With a law that was 'long overdue,' LSU athletes cash in on partnership opportunities
Olivia Dunne flipped on one step, landing gracefully on the sidewalk of New York's Seventh Avenue, while a giant video billboard portrayed highlights of the star LSU gymnast to the rest of the people walking through Time Square.
Dunne's acrobatics, posted on one of LSU's social media platforms, seemed to celebrate July 1, 2021 — or as maybe college athletes will come to call the quasi-holiday: NIL Day.
The yearlong legislative battle — capping a decades-long battle by advocates for player compensation — came at last to a climax Thursday, when collegiate athletes across the nation were freed to pursue partnerships in which they can profit off their names, images and likenesses.
The NCAA, which dragged its feet on the issue until federal and state lawmakers forced the governing body into action, cleared the way for college athletes to profit on NIL deals by updating and releasing its policies Wednesday.
Twenty-six states had already passed NIL legislation into law, 16 of which had laws that went into effect July 1. Louisiana was among them. Gov. John Bel Edwards signed Senate Bill 60 into law Thursday evening, calling it "a critical and historic moment for athletes in Louisiana."
"It's beyond time for this law," Edwards said in a statement, "and I am excited for the opportunities it will open for Louisiana's talented athletes."
By the time Edwards signed the bill, several of LSU's top athletes had already announced partnerships with companies.
All-American cornerback Derek Stingley, a Heisman candidate who is the football team's most visible player, shared on Instagram that he has reached a deal with the Baton Rouge-based Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux.
Myles Brennan, who's in a battle to be LSU's starting quarterback in 2021, announced partnerships with Smoothie King (name-holder of the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans) and the Baton Rouge-based restaurant Smalls Sliders.
Stingley and Brennan are both partnering with the NIL deal broker MatchPoint, another local business that's run by Henry Hays, former Dunham School boys basketball coach Jonathan Pixley and longtime Baton Rouge radio talk show host Charles Hanagriff.
The terms of each deals aren't yet publicly known. A Walk-On's spokesperson declined to comment on behalf of the company.
The nation's most popular players are expected to haul in deals in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. LSU's Dunne, who has over a million Instagram followers, 3.8 million more on TikTok, is expected to profit perhaps more than any other college athlete.
Miami quarterback D'Eriq King signed an NIL deal worth more than $20,000, according to Sports Illustrated, which sets the bar for immediate signing bonuses that are surely to climb.
The majority of athletes are likely to bring in more modest (yet still substantial) profits by partnering with regional companies, appearing at events, hosting camps or other creative ventures.
Just how many LSU athletes have lined up NIL deals?
The number's uncertain.
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Stephanie Rempe, LSU's executive deputy athletic director and COO, has been taking the lead in the athletic department's NIL efforts. She said that when the NCAA's policies were finally approved, LSU staffers were on the phone talking with athletes until 2 a.m. Thursday about their upcoming deals.
"The best part is that they're talking with us and having conversations, which is the intent," Rempe said. "We are here to help our student-athletes navigate this. We can't be involved in NIL deals, and we obviously can't facilitate them directly or indirectly, but we can sure help them talk through how they report (their deals), what things they can or can't do, all of that."
Rempe said educating players on their NIL rights remains "the most important thing," something the university has been doing behind the scenes since Louisiana's first player compensation bill was introduced in February 2020.
The LSU System approved a 12-part policy in mid-June that aligned the school's procedures under the Louisiana law. The policy prohibits players from earning compensation if the payment is "provided in exchange of athletics performance" or "as a recruiting incentive." It also prohibits athletic boosters from creating or facilitating NIL deals for recruits as a "recruiting inducement" and with current players "as an inducement to remain enrolled."
Such prohibitions — that also include endorsing gambling, tobacco, alcohol, illegal substances or activities, and banned athletic substances — fall in line with the NIL laws in place in other states.
But Louisiana's law provides a considerable advantage for its college athletes by allowing them to use their school's official logos, marks, colors and facilities with approval from the university. Many schools are prohibiting such deals, and it's not hard to imagine LSU coaches using this difference as a considerable recruiting advantage.
"I'm not going to say it's a recruiting tool," Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, said of the bill in May. "But it is."
Still, the initial impact of NIL Day reflected with players currently on collegiate rosters.
Multiple LSU football players released the same statement in a partnership with Yoke, a gaming platform on which fans can sign up and play video games with the athletes. Wide receivers Kayshon Boutte, Jontre Kirklin, Deion Smith all posted their partnerships on Instagram, along with right tackle Austin Deculus, defensive lineman Glen Logan and safety Jay Ward.
LSU baseball player Cade Beloso promoted his family's company, Hot Rod's Creole, on his Instagram account.
Jaray Jenkins, a contender to start at wide receiver this season, promoted sales of his No. 10 LSU jersey.
All-American placekicker Cade York, who set the school record for longest field goal with his 57-yard kick in the fog to beat Florida last year, announced he's doing personalized shoutouts on the social media platform Jenloop — a partnership LSU offensive lineman Marcus Dumervil also announced.
True freshman quarterback Garrett Nussmeier also posted that he'll be doing shoutouts on his Instagram for between $20 and $50.
Within hours, Nussmeier had two posts promoting a college football news site and an apparel outlet.
Former Heisman-winning LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who promoted the NIL movement while still enrolled, said in a Twitter post that he's "most excited for non-scholarship athletes who may have been working jobs outside of sports to make ends meet."
Burrow said such deals will "make their lives a lot easier" and that the laws are "long overdue."
"In my opinion," Rempe said, "there has not been a more transformative action that has taken place to impact intercollegiate athletics in my lifetime."
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