Clemson AD: Tigers 'All-In' on Revenue Share Era

Clemson Tigers athletic director Graham Neff recently discussed a variety of topics, including NIL, revenue share and the program's future in the ACC.

Clemson Tigers athletic director Graham Neff addressed the recent changes surrounding college football and the program's future in the ACC. | Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

CLEMSON, S.C.-- With the ever-changing landscape of college football and the NIL realm, collegiate athletic directors have had their hands filled even more than usual over the past few years. 

During a press conference earlier in the week, Clemson Tigers athletic director Graham Neff addressed the media for nearly an hour, covering a variety of topics like NIL, the upcoming football season and Clemson’s current relationship with the ACC. 

Back in June, the House v. NCAA settlement ultimately opened the doors for universities to begin paying their athletes directly.

According to Neff, the Tigers athletic program is “all in” on prioritizing their athletes’ ability to generate revenue for themselves and earn funds.

"The House case settlement is certainly going to be a high priority for us in our department. We are fully funding and all-in on our revenue sharing distribution,” Neff said. "That strategy is up to our coaches to deploy from a roster standpoint."

With new rules recently being implemented, Neff mentioned that Clemson’s previous NIL collective, 110 Society, would be closing as the university leans into commercial revenue generation through Clemson Ventures.

"There are a lot of schools like us that have closed our prior collective [110 Society]. We're incredibly unique with the deployment of Clemson Ventures. For us, 110 Society served an incredible purpose with our boosters to generate revenue from a fundraising standpoint, but that looks very different now,” Neff said. “ Now, for us to lean in and facilitate from a business standpoint, that best aligns with Clemson Ventures."

According to Clemson’s athletic program’s website, Clemson Ventures is an organization affiliated with Clemson that aims to maximize revenue-generation strategies in the evolving college athletics landscape.

Although Clemson Ventures should be operating at full capacity heading into this year, Neff explained that it was created with the assumption of a rule change similar to House v. NCAA.

"The build of our commercial infrastructure is also a high priority. Clemson ventures was announced about a year ago,” Neff said. “It has internal revenue generation strategies to it, but it was done a year ago in anticipation for the ability to be strategic around this type of NIL  infrastructure."

While NIL was a primary focus of the press conference, Neff also had positive comments on Clemson’s current relationship with the ACC, just months after agreeing to a settlement that would change the league’s revenue model following their lawsuit with the conference.

"A strong ACC is good for Clemson and a strong Clemson is good for the ACC,” Neff said.