Newsletter, Image, Likeness Vol. 53: NCAA Has Billions Of Exposure In NIL-Related Matter

The Weekly Longer NIL Thought.

Let's go back to June 2021.

Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and New Mexico had signed bills into law that would ensure college athletes within their states could exploit their NIL as of July 1, 2021.

The NCAA had to remove its NIL prohibitions and institute an interim NIL policy with bare guardrails.

No, it wasn't the Supreme Court decision in Alston v. NCAA that pushed the NCAA to make this change.

It's wonderful that college athletes have enjoyed earning money off of their fame for the past 2.5 years. But what about all the college athletes who preceded them and didn't have the same opportunities?

That question is front and center in a pending lawsuit brought by Grant House, Sedona Prince, and Tymir Oliver against the NCAA and major conferences, which also seeks to determine whether athletes have wrongfully been precluded from earning a royalty based on the use of their names, images, and likenesses during telecasts and in video games. That's old news and wouldn't, by itself, cause me to focus on it in this "Longer NIL Thought" portion of this weekly newsletter.

The newsworthy item is that U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken, the federal judge assigned to the case, just recently granted class-action status for the damages component of the lawsuit. And those potential damages are significant.

"[It] potentially means that student athletes will share (in) broadcast revenues, ticket sales and endorsement deals. It’s a huge potential change in the NCAA and student-athletes relationship," said Steve Berman, 1 of the plaintiffs' lead attorneys, to USA TODAY Sports.

Is it bad news? SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey admitted, "It certainly wasn't good news."

The plaintiffs' counsel has indicated that the demand is over $1.4 billion and, if the plaintiffs prevail, they may be in line for treble damages or over $4.2 billion.

Judge Wilken recently found "ample support for (the) plaintiffs’ assumption that student-athletes NIL in broadcasts have value, and that their value is at least ten percent of the revenues of Defendants’ broadcasting contracts."

A jury trial in the matter has been set for January 2025. If the NCAA loses at trial and subsequently in an appellate process that surely would follow, it could be devastating to the Association.

As noted by attorney Tom Mars , for the?fiscal year ending August 2022, the NCAA reported net assets of roughly $458 million. A $4.2 billion judgment would seemingly drown the NCAA.

So, let's go back to the beginning of this "Longer NIL Thought." The NCAA sat on its hands well before and while states started to show genuine interest in legislating change on the NIL front. As my friend Andrew Brandt wrote this week, "Unfortunately, since they did not open up NIL until state laws forced them to, it now is too late. Congress may help, but no time soon."

White House Hosts Meeting About College Football Player Rights That Touches Upon NIL.

On November 8, the current administration had former football players convene at the White House with the discussion centering on the potential for the creation of a union for college football players, revenue sharing, the health and safety of athletes, and even NIL.

President Biden reportedly attended for approximately 40 minutes and seemed most focused on the health, safety, and welfare of college athletes.

“The overall gist of the conversation was, really, to discuss the rights of college athletes as we move into a new era of college sports,” said former Georgia running back Keith Marshall (an attendee) on The Paul Finebaum Show. “There were really two main categories that we discussed, and I’m sure many people are not surprised by the first being NIL. They really were just interested in getting perspective of what that looks like, and they wanted to hear from us. What do we think is going well? What do we think could be improved upon and what direction should the industry move going forward?"

“I can’t speak for their end game,” said another attendee, ESPN anchor Kevin Negandhi. “I think it was trying to get an understanding of why there is a concern with former players right now about representation, more than anything else again. Like when you look at revenue sharing, especially NIL in a new landscape the last few years, and then health is a huge concern.”

Altius Acquired By Marketing Agency Underdog & Co.

Entrepreneurs have to appreciate that Casey Schwab was able to create and exit within 3 years.

His company, Altius, which has now been acquired, has consulting agreements to assist 39 schools with NIL, including some big names like LSU, Texas, Georgia, and Duke. 31 of those deals are continuing as part of multi-year agreements that were executed.

Schwab will stay CEO through 2027, at the earliest.

HS QB Julian Lewis Inks Deal With Jewelry Brand Jaxxon.

Kentucky Commits Sign Car Lease NIL Agreements.

Jacob Smith and Jerod Smith Jr., once committed to Michigan and now headed to Kentucky, have signed NIL deals with a Kentucky-based auto group. "It’s believed to be one of the first car deals executed at the high school level," says Pete Nakos of On3.

Elk + Elk Sponsors tOSU Women's Basketball Team.

The partnership with the Ohio personal injury law firm includes in-arena content, social media campaigns, and a courtside interview segment, “Full Court Press,” highlighting each team member.

Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano Says NIL Is Paramount.

“It’s paramount in what we are doing right now. That is where college football is, and you have to be able to be competitive in that landscape, and we have to be able to be competitive in that landscape. And it’s not going to get less. It’s going to only get more,” Schiano said about NIL this week.

“We have guys that have performed at a high level. Well, you know what, they are going to be people that’s trying to get them off our team. That’s the facts. And there’s going to be guys, we are not only going to want to keep our own guys here, but we are going to want to go out and pursue; and we have to do the things that Big Ten teams do to be competitive and eventually be champions. Every bit helps but we need every bit.”

Jake Dickert Admits His School Is Failing.

Washington State's coach transparently stated, "I think in today’s world you can longer say passion and spirit is going to get you by anymore. It’s completely real that the NIL matters and the facts are, Washington State, we’re way behind; not even competitive in some aspects of the NIL. Recruiting, these kids tell you what they’re getting."

"Oregon State probably has us by 10X (times), Arizona has us by 20X. USC, Washington, Oregon … who even knows? It’s a whole other planet. That’s part of what we need and it’s very, very important," added Dickert.

Final Thoughts.

That is it for Vol. 53 of Newsletter, Image, Likeness. Thanks to the more than 7,675 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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