Time to Push the Pace on NIL, James Franklin Says
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. | Across college athletics, coaches, athletic directors and collective fund managers are putting dollar figures on the NIL treasuries they must build to remain competitive. Penn State coach James Franklin has a figure in mind, too.
"More than the numbers you've heard," he said.
Name, Image and Likeness opportunities no longer represent the future of college athletics. It's "yesterday," Franklin said, meaning that programs without budgets, plans, and serious-money collectives are falling behind. On Wednesday, Franklin made clear that he can wait no longer for Penn State to meet the competition.
It's time for the university, and its fan base, to realize that maximizing NIL opportunities for athletes (which also means funding them) is critical to winning.
"There is no long haul," Franklin said. "It needs to be now, it needs to be yesterday. College football has changed probably more in the last five years than it has in maybe the previous 20. NIL is not long haul.
"We've got to do everything we possibly can to put Penn State in the best position this season, and then also protecting our own roster for the future, and then also putting ourselves in a position to be able to tell a story and show the incoming guys what we’re doing and how we’re taking care of our program and our current roster."
Franklin and his staff met with the media on a sunny June afternoon, a mid-week break between the weekend prospect camps they're teaching and the offseason studies they're conducting. Freshmen continue to arrive, and players are holding their own workouts. As Franklin spoke, construction crews continued work on the $48.3 million Lasch Football Building renovation that will add 18,000 square feet to the facility.
But Franklin didn't need long to convey his sense of urgency regarding NIL. He has good reason.
Recently, Ohio State coach Ryan Day told Columbus business leaders that his football team's NIL collectives need access to $13 million per year to be competitive. The founder of Tennessee's collective has said that he wants to build a $25 million NIL war chest. According to On3, Miami benefactor John Ruiz has committed $10 million to NIL spending.
One Texas collective began with $10 million. Texas A&M has a huge NIL infrastructure in place. Why the frantic NIL arms race? Because, as The Athletic reported, one high-profile prospect signed an $8 million deal with a collective before even committing to a school.
What about Penn State? Boosters have formed three collectives around the program, including Success With Honor, which has some big-name alumni on its investor list and among its board members. However, it's unclear whether these collectives have compiled the funding of others nationally.
What's clear is that, however much they've raised, Franklin is looking for more.
"I guess the question is, ... if we want to compete with the schools that you guys all write articles about us competing with, why wouldn’t our number be the same as others?" he asked.
But that wasn't all. Asked a question about how he'll decompress during his July vacation, Franklin returned to the subject.
"I can’t get off this," he said. "If you guys could message me, send me a message on why our numbers would be different than the people we’re supposed to compete against."
Franklin, who defines competitiveness as a core value, doesn't want Penn State to fall behind in the NIL space. Even if fans don't grasp the concept, or don't like it, they must accept and embrace it — unless the model changes and, as former Penn State assistant coach and trustee Jay Paterno suggested, states enact a revenue-sharing model that pays athletes.
Until then, Franklin wants Penn State fans to know how they can — or more likely must — contribute. He recently sent a letter to season-ticket holders emphasizing this point.
"We have the exciting opportunity to be leaders in this new space if we work together to harness the power of the most passionate fan and alumni base in the world," Franklin's letter read in part. "While there are varying opinions on the topic of NIL, the realty is NIL is here to stay, and those who embrace it as a powerful tool will spring forward, while gaining a significant competitive advantage over those who are slow to act."
In new athletic director Patrick Kraft, Franklin has an ally. Though Kraft has denounced the "sharks in the water" surrounding NIL, he also seems to share Franklin's perspective on its impact on success.
"The great thing that I’ve seen is that I think we see college football similarly," Franklin said. "We see college athletics similarly. A lot of times, whether it was at Vanderbilt or at Penn State, I was having conversations and trying to convince people on certain things. We don't have that. We kind of see things alike. That's been really helpful."
In that letter to season-ticket holders, Franklin made this declaration: "Penn Staters should heed what's happening across the college football landscape as a call to action."
Money=action. Ultimately, that's what Franklin wants fans to know.
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