Newsletter, Image, Likeness Vol. 31: Will Athletes Boycott EA Sports?

The Weekly Longer NIL Thought.

A few weeks ago , the weekly longer NIL thought revolved around EA Sports becoming the first test for large-scale group licensing. I wrote the following as part of that discussion:

For many players, signing the general licensing agreement will be a no-brainer. But what about the star quarterback at an SEC school? Will his agents recommend that he not opt in? Will EA Sports be willing to negotiate individual deals with star players outside of the group licensing regime?

It appears that I was not alone in that thinking. In fact, my colleague Jason Stahl , who serves as the Executive Director of the College Football Players Association (CFBPA), has gone a step further and has outright called for players to boycott the EA Sports group licensing deal altogether. Stahl says that "the announced deal is shockingly bad for the players and in the end gamers and fans may end up being disappointed if players choose to boycott appearing in the game."

Stahl provides 3 reasons why he believes a boycott is the right move:

1. The compensation structure is bad (it's been reported that players will earn a one-time payment of $500 per player with no residual royalties related to game sales);
2. It was negotiated on behalf of players by a company that does not represent them (OneTeam Partners does not represent any college football players and has provided players with a suboptimal deal on jersey sales ); and
3. It pits star players against those who are less well-known.

At this past week's NIL Summit, Oklahoma QB General Booty said that players have been talking about whether to opt-in. He added , "so, we’ve all talked about it because we want the game to come out, obviously. But we were saying if they come out and try to lowball and say we want to give everyone $200. Well, guys maybe like, like you mentioned?Caleb Williams, may say no and then he’s not in the game. Then all the?USC?fans – who wants to buy the game and not play with him, you know? And then he does it, then someone else does it and then it’s a domino effect and then it’s ruined. So, I think that’s going to be very critical to how they put it together. They are going to have to have one price, and I say like $600 to $800 would get everyone in. But some of the big guys, you know, that deserve it, that have been playing, starting for a couple of years, put up the numbers, they may have to sit down and negotiate with them because that’s going to ruin the game if they don’t have some of these star guys in there."

This is obviously a controversial subject. To opt-in or not to opt-in, that is the question. Shannon Terry , the founder of On3, says that for 99.9% of the players, opting in makes sense. He added , "for so long, players were not able to receive a dollar for having their image and likeness used. The $500 can go a long way and is a bonus — because the real value is being in the game for generations. For some athletes like Drake Maye and Caleb Williams, holding out could add up because their value to the game is obviously greater than $500. That is up for them to decide what is most important to them."

So maybe we will see the vast majority of athletes opt-in with some superstars holding out. Then, consumers will have to decide whether to find a way to add those missing names to the players, but will EA Sports be so bold as to include their likenesses?

New York Is Closer To Modifying Its NIL Law.

The bill that would amend the existing law has now passed both houses and heads to the governor for approval. It intends to prevent the NCAA from punishing any New York schools based on NIL-related violations.

New Mexico To Become The 29th State To Allow HS NIL.

Plus, Washington D.C. allows NIL activity among high schoolers. But talent-rich states like Florida, Georgia, and Alabama continue to drag their feet.

NIL Collectives Meet On Capitol Hill.

NIL collectives that support Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia, Clemon, and Washington traveled to Washington D.C. this week to attend a summit on "The Future of College Athletics," which was sponsored by the University of Arizona.

Walker Jones , who is the Executive Director of The Grove Collective, spoke on a panel titled, "NIL, What is the state of play?"

He was quoted as stating , "[NIL has] got to be more than just paying the player. Yes, we compensate them. But if we can put tools around them that help them … they’re a better contributor to society because of their interaction with our collective."

If You're In The Mood For Some NIL Talk From Tommy Tuberville..

“Now, I'll tell you this,” Tuberville said . “I'm for players being able to be compensated for their hard work in athletics as well as academics. We have to come to some kind of agreement where we can help the NCAA make improvements to this runaway NIL situation that we're in as we speak. Players transferring at any time? Players making deals with the help of agents with schools and then not being compensated after making these deals?

"We're looking out for the player as much as for the university. But we're looking out for education and we're looking out for the sanctity of college sports. We want to make sure we can continue to afford women's athletics as well as men's athletics.

“So we'll meet up here this week. We'll have some discussions. We have a text of a bill already finished. We're going to make improvements (to) it. Joe Manchin and I have been working on this for at least a year.

"But our universities, our colleges, our athletes, our coaches, administrators and our fans need a lot of help with this because this is out of control and we cannot sustain this. And if we don't get some kind of control, we will not have the same product on the field. We will not graduate as many students through education, and it will be a disaster when it comes to having only a few people able to afford this across the country, basically cutting out the middleman and the little guy."

Wait, Is This A Bad Thing?

Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek is quoted as stating the following : "Young men and women are making decisions not to go to Major League Baseball or the WNBA or the NBA because they can make more money in college. Does that make any sense, that you can make more money by staying in college than you can by going and being a professional athlete? That's where we have some issues in college athletics."

A Good Look At The Currently Pending Legislation In D.C.

Eric Prisbell 's article provides a brief summary of each bill, none of which has a strong likelihood of success being passed and put in front of President Biden for his signature.

The bills include The College Athletes Bill of Rights, The College Sports NIL Clearinghouse Act of 2023, The Fairness, Accountability, and Integrity in Representation (FAIR) of College Sports Act, The Student-Athlete Level Playing Field Act, and an unnamed bipartisan bill from Tuberville and Manchin.

Good Advice From Matt Brown (Via Twitter) On Getting Everything In Writing.

UAB Football Coach Trent Dilfer Makes Clear Who His Competitors Are.

Many people wrongly think UAB is competing against others in its conference to retain players. As clarified by Dilfer, he's competing against the likes of major programs like Georgia and Alabama, who want to pry away his top players.

Via Andy Wittry on Twitter:

So Is Nick Saban For Or Against NIL?

I covered his varying comments in last week's Longer Thought . Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk says Saban is scared and that "Saban wants to eliminate the advantage that schools in bigger and richer cities and/or with bigger and richer alumni bases will have when it comes to pooling money for NIL collectives. He basically wants an NIL salary cap, so he can go back to using his silver tongue to charm recruits and their family members into securing prime commitments, with all other things being equal."

The Blue A Collective Is Formed To Benefit Utah State Athletes.

2 NIL Collectives Supporting Penn State Athletes Decide To Merge.

NIL collective Success With Honor and Lions Legacy Club (specifically focused on football) are merging to create Happy Valley United NIL collective.

It will be powered by Blueprint Sports Agency , led by Penn State alum Rob Sine .

LONE STAR NIL Launches To Exclusively Serve Texas-Based Athletes.

LONE STAR NIL launched this week and claims to be a first-of-its-kind NIL program established exclusively for Texas-based college athletes enrolled at in-state universities and colleges. LONE STAR NIL, owned by Southwest Sports Partners, LLC (an athletics consulting and events services agency in Frisco, Texas) has a single statewide focus as opposed to supporting a specific school.

There will allegedly be no connection to any campus booster groups.

Its goal is to develop direct relationships between athletes and Texas-based companies and charitable organizations.

“While name, image and likeness opportunities have increased across the college sports landscape, most Texas student-athletes remain underserved by limited NIL options,” said Tom Burnett , current president and CEO of Southwest Sports Partners and former NCAA Division 1 conference commissioner. “We know many local students and parents want a better understanding of NIL, and at the same time, it’s clear that Texas businesses of all sizes could potentially benefit from getting more actively engaged in this exciting space. So, that’s where LONE STAR NIL comes in -- providing a distinctive, first-of-its-kind program with extensive NIL opportunities, vital educational efforts, and meaningful corporate and community engagement, all of which will lead to rewarding NIL outcomes across the state.”

New Owner Of Phoenix Suns Cuts Partnership With Michigan State.

Mat Ishbia cited concerns about his purchase of the Suns and said it was the reason for terminating his company United Wholesale Mortgage's NIL deals at the end of the month.

Final Thoughts.

That is it for Vol. 31 of Newsletter, Image, Likeness. Thanks to the more than 6,515 people who have subscribed to this newsletter thus far, and please feel free to share this free resource with others on LinkedIn or elsewhere.

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