What's next after NIL? New venture wants to give athletes a say in college sports' future.

BLOOMINGTON – When Jim Cavale started the content platform INFLCR in 2017, he did so recognizing what was coming.

The convergence of a handful of legal actions against the NCAA’s long-held definition of amateurism, chiefly among them the O’Bannon case, convinced Cavale — an entrepreneur and former college baseball player — name, image and likeness reform was inevitable. He wanted INFLCR at the vanguard of being able to provide brand guidance and support to athletes, the organization’s remit eventually expanding to include tax advice, payment solutions and more.

That same eye on the future now has Cavale focused on the potential for revenue sharing in college sports, and at the head of a new venture: Athletes.org.

Free to join for all college athletes, Athletes.org is meant to give those athletes communal support and a place to gather and, crucially, organize with others, particularly in their sport. Be it via collective bargaining or some other method, Cavale sees athletes having a seat college sports’ decision-making table in the near future. Athletes.org is meant to prepare them for that moment when it arrives.

“College athletes are going to now be involved in the discussion of where these things go,” Cavale told IndyStar. “I felt it was really important to start organizing athletes into their own association.”

Athletes.org is structured in layers.

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It’s free to join, thanks to an array of investors and corporate partners for whom, Cavale said, no-fee membership was a priority.

Recognizing the wide range of experiences between athletes in different sports and across different divisions and conferences, Athletes.org sorts members into chapters based on those categories. So Big Ten men’s basketball players, for example, have their own chapter, separate from Sun Belt volleyball players.

“Different athletes that play different sports in different conferences have different views on what they need,” Cavale said. “Chapters were an opportunity for athletes to get into a smaller group of athletes that play the same sport in the same conference.”

His experience with INFLCR taught Cavale flexibility is crucial in the college sports space. Regulations and trends are changing monthly. Legal challenges to NCAA rules have pushed the old model further and further off stage, as practices like NIL and increasingly athlete-friendly transfer rules are more widely accepted.

In the same way INFLCR began as one thing and grew into something more, Cavale sees the same potential in Athletes.org.

It could move in different directions based on the varying needs of constituent members across a wide range of sports and divisions. It could evolve differently within divisions, within sports or within conferences. In some cases, Cavale said, it could even act as a precursor to unionization, if or when collective bargaining between athletes and universities becomes necessary.

Cavale cautioned against assuming that as Athletes.org’s primary purpose, pointing out the legal layers alone would make unionization at any level in college sports challenging. But he said the organization’s mission is, among other things, to never close the door on future possibilities. Like INFLCR, Cavale wants Athletes.org to remain as nimble as possible.

“Could certain chapters from Athletes.org be the impetus for a union if it’s required? For instance if bigtime college football broke apart into its own league?,” Cavale said. “Could the conference chapters for those football players evolve into a union? Sure.

“We’re going to adapt to where the market goes.”

A non-profit organization, Athletes.org is open to athletes from the moment they commit to a college program out of high school. Members can ask questions via an app used to interface with the wider community. Athletes.org has pro bono experts that can offer advice on anything from legal questions to tax concerns, and the organization can connect athletes with agents and collectives, vetted and verified by Athletes.org staff.

Cavale — who stepped down as CEO of INFLCR in August — and Athletes.org co-founder Brandon Copeland onboarded corporate partners to help underwrite the support members receive. Even former athletes can join their respective communities, particularly as mentors to current or soon-to-be athletes.

“Our membership app allows to text for help. You can also call for help,” Cavale said. “We’re here to just give (athletes), knowledge, access, protection, in a membership offering through our association that’s free.”

Cavale started Athletes.org open-minded about its direction and evolution. He doesn’t see any other way for it to succeed.

He is part of a chorus growing in both size and strength, calling for serious-minded reform in college athletics, beyond just pleading with Congress for solutions through federal legislation.

In particular, Cavale said he sees vehicles like Athletes.org — which can bring college athletics leaders and athletes to the same table — as perhaps the last chance for college sports to dictate their own future.

“I have a lot of empathy for ADs and commissioners, because they’re the faces of leadership in college athletics, but the reality is they all report to presidents,” Cavale said. “If you don’t have presidents behind you, it’s tough to innovate.”

He’s fond of an analogy comparing college athletics today to the music industry at the start of Internet streaming.

After decades of record profits on vinyl, then cassettes, then compact discs, music executives suddenly found their fundamental revenue streams threatened by file sharing services like Napster. Instead of recognizing music was moving toward a digital future, record companies spent years fighting the practice before finally embracing it.

Cavale sees college sports at a similar crossroads. It can collectively embrace its rapidly evolving future, or force it to be dictated by court and executive rulings.

Athletes.org, Cavale said, can be part of facilitating necessary conversations that move everyone forward together.

“This is our last chance,” Cavale said, “to come up with our model of the future, before we’re made to do so.”

IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.