ON THE EASIEST WAY FOR FANS TO SUPPORT ALL OF THAT
"To talk a little bit about name, image and likeness and revenue sharing and the house settlement, we're moving into a little bit of a new era. We've been dealing with the NIL, name, image and likeness, and collectives have evolved. And collectives as everyone knows – and I want to thank our collective. I want to thank the Harvey Sanders and the Harry Gellers and the Stan Goldsteins, those individuals, and Harry at the forefront, have really done a lot for us, and we wouldn't be where we are without all those donors who have given. But right now, with the house settlement and revenue share, we're moving into a little bit of a different era, and I kind of want to explain that. The old NIL collectives came about, and they raised money, and student-athletes were paid. We're moving to revenue share now, starting July 1, in which the institution can directly pay the student-athletes, and we will do so, and we put a revenue sharing unit together. Collectives can still be a part of what we do, and third-party payments are still available."But everyone needs to understand there's going to be a little bit of difference, and that difference is all third-party deals that come through for student-athletes will have to go through a clearinghouse. Anything over $600 from a third-party entity will go through this clearing house, and that clearing house will assess fair market value and make a determination whether that activity that student-athlete is partaking in is worth the amount that is attempted to being paid. So, I think you're going to see somewhat a shrinking of collectives, not that they're going to go away, not that there aren't third-party NIL deals available, but they're going to come under more scrutiny going forward. So, managing this $20.5 million cap is going to be significant for us, and we're going to make sure we have a third-party marketing arm that goes out and solicits those types of NIL deals for our student-athletes and to try to bring additional dollars to them."
ON HOW THE LEVELS OF COMPETITION NATIONALLY BETWEEN THE BASKETBALL PROGRAMS AND FOOTBALL FACTORS INTO THE $20.5 MILLION REVENUE SHARING EQUATION
"Well, I want to remind everybody that I do understand the significance of basketball at this institution. Our men's and women's basketball programs have great history and tradition. You look at the national championships that these programs have won, what Brenda Frese has done, what coach Gary Williams did here, even going back to Lefty. I mean, Lefty did an unbelievable job here, and now as we continue to move forward. This is what I can assure you, is that we're going to have a very, very, very competitive revenue share pool for our basketball programs, and I'm going to say, to an extent, at a very, very high level than most across the country. Now, as it relates to football, we will do the same for football. Football is a sport that at this institution we've been trying to grow. I saw prior to this past year, unfortunate a 4-8 year wasn't what we expect, but I saw a year, three good years that we strung together that we hadn't done something, winning three bowl games in three years, all against Power Five opponents. That was significant for our program, so we do still have some growth there."But make no mistake about it, I'm going to position us to be good in basketball, men's and women's basketball, and football, but I don't want anyone to think that I don't understand the significance. And we're going to make sure that we're strategic in how we assign the money, strategic in how we spend the money, and making sure that we assess the values. That's why I brought in a data analytics company that Kevin brought to me, Willard, that I think is really, really good and is going to help us out in football and men's and women's basketball as we move forward. So, the investment and resources, the hiring of Geroy Simon, a former Terp, we're going to continue to do those things, and we're going to put the money in the most advantageous position for all of our programs and those three to be successful."
ON THE ENFORCEMENT MEASURES FOR THE NIL CLEARINGHOUSE
"Yes, there will be a new enforcement entity put together, and that enforcement entity is being put together by the Power Four. So inside the settlement, Judge Claudia Wilken has given us … So, the Power Four has come up with a new enforcement entity. We've also are in the process of creating rules which will codify things that have been put into the settlement, around eligibility about a prohibition against third-party pay-for-play, about $600 having to go through the clearinghouse. So, there's going to be a whole set of rules that come out with regard to the settlement, but then there's going to be an enforcement entity that is being created by the Power Four, and this enforcement entity will govern those rules around the settlement. We've discussed penalties. The penalties that we've discussed are very, very, very significant in comparison to the past. You're going to see more of a structure like what may happen in the pros, from fines to in the pros to where they have, they may reduce your picks in the draft. So, things that might deal with roster limits, scholarship limits, fines, penalties on coaches, on administration moving forward. So that's going to be governed within the Power Four entity. So yes, that's the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12."That clearinghouse that I mentioned, that's also being put forth by the Power Four, and there's a group – Deloitte is going to be doing the clearinghouse. So, there are a lot of people right now who don't understand it because they haven't had the opportunity to see the rules or be in the room while we're discussing these things. But I just want to remind everybody, Deloitte is doing the clearing house assessing fair market value, an enforcement entity is being set up by the Power Four, the rules are being drafted amongst the Power Four. And then when those institutions outside opt in to the settlement, they will have to abide by these rules and this new governance that's being put forward. So, I know there's a lot of people saying, well, it's been the wild wild west here as of late – there are rules forthcoming. There's going to be governance. There's going to be enforcement. But let me remind you guys, there are still going to be people who try to find ways to circumvent the cap. There are going to be people who try to be creative, and there are going to be those who break the rules. We're going to catch some and we're not going to catch some, and we just have to see how this new system works."
ON IF THERE ARE GOING TO BE MULTI-YEAR PLAYER CONTRACTS, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS, SALARY CAPS, ETC.
"It's interesting. Right now, with this new revenue share, the players are going to be receiving what we call 1099 income. So technically, they're not employees. It's not W2. There's been a lot of talk about them, whether or not they'll be employees. They're not going to be labeled as employees moving forward. I know that sounds interesting when you're going to be paying significant dollars to student-athletes, but do I think things – this is an evolving time for us – do I think things are going to change? Where we are today and where we might be three months from now may look different. I want everyone to understand I'm OK with student-athletes receiving a portion of the revenue share. But I don't want us to lose sight of that we're here first and foremost about education and that experience is important. I'm sitting here with you guys today because I have two degrees from the institution in which I was able to attend and play football at. So yeah, do I think there's going to still be some more change? Do I think things may get reined in a little bit more? Yes, but I don't want to say to the detriment of this student-athlete. I think we do need to have some things around transfer rules, because right now we're in a position where we have student-athletes – they're basically free agents every year, and that's very difficult to manage. I think we have to take a hard look at the transfer windows that we have."Case in point, having a transfer window during the postseason of football is very, very difficult, and kids having to make decisions that are on teams who are in the College Football Playoff, and a kid has to make a decision, do I want to go in the portal, or do I want to play in this playoff game? So, we need to take a look at transfer regulations and how we handle that moving forward. We might need to reimagine what some of our sports look like. In football, maybe we go to OTAs, maybe spring football is a little bit different. We got to take a look at the calendars, and then I think as we move forward, do we eventually get to collectively bargaining? If we do, then they're potentially employees. Is there a way to collectively bargain without them being employees? I don't know all that as of now, but I do think that we're going to still have to put more guardrails in place that protect not only the student-athletes, but to protect the institutions as a whole. I would like to see a young man or a young woman who signs a contract with an institution to be held to that contract and have to stay a period of time. And the professional ranks, you become a free agent after three or four years. Maybe we do something in college that you have to stay at that school for two years, then you can transfer and have some stipulations attached to that. But I hope we can find a common ground in that vein."
