Name, Image, and Likeness: NIL Collectives - The New Recruiting Tool

Whether directly or indirectly, name, image, and likeness (NIL) has become a recruiting tool within college athletics. We all had to see this coming. Universities are bustling with alumni that are diehard fans for their schools’ teams, and they earn a sizable paycheck from their vocations. Many of these alumni are members of the college’s athletic booster club.

The NCAA explains the role of boosters as, “providing student-athletes with a positive experience through their enthusiastic efforts. They can support teams and athletic departments through donations of time and financial resources which help student-athletes succeed on and off the playing field.” Essentially, college booster clubs help raise money for sports supplies, equipment, and trips for student-athletes, and they can help students by employing them or helping them find employment while they’re students.

However, NIL has completely altered the role boosters can play in the college athletics space. “NIL Collectives” are popping up across the country. An NIL collective is a donor-led collective that pools funds from boosters and businesses, helps facilitate NIL deals for athletes and creates their own ways for athletes to monetize their brands. Additionally, the NCAA notes that boosters can enter into NIL agreements with student-athletes, provided the activity is in accordance with state laws and school policy, is not an impermissible inducement, and it does not constitute pay-for-play.??

Boosters are technically tied to the university and its initiative to raise funds for the participation of student-athletes in college athletics. However, NIL and NIL collectives allow boosters across the country the ability to essentially give funds directly to student-athletes that attend their universities. This isn’t pay for play. No, it’s different; this is pay for appearances, interviews, autographs, community service, and the like, which all is permissible due to NIL.

If the NIL collective was organized by a university’s booster club, it could easily be seen as improper recruiting inducement and raise red flags for an NCAA violation. Therefore, instead, have a “donor-led” fund, that’s unaffiliated with the university, pool together resources that can be gathered from the university’s booster members and be used to conduct NIL deals with college athletes.

And that’s exactly what’s being done across the country and especially at the University of Texas (UT). Horns with Heart, an NIL collective for scholarship offensive linemen at UT, was shared in an earlier post. It gives the players $50,000 per academic school year for the use of their NIL for community events, appearances, etc.

But the UT program stands out in its efforts with NIL collectives by having two separate ones. Not only does it have Horns with Heart, but also it has Burnt Ends. The Burnt Ends program will allow all UT tight ends the opportunity to earn a guaranteed baseline monthly four-figure salary. This program is the first of its kind. It crowdsources all its funds from fans having memberships on a monthly subscription. And any money raised from memberships that goes above the guaranteed baseline salary will go directly into the tight ends’ pockets.

Reports say that signing up for the $10-per-month membership gets a fan access to a special part on the board just for the tight ends, who will take part in “ask me anything” chat sessions. The $25-per-month tier gets fans a cup and bumper sticker. And $50 per month gets you a group dinner with all the tight ends, which will be sponsored by Pinkerton’s Barbecue, the popular Texas staple that is owned by Texas alum Grant Pinkerton.

Diehard fans, such as Rob Blair and Rick Vasquez, the founders of UT’s NIL collective, now have a way they can feel an even closer connection to the program and its players. By being able to raise funds that go directly into the players’ pockets, fans in favor of NIL can show their support and appreciation of their favorite players by contributing to these crowdsourcing NIL funds.

The players in turn get to show their appreciation of the fans by engaging with them on podcasts, panels, and dinners. This is engagement at a high level. Imagine where this can go. Imagine how high these monthly salaries could grow. Fans will soon share what type of engagement they want and what premium price they are willing to pay for these exclusive experiences/encounters with the college athletes/celebrities.

And fans can feel confident spending money that goes to these athletes because they know these athletes are gaining financial literacy at UT. According to Texas Bill 1385 passed on May 28th, 2021, student athletes are required to attend a financial literacy workshop before capitalizing upon their NIL.

It will be very exciting to see where things lead for Texas and NIL collectives. Could there be more collectives formed for other position groups at UT? This must be a highly attractive consideration for a high school or college athlete evaluating which school to attend. If an athlete can go to school for free and get paid a six-figure salary every year because fans want to engage and interact with that athlete, it’s probably safe to assume that athlete is going to heavily consider committing to that school. UT is setting itself apart from other schools, by innovating in the NIL space.

UT is going to need top recruits in the years ahead. In 2025, it moves to the Southeastern Conference, where it faces powerhouses such as Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide. While uniform rules and regulations surrounding NIL are absent, Texas better do all it can to start recruiting top talent to its university to helps its football team.

Battle well,

Derek?