Contracts? Buyouts? Study at 1 school, play for another? Ambitious pitches to revamp college sports
As the amateur model of college athletics disintegrates, a handful of unusual ideas have been floated as ways to reign in some of the chaos surrounding the explosion in name, image and likeness compensation and a transfer portal that sees thousands of athletes changing schools every season. Whether any of the ideas end up being […]
As the amateur model of college athletics disintegrates, a handful of unusual ideas have been floated as ways to reign in some of the chaos surrounding the explosion in name, image and likeness compensation and a transfer portal that sees thousands of athletes changing schools every season.
Whether any of the ideas end up being implemented is unknown and every school is awaiting a decision from a federal judge on whether a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement against the NCAA and the five largest conferences will take effect as early as July 1. If it does, that opens the floodgates for schools to share millions in revenue directly with their athletes amid a host of other changes.
Here is a look at some of the topics:
Athlete contracts
A formal agreement between an athlete and a school is not a new concept, but with the uptick of NIL deals the thought of pro-style contracts is becoming increasingly more common.
There are plenty of ways to get creative with contracts. Rich Stankewicz, operations director for Penn State’s NIL collective Happy Valley United, said he favors an incentive-based approach — essentially adding money for athletes who not only perform but stick around.
“I personally really like the idea of incentivizing performance in school, those kinds of things that would only be occurring in the season while they’re playing,” Stankewicz said. “If more money is paid out in those time frames, then that gives the incentive for the player to stay and see those dollars from their contract, rather than potentially collect up front and then decide the grass is greener somewhere else three months later, barely doing any school, you know, without playing at all.”
Transfers and buyouts
This topic is red hot at the moment. Entering the transfer portal comes with the risk of not landing in a better spot — or any spot — but athletes have shown every single season over the past few years that they are comfortable going anyway. Athletic departments are beginning to fight back.
The nation office of the NCAA is shown in Indianapolis on March 12, 2020. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek recently encouraged the school’s NIL collective to pursue legal action after quarterback Madden Iamaleava departed for UCLA after just five months in Fayetteville. Iamaleava allegedly collected significant money upfront and cited homesickness as his reason for following his brother to California.
This is a scenario Penn State hopes to avoid. And the importance of contract details is clear.
“Commonly, there’s nothing binding students in certain instances to the institution they’re with for the entirety of the contract,” Stankewicz said. “We’ve definitely looked into having measures in place to discourage transfers during the time of the contract. There are a bunch of different ways to do that, from buyouts to how you load the contract.”
Athletes as employees
Groundbreaking shifts in the landscape have sparked conversations about athletes becoming official employees of their universities.
Texas forward Kyla Oldacre,front right, throws the ball toward Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron, front left, as she falls out of bounds during overtime of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. Credit: AP/Michael Caterina
It’s a controversial subject to say the least. Universities would become responsible for paying wages, benefits, and workers’ compensation and schools and conferences have insisted they will fight any such move in court (some already have).
Complexities go beyond the concept. While private institutions fall under the National Labor Relations Board, public universities must follow labor laws that vary from state to state and it’s worth noting that virtually every state in the South has “right to work” laws that present challenges for unions.
There is also a new administration in power now, said Michael LeRoy, a labor and employment professor at Illinois who has studied the NCAA and athlete rights.
“With the election of Donald Trump, and what that would mean for a new National Labor Relations Board, what that would mean for repopulating the courts with judges who are likely not congenial to that view, I no longer have much hope that we’ll get a ruling in the next 5-10 years that these are employees,” LeRoy said.
Despite the lack of employment status, LeRoy said, athletes should advocate for themselves and use the entertainment industry as a model. He said athletes currently are offered “take-it-or-leave-it” NIL contracts when a broader approach might have benefits.
“I think athletes should start to look at Hollywood and Broadway contracting arrangements that deal with publicity rights,” he said. “I think there’s a way to frame this collectively. The framework of collective bargaining and employment, I would say, the entertainment industry generally offers a blueprint for success.”
Playing for another school
Things are so chaotic right now that the very lines of who an athlete is playing for could get blurred.
Saying he was inspired by the NBA’s G League, University of Albany basketball coach Dwayne Killings is proposing a two-way contract for college players. Albany would welcome transfers from top-tier programs who need more seasoning and help them develop — with plenty of game time vs. sitting on the bench — before sending them back to their original program, where they’d be ready to compete.
“The best development happens on the floor, not necessarily on the scout team, given the new 15-man scholarship limits,” Killings told CBS Sports.
And then there is Division III, which recently approved an unusual pilot program: Athletes would play for one school but do their coursework at another school that does not sponsor varsity athletics.
The NCAA said the program, which would run during the next academic year, “will offer expanded pathways for student-athletes to pursue their academic objectives and complete their participation opportunity.”
“This program intends to address the changing, dynamic higher education environment we find ourselves in right now,” said Jim Troha, president of Juniata and chairman of the DIII President’s Council. “It recognizes existing academic programs and provides flexibility to expand participation opportunities for student-athletes.”
The program will be assessed before any decisions on whether to make it permanent or expand it.
Maryland basketball’s former NIL director disagrees with claims by a former player’s parents that he wasn’t paid what he was owed by the school’s NIL management company, Blueprint Sports. Turtle NIL founder Harry Geller, who negotiated Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s contract on Maryland’s behalf, said Gillespie isn’t owed the roughly $100,000 his father claims he’s owed. The […]
Maryland basketball’s former NIL director disagrees with claims by a former player’s parents that he wasn’t paid what he was owed by the school’s NIL management company, Blueprint Sports. Turtle NIL founder Harry Geller, who negotiated Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s contract on Maryland’s behalf, said Gillespie isn’t owed the roughly $100,000 his father claims he’s owed.
The Gillespies are pursuing legal action to recoup the money.
“Here are the facts as I remember them. I was actively involved in the whole process. Foreseeing that the NIL money would reach a peak this offseason due to the House Settlement, I put a clause in every player’s contract that said, to paraphrase, ‘If you enter the transfer portal and transfer, all payments will cease.’ This was done mainly because the players were compensated to do charitable works, and a lot of the events took place in the offseason. So it was a year-round commitment,” Geller told InsideMDSports.
“It was always explained to the Gillispie family that if they transferred, the payments would stop, as it’s a year-round commitment.”
“When BluePrint (BPS) took over, all contracts were transferred to them and rewritten. The clause about transferring was not in Jakobi’s contract, but was in all the other 12 contracts. It has not been explained to me why one was omitted. Regardless, there is strong language in the BPS contract referring to the consequences of transferring that Ja’Kobi agreed to.”
What I’m Hearing: Early reviews of new-look Maryland basketball and the deal with Zion Elee
Earlier Monday, Gillespie’s father was quoted in a Baltimore Sun article saying Maryland still owed his son for two months’ worth of payments, framing it s proof Maryland was NIL-poor like former coach Kevin Willard said.
“When Willard left, they pretty much quit paying all the players … We’re fighting that right now. There were players that did get their money and players that didn’t and are still fighting for it. It kinda makes it look like Willard was right. Maybe they don’t have the money,” Byron Gillespie said.
Gillespie’s one season at Maryland was a valuable springboard for his career. He was one of Maryland’s best players, earning second-team all-Big Ten honors after averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 assists per game on 45.3 percent shooting overall and 40.7 percent from three. Along with raising his profile nationally and earning about $500,000, he played it into a return trip to his native Tennessee to play for the Volunteers for what’s been said to be in the $2 million range.
“Why he is even pursuing this is beyond me. He was given a great opportunity to shine by Kevin, made the most of it with his talent and hard work, and leveraged that into what has been reported as a four-to-five-times payday from the previous year,” Geller said.
“Ja’Kobi signed the Turtle NIL contract with this clause in it … We executed scores of contracts during the Turtle NIL era with no complaints from anyone.”
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Tech merges Matador Club for revenue sharing era | Sports
In preparation for the July 1 implementation of the House v. NCAA settlement, Texas Tech Athletics integrated its official NIL Collective, The Matador Club, to its booster organization, the Red Raider Club, Monday. Beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, the Red Raider Club will be responsible for contributing $14 million annually of the $20.5 million […]
In preparation for the July 1 implementation of the House v. NCAA settlement, Texas Tech Athletics integrated its official NIL Collective, The Matador Club, to its booster organization, the Red Raider Club, Monday.
Beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, the Red Raider Club will be responsible for contributing $14 million annually of the $20.5 million departmental-generated revenue collegiate programs are allowed to put forth toward student athletes.
“As we transition to a new model, know that we are ready,” stated Kirby Hocutt, Tech director of athletics, in a news release Monday. “Over the past year, we have studied various impacts of the House settlement on our department and have been ready for this new era in college athletics. Texas Tech will continue to be a leader nationally in this era.”
The move will provide donors one spot to assist Tech Athletics in the new revenue-sharing landscape. Since 1953, the Red Raider Club has been Tech’s primary booster organization for Athletics, while the Matador Club, which was established by donors Cody Campbell, Terry Fuller, John Sellers, Gary Petersen, Tim Culp and Marc McDougal, has served as an NIL collective since 2022.
As both the university and student-athletes transition into a new era of college football, Tech also created a dedicated Revenue Share Administration unit within the Internal Affairs and Compliance area of the athletics department.
This team, spearheaded by former Tech Associate Athletics Director for Compliance Justin Opperman, will be responsible for university NIL agreements with student-athletes, monitoring the annual revenue share cap and third-party NIL reporting.
Furthermore, Tech pledged to enhance its financial literacy efforts for student-athletes through additional courses under the J.T. and Margaret Talkington Department for Student-Athlete Development.
Higher-earning student-athletes will be provided advanced financial strategies in addition to the fundamental curriculum all Tech student-athletes are required.
“Our donors and supporters will have the ability to impact our success like never before,” Hocutt stated in the release, “but it will take all of us.”
Former Maryland NIL director on Ja'Kobi Gillespie's unpaid NIL claims
Maryland basketball’s former NIL director disagrees with claims by a former player’s parents that he wasn’t paid what he was owed by the school’s NIL management company, Blueprint Sports. Turtle NIL founder Harry Geller, who negotiated Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s contract on Maryland’s behalf, said Gillespie isn’t owed the roughly $100,000 his father claims he’s owed. The […]
Maryland basketball’s former NIL director disagrees with claims by a former player’s parents that he wasn’t paid what he was owed by the school’s NIL management company, Blueprint Sports. Turtle NIL founder Harry Geller, who negotiated Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s contract on Maryland’s behalf, said Gillespie isn’t owed the roughly $100,000 his father claims he’s owed.
The Gillespies are pursuing legal action to recoup the money.
“Here are the facts as I remember them. I was actively involved in the whole process. Foreseeing that the NIL money would reach a peak this offseason due to the House Settlement, I put a clause in every player’s contract that said, to paraphrase, ‘If you enter the transfer portal and transfer, all payments will cease.’ This was done mainly because the players were compensated to do charitable works, and a lot of the events took place in the offseason. So it was a year-round commitment,” Geller told InsideMDSports.
“It was always explained to the Gillispie family that if they transferred, the payments would stop, as it’s a year-round commitment.”
“When BluePrint (BPS) took over, all contracts were transferred to them and rewritten. The clause about transferring was not in Jakobi’s contract, but was in all the other 12 contracts. It has not been explained to me why one was omitted. Regardless, there is strong language in the BPS contract referring to the consequences of transferring that Ja’Kobi agreed to.”
Earlier Monday, Gillespie’s father was quoted in a Baltimore Sun article saying Maryland still owed his son for two months’ worth of payments, framing it s proof Maryland was NIL-poor like former coach Kevin Willard said.
“When Willard left, they pretty much quit paying all the players … We’re fighting that right now. There were players that did get their money and players that didn’t and are still fighting for it. It kinda makes it look like Willard was right. Maybe they don’t have the money,” Byron Gillespie said.
Gillespie’s one season at Maryland was a valuable springboard for his career. He was one of Maryland’s best players, earning second-team all-Big Ten honors after averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 assists per game on 45.3 percent shooting overall and 40.7 percent from three. Along with raising his profile nationally and earning about $500,000, he played it into a return trip to his native Tennessee to play for the Volunteers for what’s been said to be in the $2 million range.
“Why he is even pursuing this is beyond me. He was given a great opportunity to shine by Kevin, made the most of it with his talent and hard work, and leveraged that into what has been reported as a four-to-five-times payday from the previous year,” Geller said.
“Ja’Kobi signed the Turtle NIL contract with this clause in it … We executed scores of contracts during the Turtle NIL era with no complaints from anyone.”
Before you go …
— Get the latest Terps news delivered to your inbox FREE! Sign up for our email newsletter here and stay informed on Maryland basketball, football, recruiting and every other Terps storyline.
— Support Maryland basketball’s recruiting and player-retention efforts by joining TurtleNIL!
Ohio State launches groundbreaking NIL initiative for Buckeye sports
After Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House vs. NCAA settlement on Friday, collegiate athletics changed forever. Now, teams are trying to keep up with the changing landscape, while trying to allocate the new ‘salary cap’. Schools will have roughly $20.5 million to pay their sports — with college football and men’s basketball getting most of […]
After Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House vs. NCAA settlement on Friday, collegiate athletics changed forever. Now, teams are trying to keep up with the changing landscape, while trying to allocate the new ‘salary cap’. Schools will have roughly $20.5 million to pay their sports — with college football and men’s basketball getting most of the money. But on top of that, schools are attempting to come up with new ways to help their players utilize their Name, Image, and Likeness to get paid.
The Ohio State Buckeyes moved quickly and came up with a groundbreaking initiative designed to support, streamline and enhance NIL opportunities for Ohio State student-athletes. The Ohio State University Department of Athletics and Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties have announced the formation of Buckeye Sports Group (BSG).
Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“Ohio State has always been a leader in college athletics, and this initiative is another step forward to build upon our strong NIL foundation,” said Carey Hoyt, Ohio State’s Deputy Director of Athletics. “By combining the power of our athletic brand with Learfield’s expansive network, we are creating an innovative, full-service approach to NIL that directly benefits our student-athletes.”
You can read the detailed press release below revealing which three key areas it will focus on.
The Buckeye Sports Group will support Ohio State’s student-athletes with comprehensive efforts within three key areas: deal facilitation and management, content creation and storytelling, and support services.
§ NIL Deal Facilitation & Management o Negotiating and securing brand partnerships locally, regionally, and nationally for student-athletes. o Overseeing contract preparation and fair market value assessments. o Utilizing analytics to track NIL performance and return on investment. Content Creation & Student-Athlete Storytelling, powered by Learfield Studios Creating athlete-driven digital content, including social media campaigns, video series and podcasts. Leveraging Learfield’s Fanbase data and digital expertise to optimize distribution across social media and digital channels. Providing marketing resources for brand collaborations to maximize results, including the use of Ohio State marks, logos and access to campus facilities.
§ Athlete Support & Services o Providing financial literacy and tax support through partnerships with industry experts. o Offering branding and social media growth training to help athletes build their personal brands. o Connecting student-athletes with brand partners to provide business experience, micro-internships and build professional networking relationships with companies.
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Dick Vitale signs multi-year contract extension with ESPN
Iconic broadcaster Dick Vitale has agreed to a new contract extension with ESPN. His new deal will keep him at the Worldwide Leader through the 2027-28 season. His new contract extension will also bring his tenure at ESPN to almost 50 years. Vitale has called more than 1,000 games on the network’s air. ESPN announced […]
Iconic broadcaster Dick Vitale has agreed to a new contract extension with ESPN. His new deal will keep him at the Worldwide Leader through the 2027-28 season.
His new contract extension will also bring his tenure at ESPN to almost 50 years. Vitale has called more than 1,000 games on the network’s air.
ESPN announced the news on Monday in conjunction with the announcement of a new invitational tournament honoring the long-time broadcaster. The Dick Vitale Invitational will begin in 2025.
The first matchup will pit Duke and Texas against each other. The game will be played at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 4, airing on ESPN.
It figures to be a tremendous showcase for the legend. It will obviously feature two of college basketball’s powerhouses, precisely the kind of game Vitale got famous for calling over the years.
“Dick is the heart of college basketball, and his kindness, generosity and courage are a constant inspiration to us all,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said. “Through the creation of the Dick Vitale Invitational, we will celebrate him and his profound impact on the sport. We are also thrilled that Dick will remain a signature voice on ESPN through the 2027-28 season.”
Vitale made his return to the broadcasting booth this past February after suffering numerous setbacks. In June 2024, Vitale revealed he had been diagnosed with lymph node cancer and would undergo treatment. It was Vitale’s fourth battle with cancer since 2021, previously surviving lymphoma, melanoma and vocal cord cancer.
On Jan. 8, Vitale announced that he’d defeated cancer once again and would return later that month. However, he suffered a fall that ultimately pushed his return back to February.
Getting back to the airwaves was a huge priority for Dick Vitale, who did so successfully. Now he’s thrilled to have a longer-term extension with ESPN.
“ESPN has been such a vital part of my life since December 5, 1979, and I was so thrilled to learn that ESPN Events will have an annual Dick Vitale Invitational,” said Vitale. “Jimmy Pitaro and all my colleagues and friends at ESPN have been so good to me and I am so thankful for all of the prayers and love I have received from them during my cancer battles. ESPN has been family to me and has given me a life that has been even better than my dreams. To the Vitale family, ESPN is ‘Awesome, baby’ with a capital A!”
On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this report.
Amid growing frustrations over NIL in college sports, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey kept it simple: schools are asking for basic “oversight” and “structure” when it comes to NIL agreements. “If you want an unregulated, open system, just raise your hand and let me know,” Sankey told reporters on Monday. “And universally, the answer is, ‘No, […]
Amid growing frustrations over NIL in college sports, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey kept it simple: schools are asking for basic “oversight” and “structure” when it comes to NIL agreements.
“If you want an unregulated, open system, just raise your hand and let me know,” Sankey told reporters on Monday. “And universally, the answer is, ‘No, we want oversight. We want guardrails. We want structure.’ Those individuals don’t have the luxury to just say that in meeting rooms, period. They don’t have the luxury to just be anonymous sources. They have a responsibility to make what they’ve sought — what they’ve asked for — to make it work.”
This comes on the heels of the multibillion-dollar House v. NCAA settlement, approved Friday, which allows schools to directly compensate athletes. Now, some of the nation’s top conferences are “bullish,” per ESPN’s Heather Dinich on their ability to enforce NIL rules under the new structure.
Following the settlement, former MLB executive Bryan Seeley was named CEO of the newly formed College Sports Commissions.
With specific rules and enforcement mechanisms still to be determined, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said it will be up to Seeley to establish and oversee the boundaries moving forward.
“We’re in the process of developing some of those rules and structure and overall implementation of that,” Phillips told reporters. “Now that we have Bryan on board, I think we’ll be able to move a little bit quicker. But we want to get this right. It’s one of those areas that until you have somebody leading the College Sports Commission, it’s difficult to get together with that individual and start some of that framework that will be in place.”
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark emphasized the importance of patience with the newly formed College Sports Commissions, calling it a case of “progression over perfection” as the organization begins shaping the future of college athletics.
“Our schools want rules, and we’re providing rules, and we will be governed by those rules. And if you break those rules, the ramifications will be punitive,” Yormark said.
Despite looming questions and plenty of work ahead, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said the settlement has made college athletics a “much better place” than it was just 48 hours ago.
“What’s not debatable is that this new model does bring stability and fairness to student-athletes in college sports,” Phillips continued, “and we’ve been in an unregulated environment with no rules and no enforcement. It has paralyzed the NCAA in Indianapolis, and we’re responsible for certainly some of that. We’re now going to have a foundation and structure laying out those rules. The new structure provides our student-athletes with more opportunities and benefits than ever before.”
Can the Liberty repeat as champs? | WNBA Countdown
