jumped for greener grass went to. I think the portal is a good thing for a lot of kids that are third, fourth, fifth year, but it also gives you a way out that I don’t think is good for kids right now.”
On speaking to the team about the House Settlement:
“I mean, we’ve talked about the house settlement. The biggest thing going on is you’ve got two dates you’re operating off of. There’s a portal date and there’s a house settlement date. And there’s a lot of people doing not illegal things. They’re just manipulative money things to try to move this, move that, so I can free up this. And what’s going to happen, there’s probably going to be a bubble or a spike. And then agents are literally trying to take advantage of that every minute they can. They want to get all they can for their client. But at the end of the day, it may backfire because there’s going to be a correction in the market at some point when this cap hits. If the cap is truly what the house settlement wants it to be. If there is truly a cap, if you just keep trying to front load and pay out people and what’s going on in basketball now and football now, people are trying to beat a date, then what’s going to happen when those people expect that same money the next year and it’s not there because you’re in a cap? There’s going to be a correction eventually, and I don’t think any of us know what’s going to happen.”
Cody’s Thoughts: I know Kirby can be a bit much at times, but damn does he have thoughts on everything going on at all times, lol
7. The Dark Money Behind Duke Basketball
The Blue Devils have a Final Four roster that takes millions of dollars to assemble, but exactly who is paying for it remains a mystery. That’s no accident.
It isn’t hard to find. The boosters who spend millions to lure in prized freshmen and coveted transfer players sit courtside at games, while the fundraising collectives that pool money to attract premier talent actively solicit donations online.
What little evidence there is of the group’s existence is buried deep in corporate records. In March of 2023, two weeks after Scheyer’s first season as Mike Krzyzewski’s replacement ended with a loss in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32, three Duke alumni incorporated a non-profit in Delaware. With an address listed as an office building in Arkansas, they called it “One Vision Futures Fund” and applied to do business in North Carolina, according to state records.
In its annual report for last year, there was no hiding its purpose in an era when college athletes get paid for their name, image and likeness. The form says, “Description of nature of business: Sports NIL.”
The address of OVFF, as it’s known, belongs to the office of Duke alum Jeff Fox, the CEO and founder of the investment firm Circumference Group. He’s listed on incorporating documents as one of three executive officers, along with fellow alumni Dan Levitan, co-founder of the venture capital firm Maveron, and Steve Duncker, a former partner at Goldman Sachs.
In response to inquiries from the Journal about the collective’s activities, Rachel Baker, the Duke men’s basketball general manager who was hired in 2022 to oversee NIL, says OVFF’s under-the-radar approach is quite intentional. For one, she says, it helps protect the players’ personal lives when boosters aren’t touting how much they’re being paid.
“It’s no secret what we do,” Baker says, “but the discretion around it is more about our athletes’ privacy than anything else.”
Baker declined to give a precise figure for the budget of this year’s roster. But even before NIL, the school was accustomed to donors contributing enormous sums to the basketball team. Duke already had something called the Legacy Fund, created by Krzyzewski to endow the team.
The minimum donation for the Legacy Fund: $1 million.
