NCAA – Page 53 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

NIL Puts Hit on U Football Recruiting

Posted on July 24, 2022 by David Shama

The Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) phenomenon is allowing athletes to monetize their success on the field or the court with endorsements, personal appearances and other marketing. The policy was put in place by the NCAA about 12 months ago and its impact has been profound, particularly in football where outside entities, supposedly separate from athletic departments, are facilitating payouts to benefit athletes.

Companies are paying NIL money in large and small amounts to athletes. Compensation can range from receiving free products to endorse brands, to the reported $1 million-plus NIL deals Alabama quarterback Bryce Young receives.

Often monetization goes through NIL collectives that pool money from businesses and boosters, help facilitate deals and directly coordinate payouts to athletes for things like charity appearances. Many other places around the country have been out front on collectives but now Rob Gag and Derek Burns are starting up Dinkytown Athletes to assist University of Minnesota athletes. The announcement about Dinkytown Athletes came this month and puts Minnesota on the national collectives map.

Coaches aren’t allowed by NCAA rules to set up collectives or administer them. Nor are coaches supposed to offer the promise of money to an athlete in the recruiting process.

It’s difficult, though, to believe there isn’t a cozy relationship between many coaches and booster-run collectives. What coach would want NIL money to be offered by a collective to a prospect he doesn’t want in the program?

While it’s against NCAA rules to use potential NIL money as a recruiting inducement, it’s easy to be skeptical about what might be happening. For example, a video clip that surfaced in late June showed a person dressed in Texas A&M clothing pointing to the luxury suites inside Texas A&M’s stadium and allegedly telling recruits they would get “a lot of money” from suite occupants if they decided to play for the Aggies.

What does recruiting authority Ryan Burns from GopherIllustrated think about NIL and the college football world? “Everybody wishes they had NIL. I can assure you of that. …”

Burns tracks Gophers football recruiting all year. Minnesota’s 2023 football recruiting class has 18 verbal commits so far, per 247Sports. How should Gopher fans feel about the class that 247 ranks No. 31 in the country? “I think they should be content. I don’t think they should be happy and I don’t think they should be sad,” said Burns who isn’t related to Derek Burns.

Does Burns believe Gopher coaches are being impacted in recruiting by the NIL presence at some schools? “Constantly. …If all things are equal (for a recruit), but another school can offer you NIL in terms of $10,000, $25,000, maybe more, than the decision doesn’t even become a decision.”

The Gophers lost out on several players they were hoping to land for the class of 2023, Burns said. “I know there were (recruiting) fights Minnesota didn’t take because they knew that NIL was involved with the kid, and you can’t bring a knife to a gun fight.

“There were some other guys (recruits) they took the fight and it ended up being that those other schools found some NIL money.”

While using illegal NIL inducements in recruiting is all but certain some places, it’s not going to happen at Minnesota. “They have the strictest compliance (with NCAA rules) in all of college sports,” Burns said. “There is nobody looking the other way here at the University of Minnesota. You can say that’s good, you can say that’s bad. You can say that’s what it is. The head coach can’t facilitate deals. That’s not the way it’s going to work with this compliance department. …”

Where Burns can see NIL money being particularly helpful at Minnesota is after athletes are nearing the end of their playing careers. The athlete who is struggling with a decision whether to play another season of football, basketball or volleyball versus going into the job market could use NIL money to be more financially comfortable for a while. In football a player who might project as a late round NFL draft choice could stay another season because of NIL money, help the team and work to improve his draft position.

A new Big Ten media rights deal is expected to deliver up to $100 million to each school in the conference. That figure could roughly double Minnesota’s budget for athletics.

The way Burns sees it the athletic department won’t need donation money as in the past. “They’re going to have another $40, $50 million. They’ll be just fine, but how about you throw that donation into the NIL collective, and that’s going to go directly to the student athletes. And that’s going to probably help your favorite team win a couple more games.”

While it’s different than NIL, Gopher athletes can soon benefit from a new NCAA policy allowing schools to provide financial support to student-athletes for academic success. The Gophers plan to institute the policy in the fall and it goes beyond the scholarship benefits student-athletes have long received. Schools are allowed to pay up to $5,980 per year to an athlete. A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court a year ago has opened the door for schools to pay athletes.

Burns said coach P.J. Fleck and his staff would “love” to add another offensive and defensive lineman to the 2023 class. An additional receiver could be welcome, too. National Signing Day is December 21.

The Gophers are also likely to be adding to the class with college transfers. Burns predicted the total of newcomers (mostly high school recruits) could be 25 to 28.

Who excites him in the 2023 class already? Burns offered up two running backs, Darius Taylor and Marquese Williams. Both Taylor and Williams received more than 25 Power Five offers, per Burns. They are near four-star recruits in the 247Sports recruiting rankings of players.

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Pay Coming for U Football Players, Others?

Posted on July 10, 2022 by David Shama

It looks more and more like Power Five football players, including the Gophers, will in the future be paid for their services on the field. National and local authorities are talking about these athletes sharing in the riches of major college football.

“There will be pay-for-play, in my opinion, in the near future,” Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners. The former Gophers athletics director offered that view while making it clear he isn’t speaking for the University of Minnesota or other schools.

Former University of Minnesota regent Michael Hsu said the change to employee status could come as soon as the 2024 season. The timing will be driven by litigation in the courts versus voluntary change by commissioners and school leaders in the Power Five conferences.

New NCAA policy now allows schools to provide financial support to student-athletes for academic success. The Gophers plan to institute the policy in the fall and it goes beyond the scholarship benefits student-athletes have long received. Schools are allowed to pay out up to $5,980 per year to an athlete. A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court a year ago opened the door for schools to pay athletes.

The times are changing fast in college sports and there is a wave of new found freedoms for student-athletes. The transfer portal allows athletes to become free agents on a whim, with thousands choosing new schools where they have immediate eligibility. The Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) phenomenon is allowing athletes to monetize their success on the field or the court with endorsements, personal appearances and other marketing.

The recent announcement of USC and UCLA to join the Big Ten starting in 2024 may provide momentum to the pay-for-play movement. “Yes, I think it puts pressure on them (the schools) to voluntarily collectively bargain,” Hsu told Sports Headliners.

USC and UCLA, based in Los Angeles, give a soon to be 16-member Big Ten a TV presence in the nation’s three largest markets, New York, L.A. and Chicago. The Big Ten’s media rights deal expires in 2023 and adding the two California programs, including an elite football brand in USC, only increases the riches expected in the next TV bonanza.

Hsu, an outspoken advocate for compensating athletes, said that before the Big Ten’s announced expansion there was speculation each Big Ten school could receive up to $110 million annually. Now there should be even more money coming into athletic departments including at Minnesota. “It’s the TV people driving all of this,” said Hsu who was an early advisor to the Minnesota-based College Football Players Association.

The new TV windfall could easily be double the $50 million or so payout the Gophers receive in the present Big Ten rights agreement. Maturi predicted the new deal will be a lot more than the entire athletic department budget of about $56 million in place when he was hired at Minnesota in 2002.

The Big Ten’s expansion is further strengthening its position as a super conference. It’s a league with a great legacy and fan following, with more eyeballs likely watching its football teams in 2024 than ever before. Big Ten football has long been a business but it’s becoming more so, with Hsu and others wanting to see players compensated for their efforts.

“When you put players on airplanes to fly them six hours coast-to-coast to play games…to say they’re student-athletes and not employees—I think it’s going to put further pressure on that definition,” Hsu said in reference to Big Ten expansion. “I think it’s going to put further pressure on the fact that everyone is looking at where the money is going…the players are going to start realizing that really this NIL stuff is a joke compared to how much they’re worth actually to the teams that they’re playing for.”

Pay-for-play could take on various models. Hourly pay has been discussed as well as salaries. Bonuses could be part of how football players are compensated, too. Revenue sharing with the athletic departments will also be on the table. “I don’t think it’s going to be any one thing,” Hsu said.

Maturi said he can’t predict what form pay-for-play will take. “None of us knows what that means. Is it going to be open market where you can pay what you wish? …”

What is clear to Hsu is players will be employees and not independent contractors.
Why? Because football players operate in a year-round structured environment where they adhere to direction and rules, and independent contractors by definition have more freedom.

In a short time a lot will be decided about the college football model. There will be protests from other college sports if football players are receiving salaries and other athletes aren’t. Those differences, Hsu suggests, could even lead to schools like Minnesota selling off the football program to an outside entity that runs Golden Gophers football. Other sports could remain under University control and benefit as they do now from football profits.

There is speculation the Big Ten may further expand its membership. While schools are lined up at the door to join the conference, new members could reduce the slice of revenue pie for existing members. Applicants will have to bring considerable value monetarily and fit the academic pedigree of Big Ten institutions.

“Let’s face it, everybody wants to join the Big Ten now with the mega TV contract that’s coming up,” Maturi said. “And that’s gotta be decided by the commissioner (Kevin Warren) and the presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten.”

Looming as a big prize is Notre Dame, the juggernaut football independent that could make more TV money joining the Big Ten but would have to sacrifice controlling its schedule of opponents and perhaps lessen its chances of qualifying for the college football playoff.

“Right now Notre Dame is leaving money on the table,” Maturi said. “It already has. They don’t get the money from NBC that they would have gotten by joining a (major) conference, but they’ve kept what they believe is their mission, their values, their principles—and how long they’ll be able to continue to do that remains to be seen.”

Former Gophers football coach Glen Mason can see a Big Ten with 20 teams. “I don’t think we’re done yet (with expansion). I think there’s going to be two premier conferences. The way I see it as a fan, it will be the Big Ten and SEC. Probably both eyeing…to get 20-team leagues.”

Mason isn’t sure if he approves of pay-for-play but he recognizes players are in a far different world than when he competed for Ohio State in the early 1970s. “It was not a year round job,” Mason said.

In Mason’s day winter conditioning was minimal and after spring football practices ended players went home. Big Ten teams played 10 game schedules and only one team could participate in a bowl game. Ticket prices to watch conference teams was minimal and coach’s salaries were modest. Now college football players see coaches making $4 million to $10 million per year while athletic departments generate mega revenues via TV and other sources. “I think players said all of a sudden, hey, wait a minute,” Mason told Sports Headliners.

Mason looks at schools like USC, UCLA, Oklahoma and Texas jumping leagues and asks where is the loyalty to their conferences? The Sooners and Longhorns are leaving the Big 12 and bolting for the SEC, just like USC and UCLA are on their way out of the Pac-12. Those moves create a lot of problems and stress for the remaining members of their conferences.

When Mason coached at Kansas in the Big Eight the power players were Oklahoma and Nebraska. Those schools questioned whether they should share revenues in the same amounts as their Big Eight peers, or keep more for themselves.

“You can see the disparity in that,” Mason said. “Those discussions when I came back to the Big Ten, those never came up. You never had the big dogs on the block, Ohio State and Michigan, talking about that. They realized they were partners in the Big Ten and even though they might be the guys driving the train, that’s just the way it was.”

In the new world of college football it’s more business focused than ever. “We’re lucky we have the membership in the Big Ten,” Hsu said about Minnesota.

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Fidel Castro Part of Local Baseball Lore

Posted on July 5, 2022July 5, 2022 by David Shama

Minor Treasures is a new book from Nodin Press in Minneapolis that will provide any Minnesotan interested in Millers and Saints history a detailed account of Twin Cities minor league baseball history. Authors Stew Thornley, Taylor Simons and Dave Kaplan write about the Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints from their origins, offering an array of interesting names and tales with a background of vintage photos and illustrations.

Now is a nostalgic time to peruse the soft-cover book because for decades an annual ritual of summer was watching the Saints and Millers play a double header on the Fourth of July. It was known as a street car series, with fans attending games in each city on Independence Day. For more than six decades there was a cross-river rivalry between the two franchises, with much of it focused on the street car matchups of doubleheaders played on Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day.

Legendary players wore the uniforms of the Millers and Saints including many who are honored in baseball’s shrine at Cooperstown, New York. Willie Mays, arguably the game’s greatest player ever, played in Minneapolis for part of a season in 1951. Minor Treasures profiles the “Say Hey Kid” and includes a photo of the home on Fourth Avenue that Mays rented and still stands near the Hosmer Library.

For many readers a surprising name on the book’s pages will be Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator who seized power in the late 1950s. Castro was a baseball player in his youth and to say he took an interest in Havana’s Junior World Series against the Millers is an understatement.

The Junior World Series was a Triple-A showdown between teams from the American Association and International League. In the postseason playoffs of 1959 the AA Millers and IL Havana Sugar Canes advanced to the Junior World Series. Castro attended all the games in Havana and so did his henchmen. Minor Treasures described the atmosphere: “Nearly 3,000 soldiers were present, many lining the field, while others stationed themselves in the dugouts, their rifles and bayonets clearly evident.”

The book makes clear that this was a series about more than competition on the field. Politically motivated intimidation was a dark presence as described in Minor Treasures: “As Millers centerfielder Tom Umphlett entered the dugout after making a catch to end an inning, a soldier made a slicing motion across his throat. Umphlett and the other players clearly understood the message.”

The Millers forced a series deciding game seven in Havana. Minor Treasures writes that Castro walked by the Minneapolis bullpen before the game, patted a large revolver on his hip and declared: “Tonight, we win.” And that’s what the Sugar Canes did, scoring the final run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win 3-2.

Minneapolis manager Gene Mauch offered the postmortem with this quote in the book: “Our players were truly fearful of what might happen if we won. But we still tried our hardest, figuring we’d take our chances if we did win.”

Worth Noting

Twins front office boss Derek Falvey and manager Rocco Baldelli are in communication before and after each game. Falvey told Sports Headliners the conversations are part of their routine “because that’s the way our partnership works here.”

Falvey said he thinks outside perceptions about those conversations might be of “some secret vault meeting,” or involve lineup meddling by him. “…I will say this to the end of my career. I’ve never written a lineup in my life and I don’t really want to, and I don’t plan to,” he said.

Pregame meetings (10 or 15 minutes) between Falvey and Baldelli include medical updates about players. Falvey said Baldelli likes to “bounce ideas off” him and others in the clubhouse about personnel but the manager makes the final call on details like “where he is going to hit guys” in the lineup. The pregame chats, Falvey, added, don’t even merit “formal meeting” status and may include non-baseball subjects like European football, a Baldelli favorite interest.

Post game is a short meeting and can focus on the bullpen and whether there is a need for a call up. Injuries, illness or tired arms can prompt roster changes including help from the Triple-A St. Paul Saints. “We usually check in for a short five-10 minutes postgame just to make sure we didn’t miss anything on the roster,” Falvey said. “We rarely break down (for example) what happened in the seventh inning unless it’s something meaningful and he wants to talk about it. …

“It’s truly a partnership (with Baldelli, including their meetings). He makes the decisions on the team. Who plays, where they play, what pitching moves they make. That’s all the manager. It’s always been that way for me and everywhere I’ve been in my career. My job is to try and help support him and thinking through those things. …”

Assistant coach Dave Thorson told Sports Headliners his background with head coach Ben Johnson gives him a special understanding about his younger boss. Thorson, going into his second season as a Johnson assistant coach on the Gophers men’s basketball team, has known Johnson since he was in sixth grade.

Then, of course, Thorson coached Johnson at DeLaSalle High School. “I think the neat thing for me is because I understand him, I can help him in a way that may be different than anybody else.” Thorson said.

With a remade roster assembled on the fly, the Gophers struggled last season with a 4-16 Big Ten record, but Thorson describes Johnson as a “star in the making.” More observers could feel that way if Minnesota, with better talent now, improves significantly next season and earns its way into the NCAA Tournament.

The latest issue of Sports Illustrated includes a feature on Chet Holmgren whose 7-foot versatile skills are earning him the “Unicorn” nickname and a nation-wide following after the Oklahoma City Thunder made him the No. 2 selection in last month’s NBA Draft. The former Minnehaha Academy prep All-American was coached by Larry Suggs in AAU basketball. “I wanted to make Chet the best American-born white basketball player since Larry Bird,” Suggs told Sports Illustrated.

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