I've Been to the Year 3000...

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Happy Friday, folks.

Before we get stated, always looking for ways to keep you guys happy. Let me know what sorts of content you want more of. It will only take 10 seconds and only requires your social security number and the naming rights to your third child.

We all know about the NCAA Tournament. Many of us have even watched a game or two of the NIT. However, there are actually two other tournaments out there to really milk the number of teams getting postseason berths in the CBI and CIT. And you thought the Trading Cure Bowl was obscure…

It’s the CBI that might actually be setting a precedent for a new feature of college athletic postseasons. The tournament is getting into the NIL game and will be rewarding teams for winning. The top four finishers in the tournament will receive $25K, $10K, and $2.5K (x2) respectively. The money will be paid out to each school’s collective (or whatever body is handling NIL) as the school itself is not allowed to make player payouts.

We’ve seen similar financial incentives creep into other sports. Just look to the NBA where they’ve had to start literally paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to make players pretend to play defense in the All-Star Game.

It will be interesting to see whether we might see something like this in CFB to address the issue that is bowl opt outs. Bowl games have practically become scout team showdowns in recent seasons, not even just “first glimpses at next year’s team” as most schools are still going to be overhauled through the transfer portal in the weeks after the game.

Attaching some sort of financial compensation which goes beyond the goodie bags that bowls distribute could lead to fewer players opting out. Even if it won’t be enough to entice the top players who are expected to make millions in the first round, it might be enough to convince later round guys or soon-to-be transfers who could use an extra few thousand for playing one more game.

You might never guess it as he gets obliterated with boos every time he waddles on the stage to announce the next draft pick, but it turns out, at least 32 people actually like NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Even luckier for him, these 32 fans are even the most important ones for his job security as the NFL owners, the people who vote on the commissioner, are expected to vote #Goodell2024 in team meetings this week.

The deal is expected to let the league’s head man run it back for another 3 seasons after having served in the role since 2006. His most recent deal, a 5 year contract, saw him make $200 million. I, too, would consider that to awkwardly dap up players on the draft stage.

Despite lacking fan approval, he has actually made some pretty significant moves to push the league forward. Among them are some of the (controversial) player safety rule changes and steering the media rights ship into the bays of CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC, and most recently, Amazon.

It’s not directly related to CFB, but I guess it’s nice to know that we’re sending our oversized sons to a stable home at the next level.

Anybody else tired trying to keep up with the latest in NIL news and think to yourself, “I wish Steve Harvey was narrating this for me to help me keep up”?

Unfortunately, I can’t say that Steve (or his moustache) will be available, but luckily for you, Richard Jefferson is, and the NIL space is getting the game show treatment.

Cash App and UNINTERRUPTED have teamed up to produce a competition show featuring four prominent college athletes, Will Levis of Kentucky, Jordan Chiles of USC Gynmastics, Jared McClain of Duke basketball, and Juju Watkins of USC women’s basketball.

Each week’s episode will show two of the athletes facing off to build their “net worth” through a series of competitions. Throughout, each athlete will also be sharing his or her story of navigating NIL and provide insights for making smart financial decisions. In the end, the winner also gets to choose another amateur athlete to partner with Cash App for an NIL deal.

It’s nice to see the growing number of resources for athletes trying to navigate this space. All four of these athletes are highly marketable public figures, so if anybody can speak to how challenging this market can be to navigate, it’s them.

Hopefully, this provides some sort of guidance for the next batch of amateur athletes so we don’t see some freshman phenom signing away his soul for a shirt with their face on it.

You might not be aware, but there’s a basketball tournament happening right now. My bracket is already trashed. Your bracket is already trashed. Now we can all just sit back and enjoy the show. Check out The Field of 68 Daily to follow along with the latest drama in the world of CBB.

NiL iS lIkE tHe WiLd WeSt

I’m sick of hearing it, too. However, it does capture the sentiment of how hectic this space is in its current state.

Driven mostly by collectives using NIL deals to recruit high school athletes and then re-recruit these same athletes every offseason when they “enter” the portal, it does seem that most of the fallout from the decision is against the intended purpose of the rule change.

Look at the high number of coaches leaving the game, either for the pros or going on coaching sabbaticals altogether, and it doesn’t take Saban to recognize that this model isn’t sustainable.

While there have been some preliminary discussions about rule changes or even federal legislation to reign in the power of collectives and the improper use of NIL, nothing concrete has come of them. The pendulum of power has swung in the direction of the players who are able to command considerable sums of money from desperate fans and alums.

While nobody knows what change will look like, an interesting solution might be emerging which would shift power back towards the big brands that are at the center of the sport: group licensing.

In a group licensing model, schools would enter agreements with big brands allowing for their IP to be used in advertising. This means that Texas could sign with Ford, and Ford commercials could then feature the school’s logo, something which is not actually allowed right now even if the brands can enter agreements with the athletes themselves.

While many of these athletes do have massive followings, 99% of the value of college players collectively comes from the logos on their helmets. Group licensing deals would shift deal structures to reflect this.

Players would be able to capture more value and better monetize their positions by tapping into the true source of their value. In the process, this would likely better orient the space by establishing clearer norms and precedents for deal size and structure.

For example, a random linebacker for Oklahoma doesn’t have a ton of value when wearing a blank jersey. The second that the OU IP is sewn onto that uniform, though, the value that the player can command immediately skyrockets.

Programs should be salivating for this model. After all, not only does it promise to restore some stability to the NIL system, but it also provides the schools with a new source of revenue. That logo commands a hefty paycheck in these ads.

Most players will overwhelmingly be on board as well. These agreements benefit the 99% of athletes who are not already signing million dollar deals. Most individual players’ value immediately reaches some baseline set by the name on the front of their jersey.

For those with big names on the back of their jersey, this could hurt a bit. Most brands are likely to prefer IP-carrying deals through the schools, and with the cut taken by the school for the IP, the payout to these players will be lower.

However, individual deals aren’t likely to be forbidden under such an arrangement, so they can still try to find those big deals outside of the group licensing if they so choose. Furthermore, the real money for these players comes at the next level anyways.

Not only does this structure have the potential to introduce stability through transparent deals, but it could also have beneficial side effects in reducing the chaos in the transfer portal and high school recruiting by rewarding players for staying put and reducing the need for bidding wars between schools.

The timeline for when this reality could emerge is unclear. However, we might have seen a baby step in NIL domestication from, once again, women’s basketball.

Bose, the headphones brand, has signed deals with arguably the two biggest names in women’s basketball in Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, both of UConn. In itself, this is nothing new as each has signed multiple big dollar sponsorship deals. This one is groundbreaking, though, because the brand is also incorporating the UConn IP.

The Huskies have been one of the biggest brands in the sport for decades. This deal would be like getting the rights to use Bama or Notre Dame football in ads. It’s a big draw.

Bose’s pitch must have been Katherine Webb-level attractive cause not only did the company get permission for the two star athletes to wear their jerseys in the video campaign, but it also secured a longer term agreement to use the Connecticut IP in any other deal between Huskies players and Bose.

For Bueckers and Fudd, the deal involved shooting viral TikTok videos from the team’s practice facility. Bose now has the ability to shoot ads on-site. Imagine a company shooting an advertisement in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. That would sell so much Bengal-aid.

Bose's deal with each player is a multiyear one. This means that each has committed to staying in school for the duration of the deal. As such, expect to see each star in her UConn jersey and Bose headphones for the foreseeable future.

This isn’t Bose’s first foray into NIL, though the brand has had to use different deal structures for its partnerships with other notable athletes like Oregon’s Bo Nix. In these deals, the ads haven’t been able to feature the Ducks’ IP. Imagine a world where the Bueckers and Fudd deals could be copied and pasted into college football.

This could look like Kyle McCord and Marvin Harrison Jr. signing with Microsoft to play Xbox in the Ohio State locker room. As part of the deal, each player has also already committed to staying there for 2-3 years. Think about how much this would reduce the 1000+ players entering the portal.

Extending this to the team licensing format, the contract between school and brand would guarantee marketability to every player on the roster currently and any that join the program via the portal or high school recruiting.

Schools wouldn’t need to bid on players every year; the NIL benefit is already established. There would be far smaller incentive to transfer because doing do would forfeit the cushy brand deals that being a part of that program provides.

Long-term, I believe that this is the future we’re moving towards. Simply put, the current climate isn’t sustainable. This model aligns incentives and provides a system which would be preferred by every side.

Officials (and fans) want stability, and group licensing would bring that. Players want the assurance of personal brand value, and attaching the school’s IP ensures this. Finally, where there’s money to be made, don’t expect the higher ups at these schools to look the other way. Let’s make it happen.

Cheers to another day,

Trey