1890 Nebraska, NIL Arm of Husker Athletics, to Shut Down

The ever-shifting landscape of collegiate athletics is on the move again in Nebraska.

1890 Nebraska, which has operated as the main NIL arm of Husker Athletics for the past few years, is officially shutting down. In a message to donors and supporters, the collective announced it would "begin winding down" its operation.

"The partnership between 1890 Nebraska and the Husker Athletics Fund has fueld our programs and set a powerful example of how Nebraska Athletics will continue to embrace change and pursue innovative ways to generate resources," the message reads. "This commitment ensures that our programs remain positioned to set the standard in Division I Athletics."

Nebraska Athletics officially partner with the 1890 Initiative on NIL. | @Huskers on X

The message includes a quote from Tyler Kai, Deputy AD for Revenue Generation at NU.

"We are deeply grateful to the Peed Family for their visionary leadership in establishing 1890 Nebraska—a bold initiative that ushered in a new era of excellence and strengthened the proud legacy of Nebraska Athletics," Kai said.

The message closes by asking for future support to go directly to the Huskers Athletic Fund.

What This Means for Nebraska

Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule has been among the Husker staff to compliment the Peed family at any possible moment when discussing NIL at NU. That said, operations will now move directly under Nebraska's control, instead of a partnership where collectives and their donation dollars ultimately wield the last say.

The Peeds and any other donors will now make those contributions directly to the Huskers Athletic Fund.

This will also clear up any confusion by donors over the past few years. With 1890 being outside of the university, even as the official NIL collective of Nebraska, there were those who were hesitant to contribute for a number of reasons. One of those reasons was whether or not their donations would be treated the same by going to 1890 or to Nebraska, in terms of Huskers Athletic Fund priority points. The answer was yes, as of last year.

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule and athletic director Troy Dannen. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

If priority points were at the time of the donation, contributions were also eligible to receive tax deductibility.

This also has the potential to bring more clarity to how the NIL world works. Now being run by a public institution, there can be open discussions on how much money is being generated and where it is being used.

This doesn't mean there is likely to be a line-by-line ledger for every payment, though. As with revenue sharing, Nebraska athletics director Troy Dannen gave vague numbers for how that would be split. There are no exact percentages or dollar amounts for how Nebraska is splitting its $20.5 million this year.

Nebraska has allocated cash pools to football, volleyball, women's basketball and men's basketball. Those pools could be used for direct payments to athletes or adding scholarships. Six other sports - soccer, wrestling, baseball, softball, and men's and women's track and field - have received additional scholarships.

The Nebraska Board of Regents also recently made a move to increase Nebraska's NIL funds. At the most recent meeting, the board unanimously approved an amended agreement with multimedia parter Playfly Sports. The amended deal adds $10.25 million in NIL funding, with $8 million to hit before June.

More Money Still Expected for Programs like Football

As Rhule has been complimentary of the Peeds, he's also been open about the fact that he has more money to work with in the upcoming transfer portal cycle, both on player retention and acquisition.

"We got what we need to get the best players in the country."
Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule

Previously, Rhule had noted that other teams "paid more money" than he had, in regards to transfers. Just last month, after signing a two-year extension, Rhule went on the offensive for what Nebraska now has at its disposal.

"This'll be the first year we can do whatever we...we have the money now," Rhule said. "I can't complain anymore. We got what we need."In the previous couple years, I had to make a lot of hard decisions because we didn't have the money everyone else had."

Head coach Matt Rhule during Nebraska's 2025 game against Iowa. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

As noted above, Rhule wants to be a player in both acquisition and retention.

"We want to be a place where the best players in the country want to come," Rhule said. "We can now go get anybody we want. At the same time, we also have the ability to keep our guys."

Rhule has had a high hit rate on transfers coming in and making an impact right away. He'll look to continue that this year.

"I want to put the best players in the country in this room and not having to worry about can I afford it now," Rhule said. "Some people might still have more than us, but we have a lot."

The football transfer portal window runs Jan. 2-15. There is no longer a spring window after that.

History of NIL and Recent Changes

Name, image, likeness was something that collegiate athletes could not profit off of while competing for NCAA institutions. That changed in 2021, with rules allowing athletes to make money off of their own NIL.

However, this was not intended to be a pay-for-play model and was not run directly from the schools. This meant a need for collectives to step in, like 1890 Nebraska, to facilitate many of these deals and payments, but also meant that collectives were not supposed to be making deals with athletes simply to play at their school.

The latter was harder to track and never truly enforced. That eventually led to the House vs. NCAA settlement earlier this year, which included the allowance for direct revenue sharing from institutions. This also made the idea of collectives less necessary, with a number of programs moving those operations in-house.

With the House settlement, deals must be approved through a clearinghouse. This is intended to reduce pay-for-play. Deals must have a business purpose and come at fair market value.

Have a question or comment for Kaleb? Send an email to kalebhenry.huskermax@gmail.com.

More From Nebraska On SI

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.