A Booster Shot for NIL?

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Happy Friday, folks.

Doctors, beware.

A certain antagonist of medical professionals everywhere has emerged as the new frontrunner to be the home of West Coast college football.

The Pac-12’s ongoing quest for a media partner has had some positive (depending on who you ask) developments over the last week, and out of the presumed shadows of Bezos has emerged the equally massive Apple.

No details yet on what the deal might look like, though it can be assumed that it would resemble the streamer’s other live sports deal with the MLS (some sport called soccer?) where the games are live streamed only on Apple TV+

This agreement would be the first of its kind in the world of CFB, and I don’t expect it to be the last. The deal between ESPN and the SEC will take on a hybrid version of this where games not broadcasted during the prime window slots will be made available to ESPN+ subscribers as streamers increasingly look to the potential of live sports, one of the fastest growing segments of the entertainment industry, as a way to boost their profit margins.

Come for the Oregon football, stay for the Ted Lasso.

One of the Pac-12’s current members got some bad (again, depending on who you ask) news when Ohio State announced that it had canceled its upcoming home and home series with Washington scheduled for 2024 and 2025 citing a tougher conference schedule with the addition of UDub’s former Pac-12 foes in USC and UCLA.

In the initial agreement, if either team were to cancel, it’d owe the other school $500K, and the Ohio State administration has stated that it plans to pay this.

Perhaps tOSU can ask its fans to chip in. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve used their money to help out the team. Just ask future top five pick quarterback CJ Stroud who has a tradition to delete social media during the season to focus.

On the note of Ohio State, very few programs have the kind of history that the Buckeyes can boast. Relive a bit of that history and check out The College Football Retro Show, a weekly podcast taking you on a deep dive into the sport’s greatest games. The first episode covering the 2006 Buckeyes - Wolverines matchup drops next week. Don’t miss it 🤑 

This forced fans to get creative with their “you suck” messages, and instead of posting comments on Stroud’s “7ocked In” Insta highlights, they resorted to payment app Venmo. At least he got a lunch or two out of it?

Back to the H&H cancellation, some question whether this “difficult schedule” rational is the true reasoning. There’s been speculation that it really might relate to underlying attempts by the B1G to poach the Huskies like they’d done with the Trojans and Bruins.

While this is all just speculation, it’s worth pointing out that a similar scenario played out when the SEC made Georgia cancel its future scheduled matchups with Oklahoma, and lo and behold…

Staying in the SEC, Texas AD Chris Del Conte has assured fans that the Red River Rivalry will remain at the Cotton Bowl as the two sides are working on renewing their agreement to ensure fans get their heart(burn)’s content of funnel cakes at the State Fair.

There’d been speculation that a move to the SEC might force the game to move on-campus or even to everyone’s least favorite venue in Jerry World. However, it’s likely that the game will be forced to forfeit its traditional 11:00 kickoff and give the players a couple more hours to sleep in with a move to the 2:30 CT slot.

Unfortunately, not all of UT’s historic rivalry traditions are likely to be upheld, including the Thanksgiving matchup between A&M and UT. Aggie AD Ross Bjork has stated that with so many ACC and other nonconference accommodations for SEC teams throughout the season, the logistics might not line up. At least the feisty A&M-LSU game could remain intact?

Notre Dame has a new OC.

So what, so do abut 100 other teams this season. However, the Irish’s search process was a bit messier than most others, and I was so disappointed in AD Jack Swarbrick that I did what all Gen Zers do and wrote an impassioned Twitter thread about it. You’re welcome.

Finally, arguably the biggest news of the week was the Ross Dellinger report regarding the NCAA’s proposed college football rule changes. Some are okay. Others are Lunchables-level bad.

In order from most to least sensical, the ideas are:

• ❌ more back-to-back timeouts, getting rid of some of the time spent icing the kicker

• ❌ more untimed downs at the end of the 1st and 3rd quarter, eliminating maybe 1 or 2 plays a year

• ❌ more stopped clock on first downs except inside of 2 minutes in either half, moving closer to the rules in the NFL

• ❌ more stopped clock on incomplete passes once the ball is spotted… yeah this is bad.

These measures are meant to shorten games, something that executives claim will both make the game more enjoyable for new audiences and ensure player safety. Quick reminder that these are the same people that are expanding the Playoffs to make kids play 2-3 more games per year with an extended season beginning a month earlier and ending a month later. Go safety!

The last proposal won’t pass. Nobody is in favor. I’m not crazy about change for change’s sake, so I don’t exactly support the first down rule, but given the certainty of an extended season, I’m not violently opposed to cutting 6-8 plays per game. However, I think we’re all missing the major point here.

Have broadcasts gotten longer? Yes. However, the games themselves aren’t the issue.

In 2009, the median team’s total play count was 848. Last year, it was 875. That’s not the reason why games are getting 15-20 minutes longer. You really want to cut time? Cut a few commercials from the total count. Shorten halftime by a few minutes. Stop letting refs spend 10 minutes every time a player makes a tackle to determine whether it was targeting.

Some states are taking the rule changes even further, though they’re more interested in being the fun police.

That’s right. In the state of Florida, it might soon be a crime to rush the field.

The number of field stormings has increased pretty drastically over the last couple of seasons. With this has come an increasing number of encounters where punks like Jermaine Burton hit rushing bystanders as they “fear for their safety.”

Yeah. I’m sure that sorority girl with her back to you was a huge threat, Mr. D-1 football player with full pads on.

However, these celebrations are the kind that players and fans alike remember forever. Schools are already fined for them. The question of whether this would even be enforced is a valid one, but even if it were, do we really want to threaten spectators with up to a year in prison and a $2500 fine???

The state must have been there to witness the spectacle that was the 2021 Ole Miss at Tennessee game. The same punishments will also be extended to fans for throwing things on the field. Keep that mustard bottle in your pocket, you hooligan.

If you were offended by my characterization of CFB fans and their drinking habits, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you’re the kinda guy or gal that enjoys hitting the links on the weekend. Now, you have some reading material to get you through the agonizing tee shot warm up routine by your buddy that is absolutely convinced he could take Justin Thomas in 18 holes. Check out Caddyshanks and get the best golf content delivered right to your inbox:

If you want to see how quickly humans can innovate, give a bunch of hyper-competitive, football-obsessed billionaires the ability to directly pay college players.

A new structure of NIL deal or organization seems to emerge nearly every week, and without getting too deep into how the land looks right now (though might do a longer edition looking into this in a future edition. lmk), one of the most competitive, most obsessed, and most rich programs in the nation just took another massive step forward by increasing the efficiency and influence of its donors.

Since the beginning, Texas A&M and NIL have seemed to be tied together like each side has a finger in a Chinese finger trap. Rumors of the school alums’ massive spending contributing to the recruiting cause were swirling well before the program managed to sign the highest rated recruiting class of all time, and though there were some questionable sources for some of the figures being thrown out (@Sliced Bread), A$M quickly became the poster child for what NIL had the potential to do in new look college football.

However, even before the age of NIL, the Aggie faithful has always been one of the country’s most financially supportive, consistently ranking among the nation’s highest in booster contributions. This has resulted in state of the art facilities, grossly overpaid coaches, and just ask anyone in C-Stat and they’ll tell you that a new road is blocked off for construction of another indoor football practice field every week.

Leading this effort from the beginning has been the 12th Man Foundation, the school’s official booster club founded in 1950. With contribution options for donors from the common fan to the wealthiest of oil tycoons, the organization has been more than adequate in its fundraising efforts, most recently announcing a commitment to securing $120 million for a philanthropic Centennial Campaign.

Now, the organization is taking on the task of being the first official booster club to enter the NIL space.

The group’s newly launched 12th Man+ Fund, an opportunity for all fans to directly support NIL efforts, represents an alternative to the wave of collectives which have sprung up across the country.

Donations are encouraged through one-time or recurring contributions and can be towards either the general fund or a specific sport. In addition to (maybe eventually lol) seeing the on-field product improve, donors receive benefits depending on their level of donation, ranging from exclusive content to annual dinners and exclusive gear for those willing to shell out a cool $25K.

Further, as of now, these contributions are actually considered charitable donations, thus they’re tax deductible. Paying a five star quarterback >>> paying the IRS 🤷 

While the first to be established, this effort isn’t the first of its kind to be explored. Other schools have similarly looked at the potential for in-housing the collective effort, an attractive move considering the lack of oversight that collectives are often afforded, occasionally with disastrous results.

Booster clubs have more established relations with the school than do collectives, and with a more clearly defined association, much of the murkiness around NIL and collective engagements is cleared up in more established organizations.

Beyond NIL, though, this might also serve as a model for how new-age college football will look should direct compensation be legalized.

The growing support for making student-athletes official school or league employees has reached the world of politics, and many are envisioning a world where within the next <10 years, players are directly compensated. Rather than being from the school itself, it might be the case that these players are paid through these booster/collective clubs.

The split nature of traditional booster clubs and emerging collectives has also posed a challenge for fundraising. On a more basic level than just aligning the visions of collectives and those of program officials, merging could help to address the confusion and fatigue facing donors being approached by so many different used car salesmen pitching multiple athletic program-related once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

Already, the grey relationship with collectives has stunted the efforts of some programs. At Iowa, for instance, fans and the school’s collective have been irritated that the school’s AD refuses to offer the booster list to the collective. Having a single point of contact for all of your donation needs would go a long way in making the experience better for the money-givers that the entire operation is relying on.

Getting back to how this applies to A&M, the school’s players weren’t exactly hurting before. Athletes received a REPORTED $4.1 M last year, $3.3M of which was for football players. I can assure you that as disclosing these deals isn’t required, this already high number is still grossly understated.

However, now that the vaults of all of Aggie Nation have been opened up for signing players to even larger NIL deals, these past numbers will pale.

How much will they be paid, though?

Well, it seems that the Fund is taking a unique (though rational, although I guess that rationality could be considered unique in the world of CFB) approach by enlisting the services of an accounting firm to help establish a “fair market value” for players based on other deals in the league.

One of the biggest complaints about dealing in the NIL space is the lack of disclosure and transparency in the size and structure of agreements. While it can be assumed that these firms will have more insider insight into deals which are not public knowledge, it could take some time for the accountants to push through the muck and froth in the market to determine how much a player is “worth”, an approach which could be quickly emulated at institutions across the country.

I am confident that the 12th Man Foundation will not be the last booster club to get into the NIL game. In fact, since the Fund’s announcement, the state of Oklahoma introduced a bill that would allow for its own universities to engage in these efforts.

No school wants to get left behind, something which is hard to do given the breakneck speed of development in the NIL space. The entire industry is set to Jimbo press conference speed.

As for now, through, the country’s richest football program (or at least one of them) just got far more efficient with how its funding player acquisition and retention.

Cheers to another day,

Trey