Category Archives: NIL

The NIL Conundrum: Three Popular Questions

07 Thursday Jul 2022

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This week, we continue our conversation with Vantage Management Group’s Sammy Spina, who has a unique perspective on name, image and likeness due to his extensive work in the space. He also heads a popular sports management course called Breaking Into Sports that has helped many young people get a foothold in the industry. I asked him the answers to three questions I get most often from agents on how to achieve NIL success, and here are his responses.

What’s the best mix between “self-generated” income (apparel and branded merchandise) and sponsored income (appearances, endorsements and social media)? 

I will use the famous lawyer answer here: “it depends.” Social media following is probably the main driving force behind self-generated income, but not every athlete will have the requisite number of followers to really build a strong presence. My goal has always been to generate the most money and/or best-case scenario for my clients without causing them to do too much work. Obviously, his school and his sport come first; NIL is a byproduct of that success. As a result, I would say most of my athlete NIL deals have come from sponsored income, and I have done very little “self-generated income” for my clients because it typically takes more time, effort, and energy.

One thing to keep in mind with self-generated income is that everyone wants to start their own clothing line! If that’s your goal, make sure you do something different that does more than simply having your client’s name on a T-shirt. Create a story, vision, movement, or charitable donation to help drive more customers for recurring revenue. No “story” usually means no legitimate self-generated income. There has to be something that separates your client from all the other student-athletes out there.

What’s the minimum number of social media followers one needs to make money in NIL? And does it matter which platform? 

Instagram and TikTok are the two driving forces behind most social media influencers, probably because they’re visual platforms. I wouldn’t say there is a minimum number of followers, because I have been able to secure paid social media and personal appearance deals for clients who have fewer than 2,000 followers; despite their limited followings, respectively, each was were paid more than $1,000 per opportunity.  Of course, it certainly helps when you have a strong following and, even more importantly, strong engagement! Remember, the most important factor is showing companies why such an appearance makes sense! What is unique about this deal that will generate headlines for the company and for the athlete?

I have seen a shift to LinkedIn as well, which also helps your athlete clients showcase their unique partnerships to business professionals in industries across the world. However, LinkedIn is still in its growing phase, so it’s easier to use other platforms (like TikTok) to gain exposure on posts that align with your audiences’ interests.

How much of NIL income is totally dependent on a player’s school? Geographic location? Position he plays?

A lot of it. It has been a lot more difficult to generate significant dollars and deals in smaller towns – such as Stillwater, OK where the majority of businesses are family-owned – than, say, in a larger city like Pittsburgh. Don’t get me wrong: fans and business owners will always want to support their college athletes. However, not every school is equal in that regard.

Quarterbacks will almost always make the most money. That is a given. However, there are opportunities for everyone. You have to get creative and you have to work! For example, I took an offensive lineman with fewer than 5,000 Instagram followers and got him paid appearances (without signing autographs), a custom suit deal, a restaurant deal, a meal prep company endorsement and other deals. I even got him an appearance as an ambassador for a cruise ship. I give this example to showcase the importance of relationships, how to be creative and how to show the value and impact your client will bring to the company.

 

Ask the Agent: Where Do You Start with NIL?

24 Friday Jun 2022

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Vantage Management Group’s Sammy Spina got certified as an NFLPA contract advisor in 2017, but he wasn’t your typical aspiring sports professional. As told in the interview I did with him in June 2018 for the Rising Contract Advisors Newsletter, the story of his success includes total resolve and iron will. Hear it in his own words at this link (I highly recommend it). His background also includes a deep well of experience in sports marketing, so when the NIL era kicked off about a year ago, it was a natural fit for him.

Sam has since begun working with young people who aim to follow in his footsteps — more on that in the coming weeks — and he’s got a lot to say about how he’s supplemented his traditional NFL agent work with his endorsement and marketing talents. This week, I asked him to help out by providing a few words of wisdom for agents young and old who want to take advantage of the new name, image and likeness rules. I expected 500 words, but he gave me almost 1,500.

One of the questions I asked him was this: The most common question I get from agents is, where do I start? What would you tell them?

Here’s how he responded:

Start with relationships. The common misconception is that NIL is brand new. That’s false! NIL is simply a way to phrase “athlete marketing” as it relates to college athletes in the NCAA who have eligibility remaining. I have had success in this realm because I have a marketing background and lean heavily on those relationships and approaches to put my clients in the best opportunity for success.

If I had to provide a step-by-step guideline as to “how to start” – I suggest the following:

  • Look: Find student-athletes that you have relationships with and offer to help with finding endorsement opportunities.
  • Be transparent: Report and acknowledge this new working relationship to the school’s compliance department. Seek the school’s guidance on next steps.
  • Set reasonable expectations for your clients!: We all read headlines and believe that all college athletes are making millions of dollars. Well, the student-athletes see these same headlines. Thus, make sure you set reasonable expectations for your clients and explain how, according to your research, not many athletes actually make large sums of money. The majority of deals are product exchanges for social media or small payments for services.
  • Understand your client: Remind yourself that not every athlete is marketable. There are several factors to marketability, but in essence, it comes down to supply, demand, return on investment, and how much of an impact you can make to increase the local and national exposure for a company.
  • Is it the right deal?: Additionally, you must always ask yourself: what does this deal do for my client? Does it help? If so, in what ways? What are some negative implications that could occur if we enter into this deal?
  • Get creative!: Think outside of the box. One of my favorite deals is the one we did for Kenny Pickett when he was at the University of Pittsburgh last year, partnering him with a fancy restaurant in Pittsburgh to treat his offensive linemen to weekly dinners. The partnership received national attention because it was innovative and different. It was Kenny using NIL to help his teammates before helping himself.
  • Develop business: Don’t be afraid to cold-call and cold email once you have a unique idea. Show companies that you have something so unique that it is bound to help generate exposure for their brand. Since most college athletes don’t have a million Instagram followers, you need to rely on media exposure to increase the company’s visibility. Once you do one or two, then you have a proof of concept to take to other companies.
  • Think before signing: Make sure the deals make sense for your client. Don’t just accept something to say you did it! Make sure that it is beneficial for your client. You cannot be afraid to say the word, “no.”
  • Do your research!: Know the community, know the fanbase, meet the collective. What does the fanbase enjoy? What are some major sponsors in the area for local events, team functions, etc.? Who are notable alumni that own companies and may want to help out? Utilize the knowledge that you generate to create a best-case-scenario for your clients.

This is just a taste of the advice Sammy provided. He also touched on the balance between merchandising and endorsements, appearances and paid posts; the mistakes not to make; the minimum number of social media followers to make a client viable financially; how much school, geographic location and position play in NIL (and how to exploit each or work around them if your client’s situation is not favorable); and plenty more. If you enjoyed Peter Schoenthal’s excellent presentation on NIL a few weeks back, stay tuned in the coming weeks as we continue giving Sammy the floor. Check out more of Sammy’s work here.

Also, as always, make sure you’re reading our newsletter, the Friday Wrap, which comes out later today. Register for it here. 

 

ITL Zoom Week: Three Sessions, Three Speakers, Plenty of Fire

19 Friday Nov 2021

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I think my genius — and I use that term very loosely — is that I’ve been able to befriend people who are way smarter than I am. From there, I’ve been able to talk some of them into joining me on Zoom to share their wisdom.

This week was one of those times when we threw the kitchen sink at the ITL family, hosting three Zoom sessions (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). I can’t possible relate how powerful my guests were, so I’m going to pass along their thoughts in their own words today, then give my thoughts afterwards. Here goes.

Greg “Tripp” Linton of HOF Player Representatives on the biggest problem facing new agents (Tuesday): “The one thing that I wish I would have known when I first started (is) . . . the worst part about being an agent is, you don’t know what you don’t know. That is the worst part about being a new agent.”

My thoughts: I could almost have run Tripp’s entire commentary on the agent industry, which is why I brought him on to talk about agent expenses. As always, he was riveting, forceful and transparent as always. I try to be adamant about how quickly costs can add up in this business, but a lot of people don’t want to hear it. OK. Well, if you’re a new agent, at least admit that there are things you don’t know. If you don’t want to spend $29.95/mo with me, you better befriend people like Tripp who are willing to spend lots of time with you and tell you the truth, even when you don’t want to hear it.

Trevor Swenson of Dynamic Talent, on building an NIL presence (Wednesday): “So this is a store I built for one of my buddies who wanted to start his own personal training site. . . Yes, his name really is ‘Popcorn.’ . . . You got merchandise built right in there. . . . This site took me about four hours to build. So he went profitable, I think, the second day. Right now he’s averaging about $700 a day in sales, which is 100% profit because it’s training programs. So it’s super easy to do once you get it up and running, but you just have to market and brand it after it’s up there. . . I built his YouTube channel, and then he just stopped sending me videos — which is fine, he didn’t have to — but I will give you this as an example. I built his YouTube channel and I got him up to 305 subscribers in the first week. . . we got him almost 100,000 views in about a year. . . So we posted just videos of him doing the actual movements and most of these views came in the first 48 hours. So we got like 10,000 views of him doing a triceps pushdown.”

My thoughts: I realize that this passage requires a bit of context, but I think you can figure out what Trevor was saying here. I mean, have you ever heard of Popcorn Savage? Neither have I, but who cares?! He got 10,000 views in 48 hours of him doing a triceps pushdown, the least complicated move in the entire gym! I mean, I wouldn’t watch Arnold Schwarzenegger do a triceps pushdown, but somehow, Trevor got 10,000 people to watch a guy they probably hadn’t heard of do it. My YouTube page has probably been around for 10 years, and I don’t think I have 10,000 views on all my content put together. This is Trevor’s genius. He gave a two-hour presentation Wednesday, and my head is still swimming. I think everyone on that Zoom is the same way.

Damond Talbot, Executive Director of the Hula Bowl, on his philosophy on roster-building: (Thursday, as part of our Zoom with seven all-star game directors): “We all do this for one purpose and one purpose only, and that’s for the kids. I don’t care if my kids gets sniped from me by one of these guys, as long as they get an opportunity to play. I scout football, so I’ll find somebody else. It might not be the best player, but dammit, I’m gonna find somebody who checks some boxes. I’m confident in what I do. I’m not cocky, but I’m definitely confident that I can find a replacement, no matter what. . . and if you need any damn help, if you need a sleeper last minute, man, let me know. If I have one, I’ll definitely shoot it your way. Whatever you guys need.”

My thoughts: This is classic Damond, who always goes beyond the call of duty. I know when I ran the Hula Bowl, I was not nearly so magnanimous. I thought Damond earned a lot of respect and goodwill with his comments. I heard plenty of praise from agents afterward.

If you were part of this week’s Zoom sessions, as a speaker or as a participant, I’m deeply appreciative. It’s been a great week, and we’ll talk about it even more in today’s Friday Wrap. Make sure to register for it if you haven’t already.

Looming Zooms: Our November Slate

28 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by in Agents, Getting started, NIL, Scouts

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November arrives Monday. If you’re part of the football business, that’s the month when things start getting serious. Whether you’re recruiting, scouting, or inviting players (to all-star games), the end of the year means you’re getting a lot closer to making real commitments.

With that in mind, we’re stepping up our Zoom schedule. We’ll be trying several new sessions aimed at bringing respected and knowledgeable professionals to the people who need information the most. Here’s what we have.

  • We’re pretty excited about our upcoming three-session NIL class, which will be hosted by Trevor Swenson of Sacramento-based Dynamic Talent. While most people in the industry are pro-NIL, just as many are scratching their heads and wondering how to capitalize on it. I think NIL rules could change the way football biz professionals approach their work; it’s possible we see a dip in NFL agent signups as would-be player reps pass up the $5K exam cost and problematic training finances to take a shot at making money without nearly the sacrifices. Trevor is an NIL wiz, with decades of experience promoting entertainers and athletes. Though the barriers to entry for NIL success are much lower, you still have to know what you’re doing, and Trevor knows. Cost is $150 plus tax. Register here.
  • Speaking of training costs, our next New Agent Orientation will discuss budgeting for the pre-draft process. We get a lot of questions about what kind of player requires training — do priority free agents expect their combine prep to be covered? — as well as how to deal with sharing these costs. There are many ways, and if you’re not cognizant of them, you will quickly spend your way out of the game. We will have guests to discuss the pitfalls of agent costs, and whether or not you’re eager to hear the facts of life re: finances, you need to hear this. The date for this is TBA, but we’re targeting the second week of November. We tackled recruiting and registrations in September and the entire all-star landscape this month. To join us, you need to have passed this summer’s NFL agent exam and be part of the ITL family.
  • We may actually do two sessions for new agents. The executive directors of several all-star games have expressed an interest in talking to the new agent class, and we’re happy to oblige. We’re working on a Zoom that will feature Damond Talbot (Hula Bowl), Jose Jefferson (CGS), Michael Quartey (Tropical Bowl) and Dane Vandernat (NFLPA Bowl). It will be a way to introduce these gentlemen to new agents. Once again, if you’re newly certified and an ITL subscriber, you’re in.
  • We’re also working on a free session for aspiring NFL scouts among our membership. We’ll bring in a former NFL evaluator to discuss the finer points of grading players. This one is aimed at our younger clientele who are out there looking for morsels on how to scout, but all members of the ITL family are welcome.
  • One last opportunity: former Titans executive Blake Beddingfield will join us, likely in the second week of November, with his annual list of 50 sleepers. These are players that newer agents can target who aren’t in the limelight, but who are legitimate late-round prospects. Cost is $35 plus tax. More details, including date, to come.

it’s going to be a busy month. Stay tuned to the Friday Wrap (register here) for details on when our Zooms will take place. Got ideas for other Zooms? Let us know here. DMs always open.

NIL Notes: Insights from Trevor Swenson’s Zoom Session

27 Friday Aug 2021

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Thursday night, I hosted a Zoom session with Trevor Swenson of Dynamic Talent International. Trevor is a name, image and likeness (NIL) expert given that he works in marketing in the entertainment business. Succeeding at NIL is how he feeds his family.

Here’s the video. However, if you don’t have time to wade through it, here are a few tips he had for the nearly 50 prospective agents who await their exam results from the NFLPA:

  • Stop thinking about how to drum up business for your client; start thinking about making him a business: There are so many platforms (Shopify, YouTube, Facebook, etc.) that can monetize your client. You’ll need to learn them so you can capitalize on them (and there are classes out there to help you). However, first, you need to discuss with them how to create an LLC, how to select a good CPA and put money away for taxes, etc. That’s how you can develop lasting relationships and help prove yourself to the player so he will strongly consider you when it’s time to sign an SRA.
  • One size does not fit all: You have to get to know your NIL clients’ respective regions. There may be differences in the LLC you file based on the state where your player plays. It may also impact his taxes. All of this is to say nothing of your ability to market your client to local businesses, of course. On the other hand . . . .
  • Don’t stress out about endorsements: That is, in-person endorsements. Those will mostly go to the top 1 percent of athletes in your region, so unless you have the quarterback, or an 1,000-yard rusher or receiver, focus on social media plugs. Yes, they are endorsements, but they are much more economical.
  • Learn everything about social media sales and aggregation services (or have someone who is): Some of those services that Trevor listed are Google Marketplace, Facebook Ads Manager and the email platforms (Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and Email Octopus are a few). You need to be fluent with them.
  • Don’t forget about football: If your client handles his business well, compartmentalizing it so it doesn’t affect his game on the field, it could actually help him on draft day. Many scouts I’ve spoken to have said this will give them one more evaluation point, and if it checks out, it shows your client has maturity that will serve him well once every minute of his day isn’t plotted out for him.

Make sure you check out the our YouTube video for more tips from Trevor. For more about the business of football, as always, make sure to register for our Friday Wrap, which comes out at 7:30 p.m. ET tomorrow.