NIL
OSU announces creation of in-house NIL entity
This story was updated with new information. Ohio State has announced the formation of a new in-house entity to handle the bulk of name, image and likeness opportunities for its athletes. Buckeye Sports Group will become the primary NIL group serving Ohio State athletes. It will be run jointly by the school’s athletic department and […]
This story was updated with new information.
Ohio State has announced the formation of a new in-house entity to handle the bulk of name, image and likeness opportunities for its athletes.
Buckeye Sports Group will become the primary NIL group serving Ohio State athletes. It will be run jointly by the school’s athletic department and Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties and help to facilitate endorsement deals on behalf of athletes.
Buckeye Sports Group will replace THE Foundation and The 1870 Society collectives as Ohio State’s major fundraising entity for NIL. According to an OSU press release, founding members of those donor-funded collectives will serve in an advisory capacity to Buckeye Sports Group. OSU said that recurring donations and subscriptions made to The Foundation will continue in a fundraising role to support OSU athletics.
“What we want from folks who have been involved in our collectives is their support and connections in the business community,” athletic director Ross Bjork told The Dispatch. “Even though the mechanism of a collective will not exist, the relationships will, and the people who have been involved in those will connect us with businesses, either directly or indirectly, through introductions.
“We’ll have an advisory board of people who have been involved in the past, and we’ll tap into their resources and relationships to make sure that we stay at the forefront of all of this.”
“We’re still going to be involved, and donations to us will still help the new group,” a board member from THE Foundation told The Dispatch.
A representative with The 1870 Society could not be immediately reached for comment.
The formation of Buckeye Sports Group comes three days after a federal judge approved a settlement of three federal antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA. Member schools will be allowed to distribute $20.5 million to their athletes in the upcoming academic year.
Bjork said the Buckeyes will reserve $18 million for direct payment to players for the use of their NIL. The remainder will be used to fund 91 new scholarships across OSU’s 36 varsity sports.
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In a statement announcing the new entity, Bjork said Ohio State was “incredibly thankful for everything our NIL collective’s leadership, businesses and donors have done to support our student-athletes.”
The collectives have been a critical part of the school’s NIL infrastructure in previous years, contributing funds for athletes. During the 2023-24 academic year, football players earned around $20 million in NIL deals, which included arrangements with the collectives, according to Bjork.
But it’s expected that collectives across the landscape will see greater scrutiny in the aftermath of the settlement as third-party deals exceeding $600 are subject to approval through a clearinghouse established by an enforcement arm known as the College Sports Commission.
“The collective model of just paying an athlete, because they have a contract without any quid-pro quo, without any obligations, that model cannot go forward because you have to have a valid business purpose,” Bjork said. “It has to meet a range of compensation through the system, and based on current analysis, current collective deals don’t have a valid business purpose, and they may not meet a range of compensation. That’s why the system is being built.”