UNLV QB, Compliance Mailbag & NIL for Olympic Sport Athletes | NIL Blitz Sep. 23 - Oct. 6

Welcome back to another edition of the NIL Blitz – this will be a two-for-one special as last week’s recap was delayed due to Hurricane Helene (more on that at the end).

So if your head was in the sand last week, here are five points to get up to speed on.

--

1. House Settlement Briefs Filed ???
2. The UNLV QB Situation ??
3. California Governor Vetoes NIL Bill ??
4. NIL for Olympic Sports ??
5. NIL Compliance Mailbag ??

--?

1. House Settlement Briefs Filed ???

The first question I got when I re-established connection post-Hurricane: “So, what are you hearing about the settlement?”

The short answer is, nothing.

The somewhat longer answer is, well, the same stuff you are hearing and reading about online. As of right now, there has been no public information to indicate that Judge Wilken has either approved or rejected the second attempt made by the parties.

Everyone in the industry is trying to get ahold of some tea on the situation but there just isn’t any yet. After reviewing various reports and speaking with folks much smarter than me, here are some of the possible outcomes, ranging for most “pro-settlement” to least.

• Judge Wilken could move forward by scheduling a fairness hearing. Even from the initial submission back in the summertime, this was the logical next step. If she liked what she saw out of the 32-page clarifier then it is expected this will be the move.
• Judge Wilken could grant the parties more time to rework their settlement. Maybe the least likely option, but an option nonetheless. A month ago when the parties came together for the Sep. 5 hearing, few people projected Judge Wilken would send the parties off with homework. To see the Judge do it again after already giving them a mulligan would be more gracious than anticipated.
• Judge Wilken could make another offer to split the Hubbard case from the settlement. One offering made by Judge Wilken in the September hearing was to move forward with the Hubbard case (RE: backpay for Alston academic achievement awards) since that issue was cut and dried. Would she propose once again to partition the settlement?
• Judge Wilken could deem the parties are too far apart and suggest a trial date. This is the elephant in the room that’s been avoided for the past 137 days since news of the settlement broke. Not all settlements come to fruition, and given the tone of the NCAA’s lead attorney who maintained booster/collective payment regulation are a non-negotiable this could very well be the result.

Could there be an entirely different avenue she goes down? Sure, I’m no expert in the procedures of district courts. As more time goes by, industry officials seem to believe the wind in the sails of this thing are deflating. There’s also reason to believe the situation becomes more complicated when you see evolutions like Tennessee’s talent fee, new objectors arise like Ed O’Bannon’s attorneys, or more former athletes like Terrelle Pryor sue the NCAA for barring NIL rights.

Will substantial info come out this week? Possibly.?

2. The UNLV QB Situation ??

By now you’ve heard UNLV starting QB Matthew Sluka has opted to redshirt the remainder of the 2024-25 football season, citing NIL disagreements. Despite a 3-0 start at the helm after transferring from Holy Cross, Sluka shared via X “certain representations that were made to me [during the commitment process], which were not upheld after I enrolled.” Amidst a slew of reports, ESPN was told by Sluka’s NIL rep that an assistant coach promised a minimum of $100K in NIL opportunities if he joined the Rebels. The collective ended up offering $3K/month, an $88K difference from what was supposedly offered.

So, the deal fell through. What can we learn from this?

1. Get it in writing. It’s one thing to be told you can make six-figures in Vegas and it is another thing to have it written down. Given the Tennessee v. Virginia injunction from earlier this year, there are now protections for student-athletes to be informed of what awaits them at a future destination.
2. Ensure your collective and athletics staff are informed. It is hard to point fingers at the staff or collectives here without knowing their relationship, but if the reports are true it sounds like communication could have made a world of difference. Existing NCAA rules make it crystal clear that coaches/schools can communicate with collectives about NIL opportunities for “specific, currently enrolled student-athletes”, and despite Sluka not being enrolled at the time of the offers there is good reason to believe staff members could have been aware of available NIL funds. Unless there is a gap in the reporting, to come up 88% short on NIL monies is likely a lack of funds issue.
3. These issues should get better with Rev Share. Imagine a situation a year from now, where schools are the ones directly entering into contracts with student-athletes. The chances of an information gap will be much, much smaller.

I’d consider this the first major public instance of a deal falling through. It was 2018 when the four game transfer rule was approved, allowing for athletes to play up to four games without “losing” the entire season from an eligibility standpoint. In the 2023-24 academic year, ESPN reported that 2,700+ FBS scholarship players entered the portal for a new record high. All things considered, this case received a lot of attention as it is a needle-in-the-haystack of an instance among all transferring athletes.

(Of note, UNLV continues to perform on the field with Hajj-Malik Williams at QB, boasting a 210.1 passer rating which is notably higher than Sluka’s. The Rebels are 4-1 on the season and lost in OT to Syracuse over the weekend.)

3. California Governor Vetoes NIL Bill ??

A quiet but notable development occurred last week – California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a collective-centric NIL bill.

For context, California’s SB906 would require any collective or individual that provides over $5,000 in NIL compensation to a student athlete/their immediate family to disclose that information to the student athlete's college or university. This would be the first state to put the burden of reporting on the compensating party, not the athlete/school.

This bill would also require schools to make certain NIL disclosure information publicly available, another first for the nation.

Despite California paving the way in 2019 for NIL policy, this does not appear to be a place they will be pioneering. In a note back to the California State Senate, Gov. Newsom noted “…(C)ollege sports are in a period of transition as many schools are changing athletic conferences and relevant issues are currently pending in the courts. As Governor, I want to ensure California's colleges continue to be competitive with other states. Further changes to this dynamic should be done nationally.”

Reading between the lines, I think there is a fear this bill might actually set CA institutions behind in the future of this landscape. Just as the UNLV debacle unfolded around a lack of trusted information, enforced public reporting of NIL earnings would “show the cards” of where California schools’ collectives are paying, in turn making them poachable.

Most are between sixes and sevens on if this clarity would help athletes, but it would be worth tucking this away as a possible feature of national regulations.

4. NIL for Olympic Sports ??

Recruiting and retention – the two most important words in the NIL game – and not isolated to football.?

Texas star and friend of Opendorse Lexi Missimo has become a standout in women's soccer, making six figures in NIL deals while choosing to stay at Texas for her senior season. Despite women’s soccer being a non-revenue sport, Missimo’s skills and value to Texas led the school's collective to make every effort to retain her.

This marks a significant shift, as collectives typically focus on football and men's basketball. As for Missimo’s female counterparts on the hardwood, since July 1, 2021, 55% of all Women's Basketball NIL compensation has come from collectives, marking a change in the industry.

Missimo’s success highlights how top-tier Olympic sport athletes can attract substantial NIL opportunities – both commercially and via their collective.?

Read more about Missimo’s story in The Washington Post.

5. NIL Compliance Mailbag ??

A potpourri of questions trickle in throughout the month, but here are three of the more interesting ones.

Q: Can college athletes promote THC/hemp products via an NIL deal?

A: Possibly, but it depends on a few factors.

Back in July, the NCAA removed cannabis from its banned substances list. There are 24 states (plus DC) which allow for recreational marijuana use, and those are the states with the path of least resistance. There are some NIL state laws and school policies which explicitly prohibit deals tangential to cannabis, so those would certainly need to be avoided. This question, like many others in the NIL space related to vice industries, will be a top-down analysis of Federal -> NCAA -> State -> Conference -> School -> Personal factors.

The ecosystem is ripe for a deal of this type though. Last month, USC named Cookies, a popular CBD/cannabis and wellness company as a corporate sponsor. This market could soon parallel path with alcoholic beverages, which started at school level partnerships and dovetailed into NIL deals. [Note this is not legal advice – there are cannabis attorneys who specialize in this stuff, so I recommend reaching out to them.]

Q: If college athletes can receive NIL deals, can they receive gifts from companies too?

A: The NCAA has a lot of rules around "benefits" provided to student-athletes, even for seemingly insignificantly small items. This is trickiest to navigate when it is solely a gift, but let’s focus on any benefit tied to an NIL deal.

Under NCAA rules and multiple state laws, NIL deals must ensure quid pro quo. For a brand, the easiest way to gift an athlete with something while protecting their eligibility is to have the athlete post a simple “thank you” to their social media page to amount for the quid pro quo.

Q: What happened to that whole thing about Dartmouth Men’s Basketball players being deemed employees?

A: There is momentum here – the local union is trying to get Dartmouth to begin bargaining with the athletes to set pay. Dartmouth doesn’t want to. As the rules are written, the requirement in the locale holds for a minimum of 2-hours/month of bargaining between the employer and union.

According to Local 560 President Chris Peck, “Bargaining would not only resolve Dartmouth’s exposure to the NCAA’s massive antitrust liability, but directly improve our members’ academic experience by relieving those on financial aid of the need to work second jobs, give them a say in scheduling decisions that force them to miss class, and create real accountability for the athletic department around varsity athletes’ physical and mental health."?

The chatter is expected to grow as the Big Green’s first game is November 4.

--

One walk-on topic for today.

As you’ve likely heard, Hurricane Helene was the deadliest hurricane to reach the mainland US since Katrina. Among the areas effected was Augusta, GA, and my wife and I were impacted as a result of the storm. Things are getting better in town, but it will be a long road to recovery. Sports are a unifier in this country, and when natural disasters strike that is highlighted. Here are a few anecdotes from around the Southeast that were encouraging to see as the region is in recovery mode, as well as some places to contribute.

• Southern Conference partners with World Central Kitchen
• East Tennessee State University football gets an emotional win after being stranded for 14-hours
• Augusta National donates $5M to relief efforts
• Western Carolina and Wofford face off with donations in hand
• One Pack NIL Fund's NIL collective mobilizes for the effort
• UNC Asheville relief fund
• Appalachian State relief fund

Much appreciation for those who have reached out and contributed to the clean-up. I would ask for continued thoughts and prayers for those who have been impacted and who are in much, much worse situations.

Per usual, thank you to the 1,000+ weekly subscribers and listeners of the NIL Blitz podcast which drops every Tuesday. If you like what you're seeing, please feel free to share within your network.

Thanks for reading – stay safe and have a wonderful week!