Another of many indications that NIL is broken

GMG_Dallas · September 25

6 hours ago, MrAlien said:

In the NIL era this could end up being a death sentence for UNLV, other athletes will not trust them in the future.

See I'm all for the players getting paid, though the system needs actual structure, but this is dangerous. If nothing is in writing, how do we know if the player is being honest? Maybe he misunderstood? I am not in favor of players deciding they've been wronged without evidence and then holding the honesty and reputation of a school hostage. I'm curious if any other UNLV players feel like the QB does.

rcade · September 25

2 hours ago, Graddean said:

If the coach made the offer, I believe that would be a violation. The athlete should know it was a violation. It seems there are no clean hands on either side.

It would be improper inducement in some states, but in others would not be illegal. Nevada has one of the most lax NIL laws in the U.S. It mainly prohibits an athlete from entering into an NIL contract that conflicts with any contract between the school and the athlete. It also requires athletes to disclose their NIL agreements to the school and has this provision:

Quote

An institution may require a student athlete to take courses or receive education or training in contracts, financial literacy or any other subject the institution deems necessary to prepare a student athlete to enter into contracts.

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021/Bill/7714/Text

I guess that class was too late to teach Sluka to get the deal in writing before coming to a school.

GMG_Dallas · September 25

Guess my question was asked based on the RB's tweet. Shame on UNLV.

TheColonyEagle · September 25

This was $100K at a middle of the road at best G5...

How many of these are 5x, 10x that amount at P4 conferences. There are more out there going through the same thing....this will become a common story.

What a mess

VideoEagle · September 25

10 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

This was $100K at a middle of the road at best G5...

How many of these are 5x, 10x that amount at P4 conferences. There are more out there going through the same thing....this will become a common story.

What a mess

According the Charlie Baker, NCAA President, they get "dozens" of calls from players who entered the portal based on NIL promises that haven't been fulfilled. There appears to be some reason they aren't allowed to sign the NIL agreement before they are on campus - I don't understand that and I hope I just misread it!

El Paso Eagle · September 25

6 hours ago, Jason Howeth said:

Your friendly neighborhood lawyer here: At least in Texas, oral agreements are generally enforceable, so long as there is a clear offer, acceptance, and meeting of the minds. All three of those things have been highly litigated over decades, but the basis of an agreement is certain possible as an oral contract.

If the verbal agreement was made with someone who is not legally authorized to make such an arrangement as this seems, would it still be enforceable as the assistant represents the school?

GMG_Dallas · September 25

Not sure what to think at the point. This SR draft analyst for barstool says UNLV players are not on Sluka's side and tweets I'm seeing support that. Next question is are they just upset he bailed on them or is there some dishonesty on his side.

There's more but I won't post all. It's all available on Twitter through a bit of searching.

TheColonyEagle · September 25

35 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

According the Charlie Baker, NCAA President, they get "dozens" of calls from players who entered the portal based on NIL promises that haven't been fulfilled. There appears to be some reason they aren't allowed to sign the NIL agreement before they are on campus - I don't understand that and I hope I just misread it!

Not that I would ever defend anyone NCAA….

But feels like if I were Charlie Baker I would tell them “why are you calling me….figure it out. Y'all wanted this. Good luck.”

cousin oliver · September 26

4 hours ago, TheColonyEagle said:

This was $100K at a middle of the road at best G5...

How many of these are 5x, 10x that amount at P4 conferences. There are more out there going through the same thing....this will become a common story.

What a mess

It truly is a nightmare!

MeanGreenZen · September 26

19 hours ago, Jason Howeth said:

Your friendly neighborhood lawyer here: At least in Texas, oral agreements are generally enforceable, so long as there is a clear offer, acceptance, and meeting of the minds. All three of those things have been highly litigated over decades, but the basis of an agreement is certain possible as an oral contract.

Like that Coach is going to admit to offering him $100K. You can’t enforce it if there is a denial that it was offered.

You orally offered me $100K to reply to your post. Pay me.

Let’s see the state of Texas enforce that oral agreement.

Edited September 26 by MeanGreenZen

MeanGreenZen · September 26

How embarrassing for this “NIL agent”. He didn’t get it in writing? Even I know that you have to get it in writing. And this kid spent four years at Holy Cross and didn’t learn that?

Have to get rid of the redshirt rule. That is an unintended consequence of the NIL era.

VideoEagle · September 26

1 hour ago, MeanGreenZen said:

How embarrassing for this “NIL agent”. He didn’t get it in writing? Even I know that you have to get it in writing. And this kid spent four years at Holy Cross and didn’t learn that?

I thought I saw this someplace yesterday, but it was in the DMN today. "Friends of Unilv, the collective that works with UNLV athletes, does not sign deals with athletes until they are enrolled, said Bob Sine, whose company Blueprint Sports oversees and operates that collective and dozens others around the country."

Many of the collectives won't put it in writing until the athlete is enrolled! The athletes CANNOT get it in writing as the NIL collectives WILL NOT do that!!!!

I'm curious if the NT Collective plays the same game - don't allow the offer in writing until the athlete enrolls and then cut the offer when the kid has no alternatives!

https://epaper.dallasnews.com/app/DAMONE/editionguid/2c87fdc4-2fed-4c77-b8a8-0ed277bf4589

Edited September 26 by VideoEagle

VideoEagle · September 26

Here's an article on the subject from the Wall Street Journal.

"Schools are officially prohibited from using endorsement deals as recruiting inducements and college athletes aren’t allowed to sign a contract before joining a team. The rules also ban teams from striking verbal or written deals with athletes before they enroll. In practice, however, most players being recruited are presented with a dollar amount they can reasonably expect to earn. "

The athletes CAN'T get a written deal until they can't back out! Everything about NIL is a "trust us" scheme!

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/matthew-sluka-unlv-football-nil-a6a06c3e?mod=hp_featst_pos3

Edited September 26 by VideoEagle

Censored by Laurie · September 26

19 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

I would advise this kid to get his degree. He isn't a talent that will catch on at the next level.

all the more reason to get now what he can/was promised.

Jason Howeth · September 26

16 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

If the verbal agreement was made with someone who is not legally authorized to make such an arrangement as this seems, would it still be enforceable as the assistant represents the school?

GREAT question. This is where the so-called "meeting of the minds" comes into play when determining whether an agreement was reached between the parties to be bound. In this kid's case, it seems like a coach promised the $100k NIL earnings, but the UNLV collectives (i.e. the parties that would actually be paying) weren't aware of those promises, and never signed onto that deal. In that case, the parties to the agreement (the kid and the collectives) did not have a "meeting of the minds"

There's also a bit to say about the apparent agency of the coach, which I believe gets more to your point. The kid believed that the coach had proper authority to make the $100k offer on behalf of the collectives when the coach clearly did not. This is a fact question for a jury: Did the kid know that the coach had no authority to bind the collectives to an agreement? If he didn't know, were there signs or indications to prove that he should have known? If he didn't know, and there were obvious signs, was he deceived by the coach? Tons more questions go into evaluating that type of argument but I think you get the picture.

Jason Howeth · September 26

3 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

Like that Coach is going to admit to offering him $100K. You can’t enforce it if there is a denial that it was offered.

You orally offered me $100K to reply to your post. Pay me.

Let’s see the state of Texas enforce that oral agreement.

Right, this is why getting agreements in writing is so important. These fights constantly turn into a "he said / she said" back and forth that is tough for juries to make a decision on. In that case, the kid would need to bring in evidence that helps to show--but may not concretely prove--that an offer was made by the coach. To do that, he can bring in evidence like (a) communications to his friends, if he disclosed the nature of the deal at the time; (b) communications with the coaching staff that may reference the offer that was made; (c) have witnesses like his parents testify as to the circumstances of the offer; etc.

Jason Howeth · September 26

1 hour ago, VideoEagle said:

I'm curious if the NT Collective plays the same game - don't allow the offer in writing until the athlete enrolls and then cut the offer when the kid has no alternatives!

This is what we normally call fraud.

El Paso Eagle · September 26

On 9/25/2024 at 9:47 AM, Jason Howeth said:

Your friendly neighborhood lawyer here: At least in Texas, oral agreements are generally enforceable, so long as there is a clear offer, acceptance, and meeting of the minds. All three of those things have been highly litigated over decades, but the basis of an agreement is certain possible as an oral contract.

Would the MWC have any grounds to countersue the PAC for breach of contract?

97and03 · September 26

2 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

all the more reason to get now what he can/was promised.

I wish the NIL deals were more performance based. Take a look at this kid’s stats. Unimpressive, less than 50 completion percentage.
It would make more sense to have NIL contracts with $ for TD and yards, etc. Some kind of position-specific performance measure, perhaps with a lump sum payment for signing. Team wins and bowl bonuses like coaches get.

untjim1995 · September 26

The whole thing is eventually going to burn itself down. Wait until the next Great Recession hits…that money is going to dry up for NIL. Right now, middle class folks that think their school needs funds for better players are already being squeezed out by the cost of attending the games. Soon enough, the higher net worth folks at these G5s are going to bail when they realize this isn’t helping their school out in any significant way.

The top 30-50 schools that want to be NFL-little schools and run like that just need to go away. And leave the rest of us to have a setup that looks and acts like amateurish college football.

VideoEagle · September 26

33 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

I wish the NIL deals were more performance based. Take a look at this kid’s stats. Unimpressive, less than 50 completion percentage.
It would make more sense to have NIL contracts with $ for TD and yards, etc. Some kind of position-specific performance measure, perhaps with a lump sum payment for signing. Team wins and bowl bonuses like coaches get.

That would be a pure pay for play. In theory, NIL is payment for the athlete’s name, image and likeness which could be completely unrelated to how they play. A right offensive tackle could be the very best player in a school’s history at that position but how many tshirts is that going to sell? Would a consumer buy a product based on that player’s endorsement? Then you have Arch Manning and the thousands of tshirts with him name and number on them that have been sold before he ever got into a game! There’s no question that UT would be making a ton of money off of Mannings name, image and likeness and Arch getting nothing without NIL. He is legitimately earning his NIL even though he had yet to perform on the field.

DentonStang · September 26

The system should self-police reasonably well. If you reneg on deals, you are toast either direction. Who wants a player that will sit and demand more? Or a team that can't pay their debts?

97and03 · September 26

1 hour ago, VideoEagle said:

That would be a pure pay for play. In theory, NIL is payment for the athlete’s name, image and likeness which could be completely unrelated to how they play. A right offensive tackle could be the very best player in a school’s history at that position but how many tshirts is that going to sell? Would a consumer buy a product based on that player’s endorsement? Then you have Arch Manning and the thousands of tshirts with him name and number on them that have been sold before he ever got into a game! There’s no question that UT would be making a ton of money off of Mannings name, image and likeness and Arch getting nothing without NIL. He is legitimately earning his NIL even though he had yet to perform on the field.

It already is pure pay for play but without any controls for performance. Manning is the perfect example.

UNTLifer · September 26

2 hours ago, DentonStang said:

The system should self-police reasonably well.

Spoken by a "Stang" fan. Just can't make this up.

Spit Take GIF

rcade · September 26

On 9/25/2024 at 5:16 PM, GMG_Dallas said:

See I'm all for the players getting paid, though the system needs actual structure, but this is dangerous. If nothing is in writing, how do we know if the player is being honest? Maybe he misunderstood?

The lack of a written agreement was dumb.

But there may be communications that left a paper trail about the offer, such as voicemails, emails and so on. That assistant coach's emails are subject to FOIA requests so the media could be digging into them.

After throwing for 5,913 yards and 59 touchdowns and running for 3,583 yards and 38 touchdowns in four seasons at Holy Cross, Sluka is unlikely to have transferred to UNLV without the incentive of an NIL payday.