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The Jewish NIL group that wants to revolutionize college sports – The Forward

Published

52 minutes ago

December 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Jake Retzlaff, the BY-Jew Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images

By Noah Hirsch-Rechter
December 9, 2025

My favorite joke in the 1980 comedy Airplane! is, by the standards of a movie featuring a glue-inhaling Lloyd Bridges and an inflatable toy autopilot, one of its subtler gags. A passenger asks a flight attendant for some light reading; in return, she receives a pocket-sized leaflet of “famous Jewish sports legends”.

The vicious canard (just kidding, we’ve been called worse) that the so-called people of the book are ill-at-ease on the court or the gridiron contains a kernel of truth, of course. There’s a reason nearly all Jews know the names Koufax and Spitz — there are few other Jewish sports stars to choose from.

But the rapid growth of the country’s first Jewish NIL initiative, Tribe NIL, would suggest that, in the collegiate ranks at least, such stereotypes are baseless; in barely a year, it has accumulated a roster of nearly 200 athletes.

NIL, which stands for name, image and likeness, allows student-athletes to profit off of their fame and success, most often via endorsement deals requiring commercials, public appearances, paid social media posts and the like. (Here’s Arch Manning, star University of Texas quarterback, flinging a football downfield while wearing *checks notes* Warby Parker glasses.)

Until 2022, however, college athletes were barred from receiving any form of compensation for their services. So NIL initiatives — organizations that help connect students with funding opportunities — are a relatively new phenomenon. Most of the organizations bring together student-athletes with a particular unifying characteristic, usually a connection to a school or region; for instance, the University of Alabama, a college football behemoth, has two NIL initiatives, Yea Alabama and The Tuscaloosa Connection.

But Tribe is unusual in that it is not organized around geography, but around culture.

Olympic Star Mark Spitz poses for a portrait in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. — Mark Spitz, looking every inch an ’80’s cultural icon Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images

So co-founders Moses and Eitan Levine lean on a different kind of network: The Jewish professional one. “There are inherent advantages that the Jewish community has,” Moses told me over a Zoom call.

“I always joke that Jewish nepotism is a good thing,” he added.

Virtually none of Tribe’s athletes are able to command lucrative sponsorship deals, which, under the NIL system, are reserved for the very best Division I athletes in the so-called “revenue sports” — football and basketball. A good number of Tribe’s roster, by contrast, are Division III athletes, and few are in football or basketball. They’re still better at their chosen sport than nearly all other human beings, yet not good enough to be recompensed financially.

“That’s a problem,” said Moses. “A D-III field hockey player who doesn’t have inherent NIL value is still working a full-time job. It’s crazy they don’t get any compensation.”

With Tribe, then, Moses imagined other kinds of compensation. “The question we’re asking,” he said, “is how can our athletes use their name, image and likeness to get where they want to be in five or 10 years from now?”

Tribe’s answer is to cultivate closer ties with a myriad of institutions, and with their Jewish stakeholders in particular, in hopes of securing sponsorships, internships and jobs for its growing list of charges.

“Say I’m a big Jewish law firm,” Moses told me, “and I want to show that I support Jewish athletes. What if I hired a bunch of Jewish athletes for my summer internships, and then give them each an extra $1000 to allow us to advertise them on our Instagram?”

Moses and Levine pocket a fee for each deal, on top of whatever the athlete receives. Take the law firm example: In such a scenario, both men would be paid, by the firm, for giving that office access to the athletes — for “making the introductions,” Moses said.

The simple fact these athletes are Jewish is not the sole reason firms would hire them, Moses emphasized. “Like, they have a degree, and a full-time job as a basketball player on top of that, right? They’ve shown a level of commitment.” But Jewishness, Moses believes, can provide the proverbial foot-in-the-door. And he wants Tribe to be the intermediary.

“I wouldn’t ever tell a kid like they should only rely on the Jewish community to network,” he said. “But it’s a silver platter right there for you, and I promise you, it’ll work out for you if you lean in.”

For the tribe, by the tribe

Tribe is the brainchild of comedy writers Jeremy Moses and Eitan Levine. The pair met while working on Amazon’s short-lived sports TV show, “Game Breakers,” where they created a segment called “This Week in Jews.”

The duo, Moses said, quickly bonded over their shared cultural and sporting interests. Moses had a Conservative rabbi for a father and used to work for the site My Jewish Learning. Levine has a sizable social media presence as a comedian, which he often used to highlight Jewish sporting achievements in ways both heartwarming and acerbic.

In 2024, almost by accident, Levine helped broker the most significant Jewish NIL deal yet: A partnership between Manischewitz, of Matzoh fame, and Jake Retzlaff, Jewish quarterback at Brigham Young University. (Retzlaff was dubbed, entirely appropriately, B-Y-Jew.) Levine had worked with Manischewitz on his webseries, When Can We Eat, while Retzlaff had been the subject of one of Levine’s Instagram videos; he played matchmaker and made the shidduch to introduce the brand to the athlete.

Naturally, the photographs of a smiling Retzlaff holding up Manischewitz’s Potato Latke mix did not escape the attention of other Jewish student-athletes. Levine was soon inundated with requests for further kosher NIL deals, Moses told me.

This took both men by surprise; after all, they too had always subscribed to the notion that Jewish athletes were hard to come by.

“Our first thought was, ‘How many Jewish college athletes are there?’” said Moses. He decided to carry out a survey of sorts. “I went on the UCLA Athletics website — because I needed a school with a large population, a large Jewish population, and tons of sports programs — and looked at last names. If I was 75% sure they were Jewish, I counted it.”

His survey was unscientific, to be sure — Moses was a Jewish studies major, not a statistician — but it was effective: He counted 25 names.

“I was like, ‘Wait, that’s just at one school!” he said.

Moses realized that Jewish student athletes, far from being under-represented, were punching above their weight relative to the overall population. Thus was born Tribe NIL.

Schmoozing to success

Tribe’s yichus-heavy approach is premised on what Moses sees as one of American Judaism’s most enduring traditions: Rooting for Jews in sports just because they’re members of the tribe, whether they’re on your favorite team or not.

Moses offered up a choice example about Max Fried, the Yankees’ excellent pitcher. “Maybe you’re not rooting for the Yankees to win, but you’re still proud that the starting pitcher for the other team is a Jew.”

He acknowledged, however, that such an approach could limit Tribe’s appeal. It would be harder to pull off a paid appearance at a local synagogue, say, or a Q&A with Jewish partners at a business — with a view to potential employment down the road — if the athlete in question doesn’t feel especially Jewish.

So the collective is aimed squarely, and solely, at “proud” Jews, Moses said. “If they’re not comfortable talking about being Jewish out loud, then this is not the organization for them.”

Both Moses and Levine are holding out hope that Tribe will be spared the debates over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and over competing definitions of antisemitism and Zionism, that have roiled so many Jewish-American institutions. “We really strive to be an apolitical organization,” Moses said. “Because the one time Republicans and Democrats sit together is at a college football game.”

Still, the fairly well-established pathway from U.S. college sports to the Israeli professional ranks is one Moses hopes to exploit, and he’s not afraid of upsetting anyone. “We want to help American Jews play in Israel,” he said. “If this is a political statement, then it’s a political statement. But I don’t think it should be.”

Noah is a Forward intern who recently completed a master’s in journalism at City St George’s, University of London and previously worked as an Education Associate at Harvard Hillel, where he organized educational trips; taught seminars to undergraduates on a range of Jewish subjects; oversaw Hillel’s social media; and ran its social justice and equity programming.

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Ed Orgeron Gave Classic Answer When Asked About SEC Paying Players Before NIL

Published

2 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Former LSU national champion head coach Ed Orgeron has been in the news quite a bit lately.

First, it was Orgeron stating that he had interest in rejoining LSU as an assistant under good friend Lane Kiffin. On Tuesday, it was an entirely different topic—NIL in college athletics.

Orgeron joined the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast to discuss a host of topics, one of which included paying players before NIL. Podcast hosts Taylor Lewan and Will Compton joked that the SEC paid players before it was legal, and Orgeron chuckled before giving a classic response.

“Hey, you know… it’s all good. They say, ‘Hey Coach, you know, you’ve been out of coaching for a while. How are you going to adjust to NIL?’ I said, ‘Well, it’s a minor adjustment. … Back then, we used to walk through the back door with the cash. Now we just gotta walk through the front door with the cash!'”

Everyone knows the SEC was paying players before paying players was legal

Coach O with an incredible response on @BussinWTB 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/PvHvQK3Bdp

— Will Compton (@_willcompton) December 9, 2025

Nobody will ever admit that players were paid under the table prior to NIL, even though it was always considered one of college football’s worst-kept secrets. But it sounds like Orgeron is ready to embrace the NIL era if he ever gets an opportunity to return to the sidelines.

More College Football on Sports Illustrated

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Troy Aikman vows he’s ‘done with NIL’ after poor experience

Published

3 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The 1989 NFL Draft’s No. 1 pick, a three-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame quarterback named Troy Aikman, recently kicked up a fuss over the current age of college football with the NIL changes. After hearing his first-hand tale of woe, you might even agree with him.

According to Awful Announcing, Aikman was on a podcast this week where he shared that he actually did give money, and for a specific player, at UCLA. As can be the case in the modern college sports landscape, he claims that said player accepted the check, hardly offered a thanks, and then kindly decided he wanted to enter the transfer portal and go accept another deal from a new school. You can see why a UCLA alum like Troy Aikman was so upset.

“I gave money to a kid, I won’t mention who,” said Aikman. “I’ve done it one time at UCLA, never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank-you note.”

As much as he loves his school, Aikman is through with paying players who can leave right away.

UCLA Bruins quarterback Troy Aikman (8) back in the day | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

“So, it’s one of those deals to where I’m done with NIL,” he added. “I want to see UCLA be successful, but I’m done with it.” That may be the case for Aikman until certain changes and rules are made to corral this sort of chaos a little more.

“There’s gotta be some leadership at the very top that kind of cleans all of this up, starting with players that accept money.” Aikman pleaded. “There’s gotta be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf, to have to stick to a program.”

As Aikman mentioned, he wrote a “sizable” check to a single player for his UCLA Bruins, the gold and blue that he represented strong in the mid to late 1980s. To see the player he sponsonored to come to the program turn around and not even thank Aikman for the money and then split town like a travelin’ brand looking for their next gig — that’s got to be infuriating. By his quotes, Aikman appears rather upset, going as far as to say he’s done as a UCLA NIL donor for the time being.

Former LSU football HC Ed Orgeron ‘jokes’ NIL existed in SEC before it was legal

Published

4 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Former LSU football HC Ed Orgeron ‘jokes’ NIL existed in SEC before it was legal appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

College football has changed a lot over the last few seasons due to the widespread transfer portal and NIL, but mainly because of NIL. Especially with former players being paid a lot of money in back pay. The ability for players to get paid was a long time in the making. However, there was always an undercurrent of players getting paid in some fashion, and former LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron even joked recently that NIL existed in the SEC before it was legal.

On a recent episode of “Bussin’ With the Boys,” former LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron was on for a long-ranging interview. He talked about NIL and joked about how in the SEC, the only difference is that you can walk in through the front door with the money now, compared to the old way of doing it secretly.

Orgeron said, “They say, ‘Hey coach, you know, you’ve been out of coaching for a while and how are you going to adjust to NIL?’ I said, ‘Well, it’s a minor adjustment.’ and they said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Back then we used to walk through the back door with the cash, and now we just got to walk through the front door with the cash.’ A joke obviously.”

Taylor Lewan also asked Orgeron if there was an unwritten rule that an SEC team wouldn’t offer more money to an in-state player than that in-state school could offer. Orgeron said there was, but they were always broken.

“Rules are meant to be broken,” Orgeron said. “Because that s—t didn’t go down. They might’ve had an unwritten rule, but they were broken all the time.”

Orgeron has had two coaching jobs in the SEC, with his first at Ole Miss and his second at LSU. He has had a reputation throughout his time in college football as an elite recruiter, so Orgeron would have extensive knowledge of past dealings involving money.

When Orgeron was at Ole Miss, his most notable recruits were Michael Oher, Dexter McCluster, and Mike Wallace. Then, at LSU, he recruited Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow (Transfer), Derek Stingley, Kayshon Boutte, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

The ability to recruit players is more coveted than ever due to the NIL era, and it’s only a matter of time before Orgeron ends up back in coaching, whether that’s on Lane Kiffin’s staff at LSU or somewhere else.

Related: Ed Orgeron planning coaching return with very specific demands

Related: AD accuses ACC of 3-week attack on Notre Dame football amid CFP drama

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University of Utah Announces Landmark Private Equity Deal

Published

4 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

SALT LAKE CITY — With an eye on remaining one of the nation’s top athletic programs in the rapidly evolving world of college sports, Utah Athletics is moving forward with a groundbreaking private equity partnership and corporate restructuring that could fundamentally reshape how the Utes fund and operate their athletics enterprise.

The news, broken first by Yahoo Sports’s Ross Dellenger Tuesday morning, specified that the entire Utah Athletics Department will be reorganized into a newly created for-profit holding company, Utah Brands & Entertainment LLC, co-owned with New York-based private equity firm Otro Capital.

The deal — believed to be the first of its kind in collegiate athletics — is expected to generate up to $500 million in new capital for Utah’s athletic department through a combination of the equity infusion and donor commitments. The university retains majority ownership and decision-making of Utah Brands & Entertainment.

Utah Brands & Entertainment LLC

“First of all, want to thank our University’s Board of Trustees for the intense scrutiny that they have given to this new and innovative way to fund University of Utah athletics,” President Taylor Randall shared of the venture.

He continued, “we are excited about this new innovation in University of Utah athletics, this will give our institution, particularly our athletic institution, the upside it needs to thrive in the new revenue sharing and NIL era.”

This corporate offshoot will assume responsibility for major commercial operations historically housed within the athletic department, including ticket sales, media and broadcast ventures, stadium events, concessions, licensing and trademark management, corporate sponsorships, and other revenue streams.

Under the agreement approved by the NCAA and the University of Utah Board of Trustees, the university will retain majority ownership and decision-making authority within the new company, while Otro Capital will hold a minority stake and receive a share of annual revenue based on performance.

The structure includes an exit strategy after five to seven years, during which the university has the right to repurchase Otro’s ownership stake.

Athletics Director Mark Harlan is slated to chair the board of Utah Brands & Entertainment, which will elect an external president to oversee day-to-day operations. Traditional fundraising and coaching functions will continue to operate under the university’s umbrella, while the new entity focuses on commercial expansion and revenue growth. Enlarging the donor base with equity participation options also allows Utah supporters to purchase a stake in the venture — a novel approach not yet seen at peer institutions.

“We’re going to use this to find excellence in Utah Athletics,” President Randall shared.

This process has been underway for over a calendar year. Utah was focused on finding the best cultural fit and landed on Otro Capital. Multiple firms were vetted.

— Steve Bartle (@BartleKSLsports) December 9, 2025

Leadership and operations will be staffed jointly by university and athletics officials, as well industry professionals is intended to unlock new income opportunities with greater agility than a traditional university structure typically allows.

What does this mean for Utah NIL?

Many will be wondering what this means for Utah’s NIL. With this, Mark Harlan believes that this will have a significant impact on Utah’s NIL opportunities.

“We’re bringing in folks that have been involved in NIL in the professional space for years,” Harlan said. “I’ve been real proud of our efforts and how we’ve handled NIL. You don’t retain the kind of players that we’ve had in many sports if we don’t have a very robust program. But this allows us— in our recruiting process and retainment process, to really show what we are now surrounding our student athletes with appropriate and authentic NIL going forward.”

So, this does not directly fund Utah’s NIL opportunities, but it provide the platform and the professional understanding and know-how to generate more true 3rd-party NIL deals.

Harlan continued on about the importance of abiding by the rules and adhering to compliance of NIL. However, he also feels this will be important in providing Utah student athletes the best opportunities.

“Having the best platform for these student athletes that have worked on their brand through their hard work, and very best opportunities to work with pros, that have been doing this forever to enhance that brand and to include them in the deals that were out in the marketplace that is now legal, so we can do all those things that have changed and maximize those opportunities.”

The Bottom Line

The partnership is a bold strategy to navigate the financial realities of the post-House v. NCAA revenue-sharing era, in which schools will have faced increased cost burdens for athlete compensation and broader program sustainability.

In contrast to traditional holding company proposals occasionally floated by other universities, Utah’s deal pairs private capital with institutional control to balance innovation with governance.

University leaders believe this new model will help protect long-term stability, support upgrades across, strengthen competitiveness in the Big 12, and provide a funding foundation adaptable to future changes in college athletics.

If successful, Utah’s approach could serve as a blueprint for other programs exploring private capital solutions in a landscape where traditional revenue sources and rising expenses continue to challenge athletic departments nationwide.

Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.

Take us with you, wherever you go. Download the new & improved KSL Sports app from Utah’s sports leader. You can stream live radio, video and stay up to date on all of your favorite teams.

Follow @BartleKSLsports

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Major college football program loses 15 players to transfer portal after 2025 season

Published

5 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The actual 2025 college football season is now over for many schools, marking the start of another rollicking transfer portal season. We’ve got drama already, as one school out of the ACC has already seen 15 of its players announce intentions to transfer out of the program — and the portal doesn’t even open until January!

While the portal itself isn’t officially open for business until the third day of the new 2026 calendar year, with the actual regular season done, players are well within their right to announce that they do or do not plan to enter the portal. Frankly, for players outside of the College Football Playoff, their decisions almost need to be made before that actual 1/3 date.

That’s not going to be an issue at North Carolina, where 15 players have already decided they do not wish to return to Chapel Hill for the 2026 season, according to the On3 transfer tracker. The Tar Heels finished just 4-8 in head coach Bill Belichick’s first season, and as soon as it ended, a slew of players hit the doors. You can see the full list of guys who left right here:

List of 15 UNC transfers

Player Name	Player Position	Player Year
Khalil Conley	CB	Freshman
Miles McVay	IOL	Sophomore
Davion Gause	RB	Sophomore
Javarius Green	WR	Sophomore
Max Johnson	QB	Senior
Aziah Johnson	WR	Sophomore
William Boone	OT	Senior
Yasir Smith	TE	Freshman
Jani Norwood	IOL	Freshman
Ty White	CB	Sophomore
Khmori House	LB	Sophomore
Paul Billups	WR	Sophomore
Jason Robinson	WR	Freshman
Chris Culliver	WR	Junior
Jake Johnson	TE	Junior

The biggest losses among that crop? It may be the hit to the pass catchers. Green, Johnson, Gause and Culliver were, in order, the 4-7 spots on the team in terms of receiving yards — and all four of those guys posted more than 100 on the year. Added up, it’s not a small chunk of production. Plus, with what UNC loses at the top of the receiver depth chart, you’d think these guys were in for a big year in 2026. Alas, it’s not to be.

It’s no secret Bill Belichick’s first year coaching at North Carolina did not go well, but for 15 guys to immediately jump ship in the first week or so since the last game is definitely alarming. Is Belichick even planning to return? We haven’t heard otherwise, but the player movement signals something isn’t quite right at UNC.

North Carolina Tar Heels' college football head coach Bill Belichick — North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Just take Auburn for instance. They fired their head coach yet have only had one player so far announce that he’s entering the transfer portal. The same is true for Arkansas, just one announced transfer thus far despite changing head coaches. Florida? Again, only one guy has transferred. That’s three SEC schools who changed coaches that have combined to have one-fifth the departures that North Carolina has already had.

If that’s confusing, we’re just saying… this many transfers so soon after the end of the season and still so far away from the actual portal opening… must mean something. Because at schools that didn’t even have coaches for months at a time, players are hardly leaving.

Paul Finebaum calls for the end of G5 inclusion in College Football Playoff

Published

6 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is tired of non-Power Four schools so he called for the end of G5, or Group of Five (or Six) schools as we call them. He doesn’t want to see their inclusion in the College Football Playoff moving forward.

Amid an intense debate over Notre Dame, Miami and even Alabama, Tulane and James Madison found their way into the CFP by being conference champions. The Group of Five is guaranteed a spot considering the five-highest ranked conference champions get into the field.

This year, because the ACC champion, Duke, was not ranked as high as James Madison, the Dukes got in along with top 20 Tulane as a second G5 school, the first in CFP history. But Finebaum called the product below the Power Four “unwatchable.”

“Well, it’s time to get rid of the G5 schools, and I know how they got in there. It was a compromise, but America does not want to see Tulane, nor do we want to see James Madison in the College Football Playoff,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “This is great in the NCAA basketball tournament, there are 68 schools. There are only 12 here, and we don’t need them around. And I’m not going to give you the with all due respect, because I don’t really care about Tulane or James Madison. They’re both going to lose by 25 to 45 points. They’ll be unwatchable games and get them out of a playoff.”

Despite the fact Tulane coach Jon Sumrall and James Madison coach Bob Chesney are leaving the G5 for Florida and UCLA, respectively, they want to finish the job this year. They’re guaranteed one more game, maybe more with upsets.

“I’ve said it a lot. I think just as important, if not more important than how you start at a place, it’s how you finish,” Sumrall said. “I’m forever indebted to Tulane. I was an assistant coach here over a decade ago. It’s been a complete privilege and honor for me to be the head football coach here.

“And you know, I think in my introductory press conference two years ago I said, ‘We’re going to win the conference championship. We’re gonna go to the College Football Playoff.’ And I also said, ‘We’re going to win it,’ so we got work to do. Job’s not done.”

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