NIL-driven The Collective Association expands, adds 10 new members

Nakos updated headshotby:Pete Nakos•08/17/23•

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The Collective Association has now grown to 17 members.

The organization officially launched in July, with founding NIL collectives at Tennessee, Georgia, Ole Miss, Florida State, USC, Michigan and Penn State. Those founding NIL entities have extended their reach, welcoming 10 new NIL collectives stretching across the college sports landscape.

Through the first two years of NIL, more than 200 collectives have populated the college athletics landscape. They have become necessary to compete in college football and basketball, with wide swaths of donors coming together to pool funds. Collectives have been forced to evolve as donor fatigue continues to be a rising concern. Many have looked elsewhere to generate funds, coming up with e-commerce businesses and unique events for boosters.

Here is the list of 10 new organizations joining The Collective Association:

The TCA plans to assist the new batch of collectives in navigating the NIL landscape, whether it be talking through the NCAA’s most recent guidance or the memo released in June by the IRS aimed at non-profit collectives. The TCA also released a revenue-sharing model for college athletes, presenting the idea to the NCAA and SEC in separate meetings in July. Along with the revenue-sharing model, the group is hoping to lead discussions for the formation of an agent registry, something NCAA president Charlie Baker is also keen on.

Lobbying for state laws is also a priority while working with college athletics stakeholders to continue developing a sustainable NIL model.

The Collective Association’s eyes revenue-sharing

Explained to On3 by Spyre Sports Group‘s Hunter Baddour and Classic City CEO Matt Hibbs, the plan reflects the interests of all members of The Collective Association.

As Hibbs put it, no numbers are locked down for TCA’s model. The thought is a portion of TV revenue should be distributed by conferences to an “official” institution collective in equal shares. For example, an SEC collective could receive $5 to $10 million annually. This could theoretically relieve pressure for boosters to constantly produce more funds, as has been the case in the last 24 months.

From there the collective distributes the money to athletes, the TCA leaders said. The third-party option would ensure athletes are not viewed as employees of schools, something TCA has made clear athletes do not want to participate in.

“I think that we’re at a place now with NIL where there’s a lot of people talking about it and not a ton of like actionable solutions,” Hibbs told On3 in July. “I think our goal with this is not to say, ‘Hey, we have all the answers here.’ But it’s to say, ‘This is something that we need to be discussing.’ So, let’s just basically throw ourselves into the pool and have these conversations.”

It’s an imperfect revenue share model. Hibbs acknowledged they don’t have a full grasp of how the model would need to be adjusted to conform with Title IX laws. The model could also force TV contracts to be readjusted. It is a start, though.

The Collective Association walked away from their meetings with the NCAA and SEC with a sense of optimism. They also understand this version of NIL may not be the perfect model. Baddour expressed how the association does share some similar beliefs with Baker.

“We think there should be an agent registry and standards for agents that want to want to represent student-athletes,” he said.