Confusion Arises Initially from Arkansas Booster's Comments About NIL, QB

Frustrated with lack of transparency in collectives, business mogul takes to airwaves to announce specifically where his money will be going for Razorback football next year

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Dec 29, 2023 12:10 PM EST

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Arkansas Razorbacks

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas business mogul Frank Fletcher isn't a fan of collectives. He doesn't like not knowing how or if his money has been spent to enhance the Razorbacks' athletics programs.

It's why he chose to invest in former Arkansas basketball player Nick Smith, who is well known from his high school days in central Arkansas, where many of Fletcher's businesses reside. It's also why he casually mentioned on 103.7 "The Buzz" Friday morning that the new quarterback at Arkansas is receiving an NIL deal with his ever-growing business empire.

At first it sounded as if he was announcing an open competition to land an NIL deal he intended to give to whomever won the job, which would have created a ton of energy around the quarterback competition this spring.

"We got a lot of different businesses and it's very helpful for us to have a personality to advertise for us," Fletcher said. "So this year we're going to do an NIL deal with the new quarterback."

The discussion went on for a few minutes before Fletcher inadvertently clarified he was actually talking about a specific quarterback when he started referencing a "young man." Eventually, he got around to letting everyone in on the fact he was talking about Boise State transfer Taylen Green.

"So anyway, I'm very excited about this young man," Fletcher said. "Because I remember the days of Matt Jones. I never saw anything like that when that boy took off running. And this kid is the fastest kid on Boise State's football team. How you can be the fastest on the whole team at 6-6 to me is just, I can't even get my hand wrapped around it."

While Fletcher owns restaurants, including the well known North Little Rock establishment, Benihana, among other businesses, he's most well known for his car dealerships. This puts him in a unique situation from an NIL perspective because he said when athletes first arrive at Arkansas, regardless of what the facilities may be like or what they are driving, one of the first things they're interested in is whether there is a way to get a new car. He just happens to be one of those ways.

"You know, we got a lot of different brands, most people listen to us on this station only know about our Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep, but we have many, many different brands and so we're gonna let them, in Northwest Arkansas, represent us for a lot of different brands," Fletcher said prior to revealing Green's name. "We want people that need almost any kind of car to be able to contact us to ask 'What can you offer us?'"