How Name, Image and Likeness fits into new landscape for Purdue Athletics
NIL Go, a clearinghouse run by the accounting firm Deloitte will determine whether third-party deals are legitimate and reflect actual market value
Note: This is the second story of a series. We’ll explore how the university plans to support the athletic department with its budget, where the $20.5 million comes from, the athletic department’s future scholarship situation, the enforcement of playing by the new rules, and other related topics.
Remember when Purdue men’s basketball transfer target Nijel Pack spurred the Boilermakers in favor of a significant Name, Image, and Likeness deal with the University of Miami (Fla.)?
That was 2022.
For more than three years, the NIL landscape has been unregulated, abused, but has delivered millions in compensation for athletes. That’s what it was designed for, but the NIL environment had gotten out of hand, leading to substantial payouts.
Pack’s two-year deal for a total of $800,000 - plus a car - with LifeWallet, a medical claims company owned by booster John Ruiz, became a launching point throughout the college sports landscape with NIL deals.
No one should blame the athletes for capitalizing on a poorly constructed system that has led everyone to this point. But the system needed to change, and it’s about to see a shift.
The concept of Pay-for-Play is scheduled to be eliminated. But will it?
This past spring marked the last year of the chaotic version of NIL, where bags of money were being handed out as coaches outbid one another in hopes of landing a prized recruit or transfer.
The future should offer some calmness and control.
“The spring men's basketball portal was sort of the last hurrah for the unstructured, unregulated, all-you-can-eat buffet of the NIL era,” Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski said during an interview with a handful of local media, addressing the school’s upcoming revenue share plan that starts July 1. “We participated in that because those were the rules of the road, and we needed to, given our situation in men's basketball.
“But that was the last go round, which I don't think is the most unhealthy thing in the world. I actually think we're going to have a reset going forward, which I believe the environment needed. I think it would be a good thing for the long haul.”
MORE: Revenue sharing plan for Purdue: How it works and what it means
The new structure - NIL Go, a clearinghouse run by the accounting firm Deloitte - will determine whether third-party deals are legitimate and reflect actual market value. The company will approve or reject commercial and endorsement deals with a total value of $600 or more. Deloitte will also support the enforcement arm of the College Sports Commission, which will oversee regulations and administer penalties.
Since 2022, Purdue’s NIL third-party deals have been facilitated through the Boilermaker Alliance, the school’s nonprofit collective. The Alliance was formed about three months after Pack’s situation.
However, the Boilermaker Alliance will cease operations on June 30.
“The Boilermaker Alliance has been really important to us to navigate, particularly these last couple of years of craziness and these last several months of absolute insanity,” Bobinski said. “They've been a huge and necessary piece of support for our athletes and allowed us to compete.”
Purdue will bring its NIL activities in-house under the umbrella of Boiler BrandWorks, an athlete marketing unit. Boiler BrandWorks will collaborate with athletes to develop meaningful NIL partnerships. The search for the Director of NIL Strategy & Athlete Marketing is underway.
Four sports at Purdue - football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and volleyball - will receive a bulk of the revenue share, which has a cap of $20.5 million in the first year. Athletes in other sports will need to lean on NIL opportunities to earn compensation.
Several athletes, especially in football and men’s basketball, will earn money from revenue share and NIL transactions.
“They can also still source deals themselves,” Bobinski said. “The most important thing is that those payments come from a third-party entity, because if they were to run through the university, they would then count against our cap. We don't want to reduce the cap by getting into that world.”
Bobinski said Purdue has already had athletes enter deals in NIL Go when the database was activated.
“It's been really efficient and turned around really quickly,” he said. “They were very solid, traditional, substantive deals, and they got approved within 10 minutes.”
The NIL— Way over my head and I don’t want to learn about it—the only thing that I have ever said or commented on it is this— and I still think the same way—NIL Money should be even—whether you are a 5 star or a walk-on— it can not get into a bidding war— the money should be the same— do we or lets say Indiana State want to get into a bidding war— lets say with — Ohio State— or Alabama— sorry— but they are out of your league— see that armored car with the cash that they have— where is yours ?— Don’t have one— then you are out of luck—SORRY—you don’t have a chance against the high rollers— see how that works— why should one player be making Millions and another player making PEANUTS— get my point— make it even and the game will go back to where it should be—a level playing field— that is my 2 cents on this matter—ED