Name, image and likeness, otherwise known as “NIL,” has been a hot topic for Irish fans over the past few years. ISD has sounded the horn loud and clear that this is going to make a huge impact on college football, and it already has.
Irish fans have heard all the crazy numbers being thrown around in regards to NIL and what players and prospects allegedly are receiving in these NIL deals, and while there is probably some truth to those numbers in a few cases, I believe the reality of the situation is a lot of these players aren’t getting the kind of bank that is being reported. In fact, I’ve heard that hardly any are actually getting the numbers they have suggested or have been promised. Still, some teams have had boosters and former players form “collectives” to help their favorite University with NIL, and Notre Dame has their collective as well.
We’ve heard a lot about the Texas A&M collective in the news last spring, and Irish fans have heard a lot about collectives from other teams pursuing Notre Dame recruits, commitments and players.
It’s a dirty world out there behind the scenes, if you believe the rumors, but the Notre Dame collective is different.
Friends of the University of Notre Dame, or “FUND” is spearheaded by former Irish QB, Brady Quinn, as well as some other prominent Notre Dame former players and alumni. I recently spoke with Quinn, who I’ve known since he was a recruit, about FUND and their progress thus far. Quinn made it clear that FUND’s mission is different than many of the other collectives out there.
“We don’t work with agents,” said Quinn when asked how the process works, and if they’re approached by agents of the student-athlete. “That’s part of our model. There is no need for an agent in our agreements with student-athletes. We are utilizing donor funds that are coming in to help that student-athlete to help support a cause of their choice. There is no involvement with any agent. There is no fee that is taken out for anything. All the funds that come in to FUND go directly towards that student-athlete and their promotion towards a charitable organization/“.
“We only have one person who is paid within our organization and that’s our C.O.O,” Quinn further explained about how they distribute their donations. “None of our board (Board of Directors) is paid anything. I’m not paid anything. Our C.O.O., Megan Whitt, who is a rock star, she is getting compensated as she does all the heavy lifting on this, but she is the only one. We’ve done our best to be as economical as possible paying for accounting, and legal counsel and other managerial costs. We want our donors to understand that every cent we receive is directed towards the student-athletes and their philanthropic endeavors. That is our goal.”
So far, FUND has been able to help many of Notre Dame’s student-athletes already. Quinn states the largest challenges have been getting Notre Dame alumni and fans to understand how the process works, and what they are there to accomplish.
“I think the biggest hesitation from donors is the lack of clarity in the NIL space,” Quinn explained. “When you look at the traditional format of how fans and alumni have supported student-athletes, they’ve donated to the school. The school has used those resources to provide facilities or benefits to the student-athletes. With NIL being legal, it’s opened up the door to provide opportunities for supporters to directly help student-athletes. I think that’s been one of biggest challenges is changing that habit and helping donors understand NIL is here to stay. This is not exclusive to FUND, it’s by and large across the country. One of the reasons why there is some confusion or hesitancy by donors is the lack of guidance provided by the NCAA, with the exception of what came out earlier this year. There is not a lot of direction right now, and NIL laws vary by state which only confuses the a national donor base even more.”
“We’ve been able to help every single women’s basketball player,” Quinn said when asked how much success FUND has had so far. “Every single football player, including the walk-ons. We’ve been able to help supports player on the Men’s basketball team as well as Men’s lacrosse. We are currently working on something to help Women’s lacrosse too. Our goal is to continue to scale to other sports in the future. People have to understand that we filed our LLC back in January of this year, and received our non-profit status from the IRS in April. Like any other start up, you’re looking to prove your concept before making an official launch. Take for example, a new restaurant where you want to have a soft opening before inviting guests to dine. Initially, we were self funded with donations from myself and members of our board: Tom Mendoza, Pat Eilers and Kevin Klau. We believed it was important to test our internal processes before asking for outside donations. We wanted to work through any pain points before we scaled to provide support to a larger group of student athletes, so we started small initially. Once we felt comfortable, we began to fundraise this past June and July. We then felt comfortable with where we were at to bring on more student-athletes as we headed into he fall. That’s where we are at right now. We’re looking to try to provide something for every single student-athlete at the University. There has to enough funding to be able to do that, and that’s our next step. To be able to find a way to reach out to a lot of the donors and supportive fans of various Notre Dame sports.”
There are many interpretations about NCAA law and exactly what these collectives are allowed to do and not do in regards to NIL. Some schools seem to throw caution to the wind and almost seem to be coordinating the efforts of their collectives who are supporting their student-athletes. Some of these collectives have even been rumored to be offering players NIL deals to switch schools via the transfer portal and attend their University. Others are said to be enticing prospective recruits by offering them NIL money just to sign with the University the collective supports. Many believe this illegal, some probably feel there is some wiggle room, and it appears others are throwing caution to the wind on all of this.
Quinn made it clear that FUND interpret these things in just one way.
“That’s illegal,” said Quinn when I brought up the rumor that allegedly a USC collective was able to entice former Pittsburgh star, Jordan Addison, to enter the transfer portal and then transfer to USC this off season with a big NIL deal to play for the Trojans. “That’s the reality. It’s illegal. If you’re asking that question, no, we will never be involved with enticing a prospective student athlete. Based on the guidance by the NCAA, that is not the intent of NIL.”
Because Notre Dame and the FUND collective aren’t involved in this rumored part of NIL, some might suggest Notre Dame and the FUND collective are “behind” other schools in regards to how they will handle NIL moving forward. The former Irish great made it clear he didn’t feel that FUND was trailing any other collective at this point.
“I’ll start off by saying I don’t think we are behind at all,” he said. “We filed back in January, and look at how many people have followed our model? I sat at a desk and talked with Drew Brees and he was telling me about the Boilermaker Alliance that he’s on the board of, and they literally followed our filings. I don’t believe we are behind at all. There are probably six or seven total schools who are providing something for every single football player in the country. Notre Dame is one of them.
“I know that we have raised more funds than other prominent Collectives. The NIL space is small and a lot of people talk, and I know we are much further ahead than most. We like to pride ourselves on how we differentiate from everything else that is out there, and we believe through our philanthropic works we are doing things the right way, the Notre Dame way. We’re not talking to PSA’s (prospective Student athletes). I don’t care if they’re a recruit. I don’t care if they’re in the transfer portal. I’m not risking my reputation, or anyone else’s who is a part of what we are building, or risking hurting the University’s reputation. We stay away from all of that. I can’t speak for other collectives and how they’re being operated. I would say we are right where we need to be, and what we provide is something that is unique compared to some of the other collectives that are out there. We look at ourselves as helping student-athletes financially, but also building their brand by tying it to a charitable cause. When ND students leave, it’s not just about the education, it’s about going on into the world and being a force for good. I think we are helping to expedite some of those thoughts and actions.”
After doing a lot of digging this past week, I was able to uncover what some other collectives are doing to support their teams. It seems some collectives, like the one who supports Tennessee, are actually advertising their collective during games directing fans during games how they can help support their team by donating to their collectives. Even things such as purchases in the stadium for concessions offer opportunities for fans to support their collective with a quick click of a button when paying for their concessions at games. These collectives are making it very easy for fans to support their favorite team. I asked Quinn if FUND has looked into something similar at Notre Dame?
“It falls back to NCAA guidance and then state law and federal law,” he said. “Every state has their own unique NIL law. In Indiana, there is no law, so those schools have to revert back to the guidance by the NCAA. The issue there becomes, the state law in Tennessee may vary and be different than what it is in another state. For example, California is the most accommodating since Universities, or, at least, this is how I’ve heard Southern Cal has interpreted their state NIL laws, can participate and facilitate NIL deals with their student athletes. Even at the high school level, student athletes can earn money for use of their name, image and likeness. If you recall, in the state of Texas, at least to the best of my knowledge, they still do NOT have the ability to do that. That’s one of the reasons Quinn Ewers reclassified and left for Ohio State early was because he was able had an NIL deal lined up.
“Every state differs with NIL,” Quinn continued. “Clearly, Tennessee interprets their law, or guidance by the NCAA, as such that they can do that with the collective. Up to this point, the University of Notre Dame does not believe that is possible."
It is what it is.
NIL isn’t going away any time soon. I expect you will see a lot more about it moving forward, and I do expect more “law” will be put in place at some point, and they’ll likely be the same toothless laws that currently are on the books in regards to extra benefits. But, in doing some further digging through the bushes, it seems that a lot of teams who want to bend the rules are just going back to the old way of doing things, anyway. With NIL, there are a lot of hoops to jump through. There are a lot of legal documents to be filed. There is a lot of paper trail to follow. It seems those who bend or fracture those laws are starting to realize that NIL is a whole lot of headache they don’t need to deal with, and it was just easier doing things the old way. We all know what I mean by saying that, and I think a lot of that has still been going on and will likely continue to happen moving forward.
Regardless, Quinn and FUND are here to do things the right way, and I asked Quinn how Notre Dame fans could help Irish student-athletes the most, both by helping them promote their brands, and donating to FUND.
“I think, to really help the ND student athletes, what would really help build their brand is when they’re putting this stuff out their on social media, their charitable acts and such, is for fans to try to help spread that word,” Quinn explained. “Retweet what they’re doing. Share it with your audience as well. Comment on it. That’s how they will gain more fans, more subscribers, more likes, and more recognition. That will really help build their brand, so if people push that out there more, it can have a big impact on their brand and how much they can earn. That’s what we’re really about. Trying to help support these players in the causes they are passionate about, and getting recognition for that will make them more attractive and help build their brand for other opportunities for them.”
“I think, to really help the ND student athletes, what would really help build their brand is when they’re putting this stuff out their on social media, their charitable acts and such, is for fans to try to help spread that word,” Quinn explained. “Retweet what they’re doing. Share it with your audience as well. Comment on it. That’s how they will gain more fans, more subscribers, more likes, and more recognition. That will really help build their brand, so if people push that out, it can have a big impact on their brand and how much they can earn. That’s what we’re really about. Trying to help support these student athletes in the causes they are passionate about, and getting recognition for that will make them more attractive and help build their brand for future opportunities.”
“As far for our collective, it’s fundfoundation.org,” he explained. “Just go to fundfoundation.org and you can donate there. The first thing there you will see is a green button to donate, and you will get some facts. It will explain exactly who we are. It will provide all the tax identification information that you need. If you want to reach out with questions, we have that as well. That’s how we are set up. We’re still in our fundraising phase . We’ve contacted a small amount of donors to get where we are now but will look to reach out to larger masses moving forward. We just want to make sure we’re doing everything the right way. We want to do everything the Notre Dame way.”
If nothing else, I think Irish fans need to thank Quinn and these others who have stepped up and made this happen. Someone had to pick up the ball and run with it, and Quinn and his group did just that, without getting paid. In fact, they were the first to donate to the cause. While FUND may not be designed to battle those who are allegedly bending the rules, they are doing something good for Notre Dame players, and for others in the community, and that really is the Notre Dame way.
Once again, if you’d like to donate to FUND, the Notre Dame NIL collective, you can do so by clicking here. FUND
