I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I found this too interesting not to comment on and bring to everyone's attention.
There's a really interesting and illuminating article that came out yesterday in The Athletic about "the sports collective" in Tennessee called Spyre Sports, which was founded by a couple of UT alums who had formerly been part of a national sports agency, but saw the opportunities and future that was coming with NIL. They say they're shooting to be the number 1 such agency and their initial goal is to raise $25M/year (or more) to be able to put together "elite" six figure "legitimate" within the (few) rules, NIL packages for players at Tennessee.
They smartly started, supposedly, by putting packages together for existing players before going out independent of the school and athletic department and UT football recruiting office, and developing relationships with well-known potential top recruiting targets, figuring existing players would post on social media about their deals and talk to recruits coming in, letting them know what kind of deals they had already actually received. Supposedly, as to be expected, UT's hot QB Hendon Hooker got an early deal, but the first to get one was one of their top offensive linemen, Cade Mays who had transferred in (I think) last year from Georgia.
From the article: "It has become one of the sport’s most organized and advanced collectives, a new catch-all term in college sports for groups of fans with varying budgets set aside to help aid players in monetizing their name, image and likeness. Money is pooled from a variety of sources and distributed to players according to their value, while players are responsible for providing deliverables such as event appearances, social media posts or autographs."
Supposedly it's their goal to be able to raise money from Tennessee businesses (and apparently, in some cases, national businesses), boosters, alums and regular everyday, run-of-the-mill fans, so as to be able to put together big bucks enticing packages for Tennessee football, as well as all other sports players. The packages apparently include everything from big stuff like apartments, vehicles, cash payments, to smaller stuff like free restaurant meals, car washes, etc., etc., in exchange for social media posting, public appearances, autograph sessions, advertising appearances, endorsements, etc.
The article is very enlightening and gives an inside look into a future we may or may not like, but one that is here to stay in one form or another. Bottom line, for better or worse, it's a brave new world out there, and it's either arm up, get organized and raise money, or get killed and left in the recruiting dust. I hope LSU has people doing things this sophisticated and well organized. (Although technically, as I understand it, these collectives can't really be connected with or organized by, nor can they coordinate with the schools or even make these packages directly contingent upon attending a specific school, although in the case of Spyre Sports, apparently the packages themselves are not being offered to anyone other than Volunteer athletes.) Sounds like the rockytoppers aspire to be actively, well represented in the fight.
I've got a subscription to The Athletic, so I'm not sure if it's behind the paywall or not, although it probably is. It's well worth the read if you can get to it.
FWIW, here's a link to the story: The Money Fueled Recruiting Arms Race
There's a really interesting and illuminating article that came out yesterday in The Athletic about "the sports collective" in Tennessee called Spyre Sports, which was founded by a couple of UT alums who had formerly been part of a national sports agency, but saw the opportunities and future that was coming with NIL. They say they're shooting to be the number 1 such agency and their initial goal is to raise $25M/year (or more) to be able to put together "elite" six figure "legitimate" within the (few) rules, NIL packages for players at Tennessee.
They smartly started, supposedly, by putting packages together for existing players before going out independent of the school and athletic department and UT football recruiting office, and developing relationships with well-known potential top recruiting targets, figuring existing players would post on social media about their deals and talk to recruits coming in, letting them know what kind of deals they had already actually received. Supposedly, as to be expected, UT's hot QB Hendon Hooker got an early deal, but the first to get one was one of their top offensive linemen, Cade Mays who had transferred in (I think) last year from Georgia.
From the article: "It has become one of the sport’s most organized and advanced collectives, a new catch-all term in college sports for groups of fans with varying budgets set aside to help aid players in monetizing their name, image and likeness. Money is pooled from a variety of sources and distributed to players according to their value, while players are responsible for providing deliverables such as event appearances, social media posts or autographs."
Supposedly it's their goal to be able to raise money from Tennessee businesses (and apparently, in some cases, national businesses), boosters, alums and regular everyday, run-of-the-mill fans, so as to be able to put together big bucks enticing packages for Tennessee football, as well as all other sports players. The packages apparently include everything from big stuff like apartments, vehicles, cash payments, to smaller stuff like free restaurant meals, car washes, etc., etc., in exchange for social media posting, public appearances, autograph sessions, advertising appearances, endorsements, etc.
The article is very enlightening and gives an inside look into a future we may or may not like, but one that is here to stay in one form or another. Bottom line, for better or worse, it's a brave new world out there, and it's either arm up, get organized and raise money, or get killed and left in the recruiting dust. I hope LSU has people doing things this sophisticated and well organized. (Although technically, as I understand it, these collectives can't really be connected with or organized by, nor can they coordinate with the schools or even make these packages directly contingent upon attending a specific school, although in the case of Spyre Sports, apparently the packages themselves are not being offered to anyone other than Volunteer athletes.) Sounds like the rockytoppers aspire to be actively, well represented in the fight.
I've got a subscription to The Athletic, so I'm not sure if it's behind the paywall or not, although it probably is. It's well worth the read if you can get to it.
FWIW, here's a link to the story: The Money Fueled Recruiting Arms Race
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