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SBJ College: ACC Commish Talks Name, Image & Likeness


All anybody is talking about is the new name, image and likeness law in California. Tonight’s newsletter, likewise, goes all in on NIL.

Here’s what's cooking on campus:

       

SWOFFORD "OPEN-MINDED" ON NAME, IMAGE, LIKENESS

Swofford wants "practical ways" to address athletes potentially controlling their NIL
  • ACC Commissioner John Swofford stopped by SBJ HQ in Charlotte today to talk about a number of topics. Not surprisingly, the issue of name, image and likeness (NIL) was top of mind. One thing that came across in talking to Swofford is that college athletics will continue to thrive whether athletes own their NIL rights -- as the new California law mandates -- or some other model is instituted. “I’m not a doomsday guy,” he said.

  • Swofford described himself as “open-minded” about athletes controlling their rights as long as “we can find practical ways to address it that don't go down the slippery slope of negating amateurism and turning it into professionalism and pay-for-play,” he said.

  • Among the questions Swofford has: “What effect would it have on Olympic sports? Women's sports? How many of our athletes would truly be impacted, and what would be the unforeseen consequences that could come with it? And how would you manage it from a recruiting standpoint?” Swofford said he’s often asked why the college enterprise doesn’t adopt the Olympic model. “Because they don’t recruit. We recruit,” he said, referring to the potential for schools to bid on recruits.

  • The NCAA has a working group studying the impact of NIL on the college model. Does the California law create more of a sense of urgency? “It does, and maybe that's the intention in reality,” Swofford said.

 

WORKING GROUP BEING METHODICAL WITH NIL PROPOSALS

  • It’s been reported that the NCAA’s working group will bring proposals and solutions to the Board of Governors meeting on Oct. 29. That’s not the case, sources said. That meeting will simply be an early progress report. Proposals are not expected to be part of that meeting.

 

INS & OUTS OF NAME, IMAGE, LIKENESS

  • Let me tell you about a few of the most interesting conversations I’ve had in the last 48 hours about NIL with a variety of sources who work in the college space.

  • I used to think there were only two or three athletes on each campus capable of making money off their NIL. But the money isn’t in the individual -- it’s in the team. What if UCLA volleyball won the NCAA championship and the Bruins’ apparel partner, Under Armour, put them in a commercial, paying each athlete the going rate? The branding would be tremendous as a result of UA using real athletes. There would be individuals, such as former Stanford swimmer Katie Ledecky or UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, who warrant commercial attention for their exploits, but there’s much more potential for revenue by marketing the team. “There’s a commercial opportunity to create a rising tide that lifts revenue and non-revenue athletes,” said Vince Thompson, founder & chair of Atlanta-based agency MELT.

  • Sports labor attorney Jeffrey Kessler yesterday also made some interesting points during a conversation we had. The NCAA plans to fight the new California law by arguing that it needs one set of laws to govern nationally -- not a different law for every state. “But they don’t have uniform rules now,” Kessler said. “There’s never been a uniform system. Some schools give athletic scholarships, others like the Ivy League don’t. There are all kinds of examples like that. It destroys their argument.”

  • If other states enact laws similar to the one in California, there could be an impact on Learfield IMG College and other multimedia rights holders. Will sponsors redirect their spend in college to the athletes? Probably not all of it, but maybe some of it. Athletes can’t work for competitors of a school sponsor, according to the California law, but it will be incumbent on the rightsholders to find ways to work together with the athletes in order to maximize a sponsor’s spend. One senior exec said that if the California model becomes the law of the land, he’d compare it to the wild west. The value of multimedia rights would be negatively impacted.

  • This scenario came up in a separate conversation: A football player has a 4:00pm autograph signing at the mall that pays $5,000 -- but it's right in the middle of practice. The new California law makes it illegal for schools to deny athletes their right to monetize their NIL. Is the coach breaking the law by forbidding the player from leaving practice to go make money?

  • Best line of the week regarding the NCAA-California showdown: “This will be a parallel fight to impeachment -- and it will go longer.”

 

SPEED READS 

  • ADs are now starting to hit the airwaves to talk about NIL. Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt on his radio program in Lubbock said, “Change is on its way. But that’s appropriate, right? The world has changed so much since these NCAA rules were put into place. Some of them are over three decades old. One thing that we’ve not done a very good job of at all has been continuing to change with the times within the NCAA rule book.” Utah’s Mark Harlan, speaking on ESPN Radio in Salt Lake City, said he is hoping common sense prevails through the courts. “What we can’t have is 50 different laws in 50 different states. ... The issue is, whatever comes out of the legislative process, will it satisfy these state laws that are coming forward? If it doesn’t then you’re at a crossroads.”

  • The Mountain West remains in the market for a new TV deal, and there remains plenty of chatter from coaches and ADs in the conference about avoiding late kickoff times. But speaking to the Coloradoan’s Kelly Lyell, MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson was blunt in his assessment of where things are: “We’re knee-deep in negotiations with everybody and anybody, and one thing is perfectly clear: The later we kick and the more frequently we play on Thursdays and Fridays, the more rights fees they will pay us.”

  • Viewers complained about blurry video, bad camera angles and dropped coverage in the second quarter during the Kansas State-Oklahoma State football stream on Saturday. ESPN this week issued an apology: “Our production encountered issues that affected the viewing experience of our fans during brief portions of the game. We apologize for the problems. The issues were offsite routing and transmission issues, as well as lightning in the Stillwater area, and were not related to our Big 12 Now on ESPN+ platform.” The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel this morning wrote the stream was a “train wreck.” Tramel: “Felt more like the high school game of the week.” 

 

 

Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ Media with John Ourand on Mondays and Wednesdays for insights into all the latest news around the world of sports media. Also check out SBJ Football from Ben Fischer on Friday afternoons.

Something on the College beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessdaily.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).