Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger shares a glimpse of the NIL Go platform and submissions process during a session today at the 2025 NACDA Convention. “As reported plenty in the past, any new NIL deal after settlement approval (starting June 7) and any NIL deal with payments after June 30 need to be entered into NIL Go and is subject to the clearinghouse. The front-loading is over. Ended at midnight Friday. Here is the interface and 5-step process for athletes to individually submit their 3rd-party NIL deals: 1) Upload contract; 2) Payor info; 3) NIL deliverables; 4) Compensation figure; 5) Final confirmation. Dellenger also shares a look at a NACDA presentation from LBi, “the software company operating ‘CAPS,’ the new cap management system where schools input player rev-share deals. This is an example of the main team landing page to track rev-share, as well as individual sport and player pages.” Have a look. (link)
Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich reports from a House v. NCAA implementation presentation at NACDA and notes that “Clemson AD Graham Neff says athletes will have to submit deals to NIL Go within five days of signing. Additionally, schools will be held accountable if their athletes fail to submit. Ohio State AD Ross Bjork says that as athletic departments, "we are literally going to sign a piece of paper" that says they agree to abide by the House settlement rules. Bjork adds of the criteria for what constitutes fair market value: "This wasn't people in a back room that created this. This was in the settlement." Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois comments on anonymous reports saying some won't abide by the $20.5M revenue-share cap: "We need to shift our mindset and make this work." In setting up the College Sports Commission’s enforcement process, Bjork notes the goal is to set up a “pro sports model” that is transparent and isn’t conducted by peer institutions. Furthermore, Bjork remarks that the CSC will have a “menu of penalties that they can choose from.” Christovich also reports that an “administrator from the University of North Dakota tells power conference ADs that they just haven't gotten a lot of info about settlement implementation. He asks: ‘Do you happen to know when some of that information might come out?’ He says he heard about a 51-page FAQ and he hasn't gotten it yet.” Washington AD Pat Chun says the power conferences have 30 days to send out the FAQ, and that plaintiff lawyers have to look at it. (link)
ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC leaders met by video Monday morning to discuss the direction of college sports post-House, and FootballScoop’s John Brice notes that while SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey “confirmed his Sunday afternoon round of golf with President Donald Trump and Notre Dame [AD] Pete Bevacqua, the session mostly was very general discussion with little substance as to how, exactly, everyone moves forward.” Sankey: “I've always appreciated (Trump's) interest in college sports. It was helpful for me and for Pete as well to hear his thoughts and perspective and share some of ours." As for what those thoughts were, Sankey adds: “I think those are best left for the moment on the golf course." ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips during the call noted that "we're in the process of putting together structure” when it comes to punishments for NIL deals that don’t meet the new standard. (link)
SBJ’s Ben Portnoy and Chris Smith broke some key news: “Elevate is set to announce the creation of the Collegiate Investment Initiative, a $500M initiative backed by PE firm Velocity Capital Management and the Texas Permanent School Fund.” Chief Business Officer of Elevate College and Global Marketplace Jonathan Marks: “One of the needs that we’ve seen that’s gone unfulfilled is the need for project-based or bridge capital that a school might not be able to achieve within the university debt structure or via bonds. We’re looking more to provide debt-type capital or credit, [and] that ultimately we can help a school monetize that investment and that return on capital more than anyone else.” Elevate’s strategy, Portnoy & Smith add, is to “support cash-strapped athletic departments without requiring equity commitments or short-term exit strategies typically deployed by private equity firms. Instead, these disbursements can be long-term deals secured by a percentage of future, incremental revenues.” (link)
Penn State and UCLA are the inaugural partners in Elevate’s newly unveiled $500M College Investment Initiative, according to Sportico’s Daniel Libit, Eben Novy-Williams and Scott Soshnick, who write that after Sportico’s initial story on the new Elevate initiative was published, “a UCLA spokesperson said that while the school is currently partnered with Elevate for ticketing, it has not engaged with the new college sports fund. The spokesperson did not provide any additional details about conversations between UCLA and Elevate about expanding its relationship.” (link); Nittany Lions AD Pat Kraft denies that the school has agreed to a private equity deal, according to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, who quotes Kraft as saying: "Elevate serves as our partner in ticketing strategy and operations. To clarify, our relationship is strictly limited to these services. We have no affiliation or involvement with any private equity firm or fund." (link)
Boise State is “actively considering” bringing private equity investment into the athletic department and expects to have a deal in place “within the next six months,” Broncos AD Jeramiah Dickey tells Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich. Dickey adds: “Ultimately, I need to create more assets for my institution and state. But because the athletic department doesn’t earn as much money as some others, I have to get that much more creative, which means I have to take that much more risk, and appropriately so.” Christovich reports that Boise State has set up an entity called the Bronco Athletic Growth Solutions (BAGS), which runs through the athletic department foundation. BAGS is looking into “things that I would still define as nontraditional that create new revenue streams,” including PE, according to Dickey. Christovich goes on to explain that “the entity has been assessing different types of private equity opportunities. For example, they could go the route of private credit, which would help pay for facilities upgrades. Boise State wouldn’t be the first to private equity, however. (link)
The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty has obtained copies of federal draft legislation from two House committees, “which would amount to a bill that checks off every item the NCAA has spent years — and millions of dollars — lobbying for: a preemption of state laws that conflict with rules set by the NCAA and/or its conferences; a prohibition on college athletes being classified as employees; and broad antitrust protection that lines up with the House v. NCAA settlement approved Friday, which could insulate the NCAA and its members from legal challenges of a new salary cap for schools’ direct payments to athletes and attempts to regulate booster spending in the name, image and likeness (NIL) market.” Dougherty reports the draft language specifically includes antitrust exemption for “preventing an associated entity or individual from providing a student-athlete compensation greater than fair market value for name, image and likeness agreements; a school, conference or interstate association setting the maximum amount of money that can be distributed to athletes in a given year; and limiting the eligibility of athletes based on the number of seasons played or years exhausted. This is not part of the House settlement but would provide the NCAA with protection from a slew of antitrust lawsuits challenging eligibility rules.” The draft legislation outlines additional antitrust protection for enforcing transfer rules and an agent registration process. More from Dougherty. (link)
Michigan AD Warde Manuel in a letter to fans notes the added costs of the House settlement “left U-M Athletics facing a projected deficit of nearly $27M for the 2025-26 academic year ($20.5M to fully participate in revenue sharing and $6.2M in new scholarships). With only six home football games this fall, our projected year-over-year decline in revenue of roughly $19.1M steepens these costs. The department has implemented several measures to counteract these new expenses. Through adjustments to university financing, budget cuts, travel policies, not filling select positions when vacated and the utilization of new revenue streams, we have reduced our estimated need from $27M to $15M for the coming year.” Manuel explains that “to combat the added cost, the department staff will gradually decline in number through two methods: attrition, with a long-term goal of a 10% reduction in total staff, and through a stricter approval process for new hires. The department has committed to more than $10M in budget cuts for the coming fiscal year, and has worked with the main campus to reduce its allocation from TV revenue to the university from $8M to $2M. We also revamped our travel policy, which resulted in over $900K in savings during 2024-25. Our athletic department is also producing more revenue from events in our facilities, such as our partnerships with Upper Deck Golf and AEG/Zach Bryan. Events such as international soccer matches and the 2014 NHL Winter Classic generated between $750K and $3M each for the department in the past. The 2024 calendar year saw the implementation of alcohol sales at Crisler Center, Yost Ice Arena, and Michigan Stadium, which generated over $2.25M for the department. We will continue to evaluate other opportunities to generate additional revenue throughout the department.” Full letter. (link)
CBS’ Brandon Marcello indicates that “it’s believed Texas Tech will pay its players $55M (revenue sharing + NIL) among all its programs this year, making the Red Raiders perhaps the highest-paying college athletics program in the country.” (link); More on Texas Tech’s launch of the Red Raider Club, which will integrate The Matador Club collective under its umbrella. From TTU: “By integrating the Matador Club under its banner, the Red Raider Club will lead the effort to provide annual funding for revenue sharing, student-athlete scholarships and a comprehensive range of programs that elevate the student-athlete experience – both on and off the field. This transformation represents a commitment to adapt, to lead and to invest in championship-caliber programs and student-athletes.” Red Raiders AD Kirby Hocutt: "As we transition to a new model, know that we are ready. 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.” (link)
Maine announces it will not opt into the House settlement, indicating in a statement that "while a final decision is not yet required by the NCAA, based on the information currently available, our intention as of today is to opt out for the 2025-26 year. As this decision is an annual one and can change each year, we will continue to evaluate the situation as it evolves." (link)
Saint Joseph’s will opt into the House settlement, according to Hawks AD Jill Bodensteiner, who says: “By opting in, we're ensuring that our men's and women's basketball programs can continue competing at the highest levels of the Atlantic 10 and Big 5." (link)
La Salle will also opt in, according to Explorers AD Ashwin Puri, who notes: “Beyond the benefits of revenue sharing, we are committed to investing in our facilities, including the newly renovated John E. Glaser Arena. Our current fundraising efforts focus on renovating locker rooms, upgrading competition surfaces, and installing new scoreboards. These initiatives are essential to providing a first-class student-athlete experience.” (link)
McNeese State AD Heath Schroyer says the Cowboys have “decided to opt in and bring our collective/NIL in-house and participate in revenue-sharing. We’ll keep the same scholarship numbers this first year for each sport. During this first year, we will evaluate both our financial situation and the national landscape.” (link)
