If Pope desperately wanted a particular recruit, can he overspend if necessary on that recruit? Or is that regulated by JMI? To me that is the biggest question. We need flexibility to lure a program changing talent.
JMI Sports & NIL Issue
- Thread starter Farsight Clone
- Start date
JMI has stated they are not a GM making player or amount of payment decisions. They are to facilitate deals and review all deals for NILGo compliance.
Recruiting issues are Pope issues. Not NIL imo
• Pope once joked that the Wildcats’ roster — because of NIL, transfers, etc — might be “close to $200 million.” He admitted he was joking, but used the exaggeration to make a serious point: if you’re the flagship college basketball program, you should “be the best at everything.” 
• He said he’s “fully on board” with Kentucky embracing the full NIL/transfer-portal era: top talent, top money, top NIL — all in service of making UK elite again. 
• More concretely, public spending estimates for the 2025-26 UK roster put NIL (and total roster cost including NIL) in the $20M+ range — one of the highest in college basketball — and Pope has signaled that resource availability gives him what he needs to build a championship-level program.
• Pope once joked that the Wildcats’ roster — because of NIL, transfers, etc — might be “close to $200 million.” He admitted he was joking, but used the exaggeration to make a serious point: if you’re the flagship college basketball program, you should “be the best at everything.” 
• He said he’s “fully on board” with Kentucky embracing the full NIL/transfer-portal era: top talent, top money, top NIL — all in service of making UK elite again. 
• More concretely, public spending estimates for the 2025-26 UK roster put NIL (and total roster cost including NIL) in the $20M+ range — one of the highest in college basketball — and Pope has signaled that resource availability gives him what he needs to build a championship-level program.
Not a horrible deal…JMI must fund the university’s revenue-sharing budget (starting @ $20.6M/year). While other schools have to pull this out of their current budget. So that should be enough to fund a talented basketball team each year…assuming you pick the right players.
It appears the issue could be that flexibility. Are other schools circumventing NILGo and still putting together deals that don’t meet the service and market value requirements and UK is not? If others are doing will they be punished or as has been shown time and time again there will be no teeth to enforcement because of the fear of litigation?
Thats why the SCORE Act was/is important.
Not saying you are wrong but you're losing credibility with each post. Not helpful.
Someone is big mad.
You have to love the "I know everything but I'm not telling you, just trust me I am correct"
If we are all stupid Matt Jones fanboys that are uneducated, please enlighten us. Share the details, share what proves what MJ says is wrong, share the benefits of this setup, share why UK is the only school doing it this way.
I'd bet this is exactly what is happening. And the schools doing this know full well that any legal challenge will fail because the lack of definition in the current environment.
Yeah, he defends the athletic department and JMI like he's defending his children. I think it's one of these you listed. He's the only one who does it like this lol
You're running in place man. I have yet to see any cohesive, non emotional retort from you of any substance other than you simply name calling people who disagree with you.
Do your self a favor and stop the name calling and provide your own facts. You have yet to do this.
The enforcement comes from the College Sports Commission which was created out of the anti-trust settlement. It is not the NCAA. I’m highly skeptical that this entity is going to have any teeth to punish schools. This is why Mitch and others wanted the SCORE Act passed into law. To provide clear, legal guidance regarding NIL restrictions and Rev sharing. It didn’t. It appears UK is operating under NILGo and some are not.
5 bucks says you get zero response or if there is a response, he will start to slander lol
Another JMI burner, just like whats on Twitter…smh!
Every person in this thread needs to point out that the JMI deal was signed after UK signed this “22 million” mess.
But he’s the best athletic director we’ve ever had!!!
Did you not see the pool house he build for the women????
25 years, Mitch Barnhardt needs to be investigated.
Everyone else is with Learfield and Playfly which are much stronger entities and don’t have the restrictions. JMI wants too much of the athlete and has too much control. Mitch miscalculated the situation and screwed us bad.
This guy was always a train wreck for competing. 23 years as bad as he’s been? Yes I’d say there’s corruption imo.
It’s also been said that JMI has an executive that’s possibly related to the associate AD. I’d like confirmation on that.
I’m so emotionally invested that I make up lies like you.
No, they’re not identical and I have no idea how they compare. The point is the claim that they can’t get deals with other SEC schools was a lie.
Can you say what your issue is with the JMI deal with UK?
On KSR today they said there would be a big UK story today and hinted that it would be about NIL .
The issue isn’t the zoom offense, my friend. You need to pay closer attention. Nearly every team is running heavy zoom now. You might be shocked if you go watch Duke and Gonzaga this year. They’re running our offense from last season.
Jokes on you: i can't stand jones and think he is a shill and charlatan. I don't rely on him for anything other than self serving statements.
You're going to need more than your copy/paste nonsense to dismiss me.
From a quick goggle search.
For UK athletes, JMI Sports manages NIL, offering a platform (BBNIL Suite) for deals, but athletes can still get external NIL deals; however, they MUST work with JMI to use the official UK brand (logos, etc.), and they must follow NCAA/UK rules for approval/compliance, with JMI helping manage the process; but if you're a UK international student, U.S. visa rules generally block you from U.S.-based NIL earnings, forcing you to find deals in your home country.
JMI & UK NIL Deals
JMI's Role: JMI Sports has a major partnership with UK Athletics, managing multimedia rights and a big part of the NIL landscape through the BBNIL Suite, which offers resources for revenue, branding, and compliance.
Using the UK Brand: Athletes can get NIL deals outside JMI, but if they want to use the University of Kentucky name, logos, or official branding, they need to go through JMI.
Approval: All NIL deals must comply with NCAA rules and UK policies, and JMI helps streamline this, but athletes are still responsible for following the guidelines, which often involve disclosure and approval.
Wondering if it's the using the UK Brand part, as most people giving money would want to attach the team to it. And I am sure JMI will take there share if it has any UK related stuff, since they hold all the media rights to the property.
Also, alot of sec teams have gone off the record saying NILGo is to slow, and they are just bypassing it and using the collectives, and taking the 'come get me' approach. Again, from a quick Google search.
As of data through November 1, 2025, the College Sports Commission (CSC) has reported that its NIL Go platform approved 12,175 deals while classifying fewer than 400 as "not cleared". The average wait time for an approval is often quick, with 53% of deals resolved within 24 hours.
NIL Go Deal Statistics (June 11 - Nov 1, 2025)
Average Wait Time for Approval
The majority of deals submitted to NIL Go are processed quickly.
There has also been alot of people asking how NIL deals can be structured. Like most business contracts, NIL deals can be set up in a variety of diffrent ways. The only big thing is they can't be based on games played, or performance. It has to be solely based on how there name, image and likeness can be used by the company offering the deal. The payment can be handed out over time. You have seen in recent weeks, school suing players, for breach of NIL contract. It important to rememeber that it's not the school itself, but a secondary business of the school that handling the NIL, like the aforementioned BBNIL Suite.
Revenue sharing, which in the media seems to get lumped in to one large combined number and called NIL, is diffrent. This is a contract with the school (or it's revenue department that UK made) and it can be, based of games played, performance and so forth. And it to can be payed in installments over the course of the season, and if a player does not fulfill it's obligations, can not receive the remaining portion and/or could be sued for the what they did not earn.
I don't belive UK has 22 million in NIL. I think they got 8-9 million in Rev Share, and the rest in NIL. And people are just running with the 22mil.i seriously doubt, it's 22mil NIL AND 8-9 mil in Rev Share.
For UK athletes, JMI Sports manages NIL, offering a platform (BBNIL Suite) for deals, but athletes can still get external NIL deals; however, they MUST work with JMI to use the official UK brand (logos, etc.), and they must follow NCAA/UK rules for approval/compliance, with JMI helping manage the process; but if you're a UK international student, U.S. visa rules generally block you from U.S.-based NIL earnings, forcing you to find deals in your home country.
JMI & UK NIL Deals
JMI's Role: JMI Sports has a major partnership with UK Athletics, managing multimedia rights and a big part of the NIL landscape through the BBNIL Suite, which offers resources for revenue, branding, and compliance.
Using the UK Brand: Athletes can get NIL deals outside JMI, but if they want to use the University of Kentucky name, logos, or official branding, they need to go through JMI.
Approval: All NIL deals must comply with NCAA rules and UK policies, and JMI helps streamline this, but athletes are still responsible for following the guidelines, which often involve disclosure and approval.
Wondering if it's the using the UK Brand part, as most people giving money would want to attach the team to it. And I am sure JMI will take there share if it has any UK related stuff, since they hold all the media rights to the property.
Also, alot of sec teams have gone off the record saying NILGo is to slow, and they are just bypassing it and using the collectives, and taking the 'come get me' approach. Again, from a quick Google search.
As of data through November 1, 2025, the College Sports Commission (CSC) has reported that its NIL Go platform approved 12,175 deals while classifying fewer than 400 as "not cleared". The average wait time for an approval is often quick, with 53% of deals resolved within 24 hours.
NIL Go Deal Statistics (June 11 - Nov 1, 2025)
- Total Deals Approved/Cleared: 12,175
- Total Deals Not Cleared: 394
- Total Value of Cleared Deals: $87.5 million
Average Wait Time for Approval
The majority of deals submitted to NIL Go are processed quickly.
- Within 24 hours: 53% of all submitted deals were resolved.
- Within 7 days: 74% of deals that reached resolution did so within one week of all required information being submitted.
There has also been alot of people asking how NIL deals can be structured. Like most business contracts, NIL deals can be set up in a variety of diffrent ways. The only big thing is they can't be based on games played, or performance. It has to be solely based on how there name, image and likeness can be used by the company offering the deal. The payment can be handed out over time. You have seen in recent weeks, school suing players, for breach of NIL contract. It important to rememeber that it's not the school itself, but a secondary business of the school that handling the NIL, like the aforementioned BBNIL Suite.
Revenue sharing, which in the media seems to get lumped in to one large combined number and called NIL, is diffrent. This is a contract with the school (or it's revenue department that UK made) and it can be, based of games played, performance and so forth. And it to can be payed in installments over the course of the season, and if a player does not fulfill it's obligations, can not receive the remaining portion and/or could be sued for the what they did not earn.
I don't belive UK has 22 million in NIL. I think they got 8-9 million in Rev Share, and the rest in NIL. And people are just running with the 22mil.i seriously doubt, it's 22mil NIL AND 8-9 mil in Rev Share.
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Honestly regardless if this is a good or bad deal, ANY 15 year deal in 2025 is malpractice.
The world of sports changes so quickly, why would you want to be anchored to anything for 15 years?
The world of sports changes so quickly, why would you want to be anchored to anything for 15 years?
I have no clue why he thinks everyone is huge Matt jones fans lol I really think theirs a misunderstanding there
That's exactly why I know our recruiting struggles arent caused by jmi. Pope couldn't land anyone even before, despite having an ace recruiter and blank check.
That's why i think its the offense. It's literally the only thing left.
You keep saying you can prove everything and back it up. Do it. Provide proof.
I would actually love for you to be correct.
So far all I've seen is you repeating the same lines about "You people questioning JMI are brainless Matt Jones fanboys."
But if you can back up your claims--do it, I'll gladly accept you as the resident expert on NIL and JMI.
JMI deal has been in place for 10 years, a 15 year extension was just signed
That is the trademark stuff. Different issue.
I'm fairly certain they've never had a hand in NIL before this extension.
Exactly. I know nothing about the details, but why risk a 15 year deal? It's hard to believe how ignorant all these UK contracts have been in recent years
Hey @Deeeefense there's no Report function I can find on this board but the level of nastiness allowed on here is getting ridiculous. Is there any moderation being done or are the people running this site content to host a cesspool even worse than the old Rivals era Rupp Rafters?
I would like to see these contracts and what each player is getting then we really find out what type of money is being spent
Central bank is a JMI “partner” No UK player that receives NIL from JMI or UK funds can sign a deal with a competing entity. If a student athlete doesn’t use JMI they have to negotiate NIL deals on their own. The contracts that are signed with JMI (Paul Miller Ford, Central Bank, and others) are bound to UK because UK has a contract with JM. This is creating a legally tangled quandary.
If Paul Miller Ford and Central Bank each contribute $1 million then EVERY UK basketball player receiving NIL from UK is legally bound to Paul Miller Ford and central bank. It becomes a quandary or convoluted mess when Central Bank has a contract for banking and financial services. Can a player sign a side deal with Visa as this is a financial service that could be competing with central bank. Can Otega Oweh sign a deal with oh, oh, oh O’Reilly auto parts. Paul Miller Ford sells autos, auto parts and auto services.
The players agents attempt to get the players as many side deals as possible. The contract with JMI causes additional roadblocks that agents and players don’t want to deal with. I realize this is an oversimplification of what is happening and there are other problems as well Not limited to the extra layer of people and red tape to go through to obtain the funding.
I would like to know what is true with this NIL situation and if it really is hurting our recruiting. I’ve criticized Popes recruiting when I may have been mistaken if something like this is going on.
This makes a lot of sense. So players are restricted from making deals that could possibly in some way conflict with the business interests of a primary sponsor. A lot of grey area here where the benefit of the doubt likely goes to the big $ sponsor.
Also, side deals allowed but have to be negotiated on their own?
Both of these, if not the same everywhere else, could be deal breakers for top NIL earners.