Uber is Out, The CAB is In

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Happy Friday, folks.

After making headlines last week with realignment talk, FSU officials decided to go on Spring Break, leaving us with no updates on the rumblings in the ACC. However, there is some smoke floating down from the Rockies, and this time, it’s not from a recently-legalized recreational drug that almost rhymes with Benihana.

As has been extensively discussed, the Pac-12 is doing its best Peter Parker impression and telling us “I don’t feel so good.” Following the departure of USC and UCLA for the B1G, the conference lost lots of its luster in the eyes of potential media partners, and conference commissioner George Kliavkoff is having a hard time finding someone willing to buy the league’s rights for anything more than a gas station hotdog and a scratch off.

The situation wasn’t helped by the Big 12 engaging in what the kids in the cafeteria often refer to as “cutting” and signing an early extension on its deal with Fox and ESPN even though its existing deal had been scheduled to go beyond the end of the Pac-12’s.

The competitive disadvantage that comes with small annual revenue payouts and limited TV exposure from unattractive media deals has left the remaining Pac-12 conference members anxious about their futures, and if recent reports about media offers are accurate, they have reason to be.

Most of the attention has focused on the conference’s two largest remaining brands in Oregon and Washington (hey I get distracted by the neon unis too) who have been linked to following the Trojans and Bruins to the frosty heartland of America. However, recent reports suggest that the Four Corners schools, meaning Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah, might actually beat them to the punch and bolt for the Big 12.

No decision will be made until an actual media rights offer is floated to school presidents, and it’s not likely that decision makers would opt for such a drastic move unless this new offer is reaaaaaally bad. However, it’s expected that such a pending agreement could be reached within the next few weeks.

There’s a bit of game theory facing the media partners (Apple, Amazon, and the Law and Order guys) rumored to be at the auction. Offer large enough contracts, potentially overpaying in a very cost-sensitive media environment, and it’s more likely that schools stick around.

Even with an overpriced offer, it’s still not guaranteed that the conference remains intact, a possibility made even more unlikely now that there are 6 teams speed-dating with conferences around the country.

Don’t pay enough, though, and the Big 12 will stretch from Orlando to Salt Lake City, and the Big Ten will add Seattle and Eugene to its national footprint.

Former ESPN President John Skipper had an interesting solution to the problems faced by both the ACC (see: FSU drama) and the Pac-12: get hitched, you crazy kids.

He argued that this would allow the ACC to renegotiate its ridiculously long and now seemingly far undervalued media rights contract to address some of the concerns of teams like Florida State while providing the Pac-12 with some leverage to be worth more than a pack of gum.

This makes some sense financially, but flights from Miami to Seattle… Can the players at least get a second pack of peanuts?

As for the Big 12, it’s now a 14 team league (16 for this year). It could very well add another 4, and that’s not including Gonzaga for basketball. The Big Ten has 16 members, and the Pac-12 has 10. Can we PLEASE, finally just get rid of the false advertising that is numbers in conference names???

It was the men’s version of Magic Mike this past weekend.

No, it wasn’t that cliche cheerleader carwash that appears in every mid 2000s comedy, though serious question: has anyone actually ever seen one of those in real life???

Instead, it was the Underwear Olympics themselves: the NFL Combine.

335 college standouts were invited to frigid Indianapolis to strip down to their tights and run and jump and dance (maybe) around with their bros. NFL scouts and coaches from every team were there to poke and prod and interrogate players as they construct their draft boards. In the end, a few of these athletes made themselves quite a bit of money by running faster and being bigger than the other very fast, very big humans.

Starting with everybody’s favorite event, the 40 yard dash, this year’s class was even speedier than most. The betting favorite was Texas A&M trackstar (and runningback) Devon Achane with +420 odds. His 4.32 (3rd fastest) certainly impressed, but it was Michigan DB DJ Turner who really stole the show, clocking a 4.26 despite not even being listed in individual odds. A scorching trail of melted turf was all that remained as he ran off with his now much higher future signing bonus.

The biggest question of the whole week was answered at the height and weight station.

Many draft experts had set an arbitrary target weight of 195 for potential first pick Bryce Young. Luckily, he drank a few gallons of milk right before stepping on the scale and weighed 204 at 5’10. Miraculously shrinking a few inches was a common theme among Tide representatives...

He wasn’t able to stick around and give a middle finger to all of the size doubters as he rumbled his way to the bathroom to empty his bladder.

No player made himself more money than Anthony Richardson.

Nobody had been questioning AR’s physical attributes. Are there concerns about whether he can throw a football within 10 yards of his intended receiver? Maybe, but he’s going to look like a Greek god while doing it.

Even so, nobody anticipated the athletic showcase he put on, checking in at 6’4 and 244 pounds and still managing to run a 4.43. That’s faster than 4 of the 6 receivers on the NFL’s All Pro teams.

Not content with being a jacked Flash, he also decided he would break BOTH quarterback jumping records as he exploded 40.5 inches in the vertical and sprung 10 feet and 9 inches in the broad jump. He was even more impressive than the quarterback you created in NCAA 14 (rip).

The latest odds have Richardson as the second most likely player to be selected first overall. Many are predicting a trade up by the Raiders who would take him first. Apparently, they don’t care if you can play football in Vegas as long as you can look really, really intimidating while (not) doing it.

For those of you who are new here, I also write a newsletter on startups and tech called The Startup Breakdown. Currently, all that everyone on that side of Twitter can talk about it ChatGPT. As such, I found it a bit fitting that my favorite NIL deal of the week came from a robot.

CJ Stroud was one of the greatest players in CFB last season. However, Buckeyes fans would probably trade him for the QB throwing passes to the receivers in practice today.

Marvin Harrison Jr. signed his first NIL deal this week with Monarc, a company building robo-Patrick Mahomeses. The company’s $30K seeker robots have begun to replace jug machines for the pro and college teams that don’t blow their entire athletic budget on locker room barbershops.

The machines can throw, punt, and kick up to 6 balls in 9 seconds (nice), the speed can reach 75 mph, and most importantly, you can finally show off your Madden stick skills with a touchscreen and joystick allowing you to choose ball placement with pinpoint accuracy.

Perhaps no receiver looked like he had spent more time using the robot than Harrison who caught 77 balls for 14 touchdowns and would have likely single-handedly beaten UGA in the Playoffs if not for an injury. The company claims that the rising junior was the company’s number one user. I believe it, and frankly, I’m surprised he had the time to sign the contract with how devoted he appears to be to his cyBFF.

Staying on NIL, unsurprisingly, the whole Jaden Rashada debacle is having an impact on the recruiting processes taken by the next batch of high school standouts according to a recent survey of 2024 prospects.

While each emphasized that NIL will have an impact on their final decision, it seems that money will not be the end-all that it was even just a few months ago.

First and foremost, they claim that they’re deciding based on the long-term benefit that a school can provide, primarily in the opportunity to get to the league where a rookie deal will pay far more than even the most lucrative of NIL contracts.

Another interesting point was that of maintaining relationships with coaches even after committing elsewhere. We’ve seen the importance of this in the era of the transfer portal where many coaches only consider bringing in transfers with which they already had a prior relationship. That explains (at least some) of the players who commit just hours after entering the portal.

Now, players are stating that these relationships are going to matter to them more than ever, both when first committing to a school, but also after when you never know when an NIL deal could fall through, forcing them to send that awkward “hey so uhhh you up?” texts to the other schools they’d been considering.

What an example we’re setting for the next generation where this is necessary lol

Next season’s opening weekend matchup between LSU and Florida State will be one of the most high profile matchups of the year. However, it’ll be hard for it to top their exhilarating game last year. Tigers fans went crazy after a last second touchdown to send it to overtime… until the kicker missed the PAT and the Seminoles got to be the ones partying in the French Quarter. If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, then you know the value of Extra Points 😉 

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We’ve heard the term NIL once or 10 million times by now.

It has reshaped the landscape of college football, finally allowing athletes to be compensated by brands looking for sponsored players to star in their commercials and advertisements.

It has also been notoriously misused to blatantly pay players through the guise of “sponsorships” with independent collectives paying millions of dollars for a semesterly photo op or meet and greet. Sometimes, they even make the players show up. The nerve.

While most of the headlines thus far have focused on this dirty side of NIL and its impact on recruiting and the transfer portal, there are many players who are actually looking to build their personal brands.

In addition to exposure through deals with existing companies like a fried chicken joint or a car dealership or that other fried chicken joint (but with better sauce!), many athletes are launching their own lines of merchandise consisting of everything from shirts to hoodies and Margarita scented skin care cream.

In the age of social media, a player’s digital presence is worth even more, and athletes have recognized this such as when uber-famous and uber-talented Colorado cornerback Travis Hunter announced that he would reveal his transfer destination (from Jackson State after Deion left… I wonder where he is going) once he hit 100K subs on Youtube. It didn’t take very long for the rabid college football public to help him surpass that number.

Dozens of players have millions of followers across Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube, and they genuinely put in dozens of hours of work into creating content for their audiences. As someone who tried his hand at TikTok, I can confirm that no number of hours could provide me enough time to learn the Renegade, so kudos to you guys.

Social media exposure creates even more value for these athletes for potential brand partnerships and other professional opportunities down the line. Frankly, these ventures are are refreshing in that they seem to be far much closer to the intent of the rule change.

Schools have recognized the appeal in helping their players build these personal brands, and some are investing in the kinds of studios typically reserved for Hollywood to provide their athletes with every resource necessary to dive into developing them. The first school to officially unveil such a facility is certainly #AllIn on making their school an even more attractive destination.

Clemson opened its Clemson Athletic Branding Institute earlier this week, affectionately dubbed The CAB by the Tiger Faithful. Why that name? In addition to more logically being a catchy acronym, in classic Dabo Swinney fashion, the head coach said it’s because “it gives you a lift to your destination.”

Dabo’s program wasn’t the first to announce plans for such a facility (Miami and Bama already have), but they’re the first to actually build it. These three certainly won’t be the only if the facility has the kind of player attracting potential that it seems to possess.

The facility is built inside of the football program’s indoor compound, and it gives Tiger NIL coordinator CD Davies a home office to support athletes coming in to use the 12K foot studio.

What all will athletes have to work with?

• Video, photo, and audio studios? ✅ (x2)

• Branding wall to display personal logos? ✅

• So much orange that you’d died and gone to SunnyD heaven?✅✅✅

The facility has all of the bells and whistles to help athletes create their own content or do promos with sponsoring brands. Every high school JuJu wannabe in the country will be flying in for Clemson’s prospect camp to try to land an offer.

Arguably even more important than the amenities themselves is that the new facility hosts Davies’ office. Reminder, these are 18 year old kids who have never had to deal with personal finances in their lives. Even for most college kids, they’re struggling to not spend their piggy banks’ contents on Juul pods and Chipotle. Now, there’s real money at stake.

The dedicated support of an NIL director will allow athletes to navigate all of this and receive advice on all of their contract, tax, and other personal financial questions and needs as they wait their turn to film their “Top 5 Anime Villain Draft” YouTube Shorts.

There have been concerns around the Clemson program about the usage (or lack thereof) of NIL. More accurately, there has been growing frustration with Swinney’s refusal to adapt to changes to the game, whether through not using the transfer portal (the program just brought in its first transfer) or through refusing to utilize NIL.

Okay maybe that last part was inaccurate. After all, Dabo says that the Tigers do embrace NIL, though the only endorsements his school needs is God’s Name, Image, Likeness lol

The CAB seems to be a way for the old-school coach to admit that he had to sorta get with the times while not giving into the recruit auctions that so many other programs have found themselves in.

Though this concern might be resolved, another one arises over the facility’s Title IX adherence meant to prevent gender inequality in college and high school athletics. Given that it’s literally inside the football complex, I understand why this concern was raised.

The school has been adamant that The Cab is open to any and all Clemson student athletes. Further, it’s actually not even the first such media studio available to Tigers athletes. The other is located in one of the school’s gyms, likely making it more easily accessible to gym-based sport players, though the extra amenities that will be offered in The CAB will likely be worth the scooter ride.

My first reaction to seeing this story was that the facility is super cool and I’d love to use it myself. My next thought was that Clemson’s 300+ student athletes prolly thought the same thing, and this isn’t going to fit all of them.

Athletics staffer Jeff Kallin thought the same thing (great minds, rights?) and announced that plans for a THIRD such facility are in the works. Prepare to see a whole lot of Clemson orange on your TikTok feed in the near future…

Every school has money. Every school has nice facilities. Every school has collectives offering massive money to potential and current players.

However, possibly even more so in the post-Rashada fallout world, the little things like this stand out to players more than ever.

I anticipate seeing 132 more pop up across the CFB landscape over the next few years.

Cheers to another day,

Trey