NIL

It looks like college-style NIL may come to horse racing

Published

4 months ago

August 23, 2025

Has NIL arrived in horse racing? Maybe this is week 0 of college football being a distraction, but it sure feels like the selling of name, image and likeness is percolating in our game.

First, White Abarrio was headed to the Pacific Classic next Saturday at Del Mar. Now we see he is staying home for the Jockey Club Gold Cup the following day at Saratoga. One more of those Grade 1 about-faces, and White Abarrio will qualify for the Western Dressage World Championship next month in Oklahoma.

Then we see Mike Repole on X. No surprise there. This time he has invited his followers to choose the race he should enter Fierceness next weekend.

White Abarrio is redirected to Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“I could use some help,” he wrote Thursday. “Would you want to see him in the Gold Cup vs. Mindframe and Sierra Leone or in the Pacific Classic vs. Nysos and Journalism? What do you think?”

Note to self. Call Repole’s team and point out the poll attachment for X posts.

With entries for both races not due until Wednesday, I had this vision that Josh Rubinstein at Del Mar and David O’Rourke at Saratoga were on recruiting missions just like head coaches traipsing their polished shoes across the carpets of teenagers’ families.

“You can have a place right on the beach,” Rubinstein might be heard saying. Not to Repole. To Fierceness. “We’ll give you a double barn stall with extra oats and hay. You can have your own private exercise track on the ocean. We can get Baffert to introduce you to two of his prettiest 2-year-old fillies. In fact, they can escort you during your whole visit. And if Mr. Repole wants a little something-something under the stall door, we’ll make sure it’s waiting for him.”

All the while, a phone conversation might be heard from a darkened office nestled among maple trees in upstate New York.

“Hello, Fierceness? Dave here.” O’Rourke and the neighborhood stars are on a first-name basis, you know. “You’ve been a loyal resident here at Saratoga for so long. How about if we give you a bigger plot of grass outside your barn to feast on whenever you want? We will even throw in some dandelion and get rid of the dichondra. And maybe we can carve out a chunk of time just for you and your workmates to train by yourselves. As a matter of fact, how about if we rename the Oklahoma training track? The Fierceness Oval has a nice ring to it. Oh, if Mike needs us exclusive access to the 1863 Club, it’s all his. Tell him not to be surprised if there is a rich, leather valise waiting for him.”

Lawyers would implore me here to emphasize the preceding quotes were entirely imagined. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This admittedly is a silly illustration, but there is a bigger point that has repeated itself this summer. Whether it was the Haskell vs. the Jim Dandy or the Arlington Million vs. the Sword Dancer, the competition has become unnecessarily fierce for quality horse flesh to fill added-money races. With a foal crop that continues to shrink and a calendar of tradition-rich stakes with ever-richer purses, the term cutthroat does not seem out of reach.

In truth, racing pioneered this routine long before a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that unleashed the fury of NIL on college sports.

The Westchester Racing Association dangled a big winner-take-all purse for a Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral match race that did not happen at Belmont Park in the spring of 1938. The $100,000 back then would be more than $2 million now. As it turned out, the $15,000 worked just fine at Pimlico that fall.

Canterbury Park floated the idea of adding $1.8 million to its $200,000 Mystik Lake Derby if American Pharoah would bring his Triple Crown to Minnesota in the summer of 2015. That story was big at dinner time in the Twin Cities. Then owner Ahmed Zayat shot it down before the 10 o’clock news that night.

That same summer, Pharoah did show up for the Haskell after Monmouth Park added $750,000 to the $1 million purse. And after it promised to give the Zayat family the finest of the parterres. And free access to a big room to throw a fully paid party for 100 guests.

With the back of the hand parked next to the whispering mouth, the Haskell has had the irreverent nickname of the Envelope Invitational. That label, which track management routinely discredits, has been out there for years. Whether that is self-sustaining gossip or smoke from a distant fire, it does provide a different meaning for name, image and likeness.

It seems times now are more desperate. Just look at the puny size of Saturday’s field for the Travers. With his Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes bona fides, Sovereignty has been viewed as scaring off the competition. The last time this happened was with Holy Bull, who had only four rivals in the 1994 Travers. Are we really suggesting Sovereignty is the next Holy Bull?

The problem is not just American. The Yorkshire Oaks, a Group 1 race established 176 years ago, had only four fillies racing Thursday in England. The International Stakes, another top-level race at the Ebor Festival, drew only six starters the day before.

Fingers of blame obviously are pointed at the usual suspects. Fewer Thoroughbreds. Fewer starts for each of them. The difficulty in shipping them, especially after Tex Sutton Equine Air Transportation stopped flying its own plane four years ago.

Hands have been wrung over the idea that next month’s Pennsylvania Derby, widely perceived by big-track establishment as a Grade 1 in name only, might lure the most competitive field of 3-year-olds this summer.

Here’s a thought. Maybe that is because Parx does not run its $1 million race the same weekend as any other race that could siphon off its potential field.

All these calendar conflicts might be a job for horse racing’s scheduling czar to solve. Oh, wait.

Ron Flatter’s column appears Friday mornings at Horse Racing Nation. Comments below and at RonFlatterRacingPod@gmail com are welcomed, encouraged and may be used in the feedback segment of the Ron Flatter Racing Pod, which also is posted every Friday.

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NIL

Michigan NIL collective Champions Circle hits ground running after Kyle Whittingham hire

Published

33 minutes ago

December 29, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The coaching search is over, but the work is just beginning. Michigan Wolverines football has a new leader in Kyle Whittingham, the 22nd head coach in program history, and he’s already hard at work in Orlando as the Maize and Blue prepare for the Dec. 31 Citrus Bowl against Texas.

Michigan’s official NIL collective, Champions Circle, has launched its ‘Membership 2.0,’ an opportunity for fans to receive “new benefits, new opportunities to engage with players and coaches and new ways to support those who wear the Maize and Blue.”

“As Coach Whittingham takes the helm to lead the next chapter in Michigan football history, one thing is clear: success in today’s college football landscape requires support from each and every fan,” the collective shared in a press release.

By becoming a Champions Circle member, Michigan fans are “directly supporting NIL opportunities that help:

• Empower our new coach to establish the next great era of Michigan Football
• Build championship-level depth at every position
• Prevent rivals from poaching our top talent

The First 100 New Yearly Victors & Valiant Members will receive a football signed by Whittingham and freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood AND an invitation to a first-of-its-kind “Meet Coach Whittingham” webinar in 2026.

Here are details on membership tiers for Champions Circle:

The 66-year-old Whittingham is already in Orlando connecting with Michigan staff, players and their families. The Wolverines have one game remaining but are also focused on next season.

Whittingham was introduced to Michigan fans on social media Saturday evening and will hold his introductory press conference Sunday morning at 11 o’clock from the team hotel.

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NIL

Super-sized conferences are breaking college football

Published

1 hour ago

December 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

BEST 9.6 vs Bethune-Cookman University-12 — Makena Wong, Photo Editor, The University of Miami football team takes the field for its game against Bethune-Cookman University on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025.

The dawn of NIL has forced a realignment of college conferences, putting pressure on the structure of conference championships. When you look at the Power Four football conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and SEC), each have expanded somewhere between 16 and 18 members.

The past two seasons have demonstrated that the current conference championship format is not equipped to corral the super-sized power conferences. Deciding the top teams in the country is left to too many qualitative metrics (strength of schedule, head to head, and common opponents).

Something needs to change.

Texas A&M’s path to CFP

Looking at the SEC, Texas A&M had a historic 11-1 regular season, good for one of the best records in the nation. However it featured in-conference wins against seven out of the nine worst teams in the SEC; and every team they beat had a conference win percentage of .500 or worse.

The Aggies season would end in disappointing fashion as they lost twice in a row, against in-state rival the Texas Longhorns 27-17 and in the first round of the College Football Playoff against the Miami Hurricanes 10-3.

A&M arguably only faced three impressive teams all season (Miami, Notre Dame, Texas), and its only win of the three came in the form of a controversial one-point victory over ND in Week 2.

TAMU is one of multiple glaring examples of how massive conferences allow teams to waltz unscathed through their conferences thanks to scheduling issues.

UM Junior Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. breaks through the Texas A&M defense on Dec. 20. // Jake Sperling.

Is a return to Divisions the solution?

It would seem creating divisions within the conferences should be closely considered. This would stoke more fierce rivalries among inter-division opponents, ensuring more even matchups and a clearer cut conference championship.

Looking to the past, all of the Power Four conferences had divisions but were eliminated across the last decade — a division format made less sense with smaller membership.

In 2024, the Big 12 (with 16 members) had a four-way tie at the top of the conference between Arizona State, Iowa State, BYU, and Colorado, who all finished with a 7-2 record. By the end Arizona State and Iowa State faced off due to tiebreakers, but many thought that BYU was more deserving than Iowa State.

This season in the ACC (with 17 members), Virginia guaranteed their spot after a 7-1 conference record, but there was a 5-way tie for second place between Duke, Miami, Georgia Tech, SMU, and Pitt. As Miami fans well know, the unranked 7-5 Duke Blue Devils were awarded the second spot over a 10-2 Miami team ranked No. 12 in the country at the time.

Applying the Divisions to the ACC

When looking at the ACC, the conference has 17 members, which forces teams to play more or less games than one another. All of this would be solved if another team joined the conference.

But let’s concentrate on how the current structure of the ACC would address this issue. There would be three main things taken into consideration: rivalries, location, and talent. It might look something like this:

ACC North: Syracuse, BC, Pitt, Louisville, VT, Virginia, Clemson and Georgia Tech

ACC South: Miami, FSU, SMU, Cal, Stanford, Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest

For the divisions, it would be fair to re-evaluate every five years whether the two divisions are evenly split. Currently the competition would be tight; each division would be well balanced.

The proposed system would also allow scheduling and travel to be much simpler; every division team plays one another, the north would have 7 conference games while the south would have 8. At the end of the season, the two representatives from each division would face-off for the championship.

As some guidelines here are the five hypothetical tiebreaker rules:

1 – Conference Record

Conference records always take importance over every guideline but would have more weight as every team faces each other.

2 – Head to Head

Due to everyone facing off this should solve for tiebreakers except for three (or more) way ties.

3 – Overall Record

In the case of Miami – Duke the tiebreaker was Win Percentage of Conference opponents. In the context of a 7-5 record, the overall record should have more weight.

4 – National Ranking (AP poll / CFP)

Ideally the conference championship should be settled by this point but if it goes this far National Ranking should be considered in ensuring that the best teams compete for the conference championship.

Will realignment fix everything?

Fans want more entertaining matches and teams want ease of scheduling and travel.

The answer is simple — either return to smaller conferences or implement divisions to make conferences matter.

In the end, no matter the solution, it won’t be perfect. Sports fanatics will always say that there will be a better format, but the least we can do is learn from past mistakes.

Photo Credit: @CanesFootball via X // Miami Hurricanes true freshman receiver Malachi Toney breaks a tackle against Pitt on Nov. 29, 2025.

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College football team loses three All-Americans to transfer portal

Published

2 hours ago

December 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

North Texas capped a program-best 12–2 season with a New Mexico Bowl win, but quickly faced major roster turnover as quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins, and wide receiver Wyatt Young all entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Mestemaker broke out as a redshirt freshman in 2025, leading the FBS with 4,379 passing yards and 34 touchdowns following Saturday’s 49–47 victory over San Diego State.

He began his North Texas career as a walk-on and earned conference offensive honors and national attention before deciding to test the portal.

Hawkins, the Mean Green’s freshman back, finished 2025 as one of the nation’s most productive rushers, totaling 1,434 rushing yards and leading the FBS with 25 rushing touchdowns, highlighted by a 198-yard, three-touchdown bowl performance to cap the year.

Young, meanwhile, paced UNT’s receiving corps with 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns (ranking among the top three nationally) and earned first-team All-American and All-Conference honors.

Losing the nation’s top passer, the FBS’s most productive freshman runner, and a top-three WR in one offseason represents an immediate top-to-bottom offensive reset for North Texas.

North Texas Mean Green quarterback Drew Mestemaker. — North Texas Mean Green quarterback Drew Mestemaker (17) scrambles out of the pocket against the Tulane Green Wave | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

For the transfer market, all three are premium, high-demand assets — Mestemaker as a starting QB target for Power-Five teams, Hawkins as a feature back with breakout tape, and Young as a proven perimeter threat.

Mestemaker has already been linked to Oklahoma State (connection via coach Eric Morris), Indiana, Texas Tech, and Oregon, while Hawkins and Young are expected to draw attention from both Group-of-Five and Power-Five programs.

Hawkins, a three-star recruit from North Rock Creek High School (Shawnee, Oklahoma) in the 2025 class, also held offers from Emporia State and Central Oklahoma before committing to North Texas in September 2024.

Young, a three-star prospect from Katy Tompkins High School (Katy, Texas) in the 2024 class, signed with the Mean Green over offers from Rice, Arizona, Memphis, Air Force, and others.

Three top underclass producers hitting the transfer portal at once underscores how quickly the transfer era can reshape a program, leaving Group of Five teams that develop stars grappling with retention issues and the financial pressures of NIL.

NIL

College football team loses starting QB to NCAA transfer portal

Published

3 hours ago

December 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

In its first year under head coach Scott Abell, Rice finished the 2025 season 5–7 overall (2–6 in the American Conference) but still earned an Armed Forces Bowl invite, where it will face Texas State (6–6) on January 2 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Across 12 games in 2025, Jenkins completed 119 of 172 passes (69.2%) for 1,025 yards with nine touchdowns against two interceptions, while also carrying the ball 151 times for 531 yards and five scores.

That momentum may be short-lived, however, as Rivals’ Hayes Fawcett reported on Saturday that Jenkins plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, adding another domino to an already loaded quarterback transfer market.

A Houston, Texas product who signed with Rice in February 2023, Jenkins worked his way into the program as a multi-role quarterback/athlete, appearing in limited action early in his career before being named the 2025 starter.

In his first full year as the starting quarterback, Jenkins earned American Conference All-Academic recognition.

Prior to signing with Rice, he starred at Alief Taylor (Houston), where he threw for 4,735 yards and 46 touchdowns against just six interceptions in 22 varsity games and earned All-District 23-6A honors as a junior.

Jenkins was 247Sports’ No. 93 quarterback in the 2023 class, committing to Rice over offers from Alcorn State, East Texas A&M, Jackson State, and Lamar.

Rice Owls quarterback Chase Jenkins. — Rice Owls quarterback Chase Jenkins (4) throws the ball during the third quarter against the Houston Cougars at Rice Stadium. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

With a 69.1% career completion rate and proven mobility, Jenkins profiles as a strong fit for spread-option or run-oriented Group-of-Five offenses that prioritize efficiency and quarterback movement.

He could appeal to programs seeking an experienced starter while also offering value as depth at the Power-Five level, with his Texas roots strengthening his regional appeal.

Some notable programs that have reportedly shown interest in adding a quarterback through the transfer portal include Florida State, Clemson, North Texas, TCU, Virginia Tech, and Cincinnati.

NIL

$2.4 million QB connected to major college football program in transfer portal

Published

4 hours ago

December 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Cincinnati closed the 2025 season at 7–5 (5–4 Big 12) and will face Navy in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on January 2, marking the Bearcats’ first bowl appearance since joining the Big 12 and since head coach Scott Satterfield took over in 2023.

Cincinnati rattled off seven straight wins midseason but dropped its final four games to close the regular slate before receiving the bowl invitation.

Quarterback Brendan Sorsby started 12 games for Cincinnati in 2025 and finished with 2,800 passing yards, 27 passing TDs, and five interceptions (61.6% completion, 155.15 passer rating), adding 100 carries for 580 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns.

A Denton/Lake Dallas (Texas) product, Sorsby was a three-star recruit who signed with Indiana (redshirted 2022, started in 2023) before transferring to Cincinnati in 2024.

However, Sorsby notified Cincinnati and publicly confirmed on December 15 that he will test the transfer portal while awaiting an NFL draft grade.

Since then, multiple programs have reportedly shown interest, with some NIL offers rumored to approach $5 million, a figure that would rank among the highest in college football.

On3’s NIL tracker currently values Sorsby at approximately $2.4 million, placing him among the higher-valued quarterbacks in the college game.

On Friday, Fox Sports’ Laken Litman included Oregon among the programs expected to pursue a quarterback through the transfer portal and identified Sorsby as a “top quarterback from the portal,” along with Texas Tech, Indiana, and Oklahoma.

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore. — Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore (5) warms up before the game against the James Madison Dukes | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

Oregon’s starter, Dante Moore, is widely regarded as a likely high NFL Draft selection and has not publicly committed to returning, stating that he has yet to make a final decision.

With a young and largely unproven group of quarterbacks behind him on the depth chart, speculation has been that Dan Lanning and his staff could pursue a transfer portal quarterback should Moore declare.

If Moore declares for the draft, Oregon would likely seek an experienced, pro-ready signal-caller capable of operating a tempo-based offense while sustaining recruiting and NIL momentum.

Sorsby’s size (6’3″, 235 pounds), proven starter experience, marketplace value, and dual-threat rushing ability, a trait Oregon has used successfully, would make him an immediate candidate.

NIL

Damon Wilson seeks denial for arbitration in NIL dispute with Georgia

Published

5 hours ago

December 28, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Updated Dec. 28, 2025, 1:33 p.m. ET

Former Georgia football defensive end Damon Wilson is asking an Athens-Clarke County Superior Court judge to deny Georgia athletics’ attempt to go to arbitration on what it contends is Wilson breaking an NIL contract when he entered the transfer portal.

Georgia sued Wilson, seeking $390,000 in liquidated damages after he agreed to an NIL deal with Classic City Collective and transferred weeks later. He played this season at Missouri where he was second-team All-SEC.

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