Big announcement this week: Kristi has a new co-host, Jeff Schemmel! Jeff is the President and CEO of College Sports Solutions, a consultancy focused on helping athletic departments maximize their efficiency, leverage their resources and increase revenue.

Kristi and Jeff are joined this week by Cole Gahagan, CEO of Learfield—a leading media and technology services company in intercollegiate athletics. 

They discuss: 

• Recent changes at Learfield and how they help Learfield be better positioned for the future 
• The current state of the college sports multimedia rights landscape 
• The Learfield Allied NIL program 
• Conference realignment 
• With Colorado as a Learfield partner, what “The Prime Effect” has been like this season 

Visit Learfield.com to learn more about the many services they offer within intercollegiate athletics. 

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

Thomas Thomas Jr. is the co-founder and CEO of Basepath, whose software is used by student athletes, collectives, and universities to automate name, image, and likeness operations. 

Thomas joins the show to discuss: 

• How Basepath started, the work they currently do, and how they work with collectives 
• The first steps they take when onboarding a collective and its athletes 
• The ways they help partner with universities to bring clarity to the financial complexities of student athletes 
• How Basepath’s services differ between for-profit collectives and nonprofit collectives 
• The NIL Collectives Consortium - what it is, who it’s for, and how it has benefited collectives 
• . . . and much more! 

For more information about Basepath, visit basepath.co.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

In this episode, I’m joined by Ksenia Maiorova and Amy Maldonado. Ksenia and Amy are very accomplished immigration attorneys who work with international athletes seeking to take advantage of NIL. They've been able to secure O-1 visas for several athletes and are sharing with us both their successes and the challenges.

Topics we covered include:

• The limitations on a student visa and how it complicates an international student’s NIL possibilities
• The types of visas that are available to international student athletes beyond student visas, including O-1 Visas
• When a student athlete might consider pursuing an O-1 visa
• Why some sports are easier than others for getting other types of visas
• Potential passive income opportunities for international student athletes
• Completing NIL activities out of the country
• The potential consequences of failing to adhere to visa requirements/guidelines

Ksenia Maiorova can be reached on Instagram at @sportsvisalawyer.

Amy Maldonado can be reached on her website at amaldonadolaw.com. 

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

This episode, I am joined again by Wesley Haynes, President and Founder of The Brandr Group. If you missed the first episode from last year, it's available here.

The Brandr Group remains one of the leaders of the group licensing sector of NIL, with more than 70 schools signed to group rights partnerships. 

In this ever-changing NIL scene, Wesley gives updates on: 

• The Brandr Group’s growing list of partners and licensees 
• A breakdown of group licensing categories and trends and how these have changed over time 
• How royalty rates are determined for jerseys and other merchandise 
• Potential relationships between NIL collectives and group licensing 
• Future opportunities within the group licensing sector 
• How universities and their athletic departments unite to embrace group licensing and the benefits for both the university and the student athletes 

Check out some of the latest news on Business of College Sports involving The BrandR Group:

New NIL Deal Provides Flights for the Families of Student Athletes

The Brandr Group and AJS Collective Partner to Create NIL Opportunities for Female Athletes

More Player Apparel and Jerseys Coming Thanks to The BrandR Group Partnering with Follett

Subscription Box for UNC Tarheel Fans Latest Creative NIL Idea

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

This episode, I'm joined by Jordan Acker, the Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Regents at the University of Michigan and a partner at Goodman Acker in Detroit.

A lifelong sports fan, Jordan was an early advocate of allowing student athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness. We chatted about the role of the Board of Regents relative to athletics issues and opportunities and where he seems college athletics heading from here.

Some of the things we discuss include:

• The process of being elected to the University of Michigan Board of Regents
• The benefits of having younger Regents
• The impact a successful athletics program can have on the university
• When the Board of Regents should defer to the athletic director or president on decisions
• How the Board of Regents participates in processes and decisions regarding the Big Ten
• The biggest developments he sees coming in college athletics
• How the Board of Regents at Michigan prepared for NIL
• His thoughts on how Michigan has approached NIL
• Issues facing college athletics such as athletes becoming employees and revenue sharing
• ...and more!

You can follow Jordan on Twitter. 

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

I'm joined this episode by Chris Giles, co-founder and CEO of FanRally, a platform that replaces traditional season tickets with a tech-enabled subscription service.  

Members pay a monthly subscription fee instead of paying for tickets and can reserve seats directly on their phones, finding games that work best for their schedules.

FanRally is aimed at modern consumers, including younger fans, who are comfortable with subscription services. Also, the seat reservations can't be resold, so it helps teams identify the fans attending games and to build more direct relationships with them.

The company was founded in 2020 after Chris had served as COO of the Oakland A's and VP of Sales & Strategy for the San Francisco 49ers.  

Backed by Capital One, it has already partnered with more than 20 teams across the NCAA, NBA, MLB, MiLB and NHL.

In the episode, we discussed:

• How university partners have used FanRally
• How FanRally can replace season tickets in a way that benefits both fans and the athletic department
• Integrating an existing point-based system into FanRally
• How FanRally allows athletic departments to reclaim revenue currently going to third-party resellers
• The data available to departments using FanRally
• Ways professional sports teams are doing ticketing better than college athletics
• Using FanRally to increase student attendance at games
• How sponsors can benefit from FanRally
• How FanRally increases a team's yield from a revenue perspective on premium seats

You can follow FanRally on Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

We're joined this episode by Marty Ludwig, Director of Trademarks and Licensing at University of Cincinnati, where he is responsible for managing all internal and external relationships regarding the commercial use of the university’s brand (including its name, identifying marks, and still and moving images) to protect and promote the goodwill and reputation of the university, ensure the university receives appropriate value, and to actively enforcing the university’s rights to prevent the unauthorized use of its brand.

In this episode, we discussed:

• How licensing is typically divided between University operations and the athletic department
• How university and athletic administrators work with sponsors that want to use marks from both sides
• The biggest issues facing licensing administrators today
• How university and athletic administrators can collaborate better
•  How Cincinnati is handling requests from athletes who want to use school marks
• Examples of current sponsor campaigns that involve student athletes
• Marty's thoughts from a licensing perspective on NCAA President Emmert's idea on compensating athletes as university ambassadors
• How group licensing is working so far for student athletes and universities, including examples from Cincinnati
• Marty's career path to working in university licensing
• Trends in licensing to watch

Marty is a member of the University's Brand Review Committee, Communicator's Cabinet, Marketing Advisory Committee, International Working Group, and Chair of the Institutional Sponsorship Committee. An active member of higher education trade groups, Marty was elected to serve as the first President on the Board of Directors for the University Partnerships Community of Practice (UPCoP) and is also an active member and Past President of the International Collegiate Licensing Association (ICLA).

Under Marty’s leadership the Cincinnati licensing program has been recognized as one of the top licensing programs in the nation including recognition as the 2021 Institutional Marketing Program of the year by the Collegiate Licensing Company, and the 2016 Licensing Program of the year by ICLA.  Marty is frequently asked to consult, contribute articles, and give presentations on various topics related to branding, contract and relationship management, licensing, marketing, strategic planning, and trademarks.

You can follow Marty on Twitter.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

This episode I'm joined by industry veteran Steve Hank, currently an Executive Vice President at Affinaquest, to talk about how athletic departments can leverage the data they already have to increase fan engagement and revenue for the department. 

We discuss:

• The main revenue struggles he sees over and over again in college athletics
• How pro teams have done a better job creating a personal connection with fans
• Overcoming silos in athletics and higher education
• How to collaborate better with the university
• The opportunities and challenges conference realignment brings for engaging with fans
• Engaging fans who might consider staying home or out at the tailgate instead of going to the game
• Leveraging data to give fans a better experience while also making more money
• How NIL might play a role in the future of fan engagement

Hank also shared about his career journey in college athletics. In his current position, Hank oversees the collegiate athletics market at Affinaquest and strategies for clients with a focus on business intelligence, fan engagement, revenue outcomes.

Prior to joining Affinaquest, Hank worked as the Chief Revenue Officer at the University of Texas at Austin where he led the sales, marketing, and revenue operations of the nation’s largest collegiate athletic department.  

Prior to Texas, Hank was with at Arizona State University for twelve years, where he led the revenue generating areas of Sun Devil Athletics, including marketing, ticket sales and operations, branding, licensing, contract negotiation, and sponsorship relations. He also led the rebranding of Sun Devil Athletics culminating with the launch of the Pitchfork logo in April 2012.

You can follow Affinaquest on social media: YouTube | Twitter | LinkedIn

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

On Friday, September 9th, I was joined on campus at the University of Florida by NCAA President Mark Emmert. 

Special thanks to the UF Institute for Coaching Excellence for hosting this, which was an interview for both of the NIL courses I teach at UF in the Sports Management and PR departments. Students and athletes alike were invited, and I appeared in my capacity as a professor. Although this was not a media interview, the NCAA has granted me permission to share it.

In our nearly 90 minutes together, we discussed:

• How Year 1 of NIL played out
• Biggest challenges ahead for NIL
• Whether Congress will pass a bill to regulate NIL
• The debate over student athletes becoming employees
• Compensating student athletes as ambassadors of universities
• The challenges of student athletes unionizing
• Where NIL goes from here

There were so many great nuggets in this conversation, but especially the concept of student athletes as brand ambassadors, which comes up several times throughout the interview.

You can read a summary of the parts of this discussion that interested me the most on Business of College Sports.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

I'm joined this episode by Rob Seiger, a partner in Archer & Greiner P.C.’s Sports Law Group, who has joined us once before to talk about issues international student athletes have been trying to navigate in order to take advantage of the NCAA's new name, image and likeness rules.   

Rob represents college and university athletic departments in immigration and related compliance issues for their foreign athletes.

If you didn't hear our first episode, listen to it here. In this episode, we're taking a look at a few specific instances where international student athletes have attempted to take advantage of NIL without violating the restrictions of their student visas. Are these situations good examples of how international student athletes can take advantage of NIL opportunities? Or, will we see the government make an example out of them for violating visa laws?

This is an important topic that still has more questions than answers, unfortunately.

You can follow Archer & Greiner on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.