Penn State's New NIL Collective Off to Strong Start
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Success With Honor, the Penn State-related NIL collective that launched in March, raised more than $120,000 in annual aggregate subscription revenue through its first week of operation. The non-profit collective is negotiating contracts with current Penn State athletes and will host two kickoff events on Blue-White weekend, allowing subscribers and athletes to mingle for the first time.
However, many fans still have questions about the Success With Honor NIL collective, what it will and won't do and how Name, Image and Likeness opportunities benefit athletes in the first place. Morgan Frazier, assistant general counsel for Student Athlete NIL, said Success With Honor's primary goal is to create economic opportunities for all Penn State athletes.
"The majority of [Penn State] student-athletes are not on scholarship," said Frazier, whose group manages Success With Honor's operations. "Athletes are paying to play. Our mission is to help fill that gap and provide NIL opportunities, opportunities to be compensated, to help that financial burden off them so they can play, earn money and help alleviate the stress of not having the financial means of a full-ride scholarship and what that presents."
What is Success With Honor?
Launched in late March, Success With Honor is one of two NIL collectives designed to assist Penn State athletes with monetizing their brands. Fans pay a monthly subscription fee to receive access to exclusive content, events with athletes, memorabilia and other benefits. Subscription rates range from $10 to $500 per month and can be designated to a specific sport.
Success With Honor's founders and lead donors include prominent Penn State alumni Ira Lubert, Bob Poole and Mark Toniatti. Penn State Trustees Jay Paterno and Anthony Lubrano, who were working on a separate collective, joined with this group to create what Paterno called "an innovative and aspirational model" for NIL collectives.
The Sucess With Honor NIL collective plans several events around the Blue-White Spring Game.
Courtesy Success With Honor
What Can Success With Honor Do?
Essentially, the collective will provide fans with a way to support Penn State athletes. Success With Honor says that it will distribute 85-90 percent of its revenue directly to athletes. The more subscribers, the more income athletes will receive.
Frazier said that the $120,000 in annual subscription revenue represented a strong start, and "it's not going to slow down." Success With Honor also launched a team store with branded merchandise. Ultimately, subscribers will have the opportunity to obtain team jerseys with players' names and numbers.
As for experiences, fans will have access to athlete-created content designed to take them inside the program. Frazier said that Success With Honor will spotlight several teams per month.
Athletes will conduct autograph signings and in-person events, including meet-and-greets during football season. Success With Honor also has partnered with a company to deliver Penn State-specific NFTs. In addition, the collective can negotiate deals for camps, clinics and other athlete appearances that are sport-specific.
Frazier said that Success With Honor is negotiating with about 30 Penn State athletes and will announce some deals soon. Success With Honor does not require exclusive NIL rights, meaning athletes can hire agents and sign other deals.
"We don’t represent the athletes; we represent the fans in this matter," Frazier said. "We encourage the athletes to do as many deals as they can with outside agencies and outside brands. We have no exclusive rights."
Further, Success With Honor intends to represent all Penn State athletes and not just those competing on the football, basketball or wrestling teams.
"We want to work with as many [athletes] as we can," Frazier said.
Success With Honor plans a broader rollout campaign in conjunction with the Blue-White Game.
What Won't Success With Honor Do?
Frazier said that the collective has no plans to get involved in recruiting. First, only six states currently permit high school athletes to earn money via NIL deals, according to Opendorse. Second, such deals can be considered inducements to play, which remains against NCAA rules.
Regarding a recent story in The Athletic about a high school football player signing a reported $8 million deal with an NIL collective, Frazier said, "That won't be happening here."
"Would [fans] want that player to be ineligible for their entire career?" Frazier said. "Would they want Penn State to be ineligible for bowl games? You’ve got to look at the bigger picture."
Where is Penn State regarding NIL?
Though football coach James Franklin said he wants Penn State to be a national leader in NIL, the university has been deliberate in responding. Penn State reports that more than 110 athletes from 27 sports have signed more than 230 deals.
However, in his piece for Statecollege.com, Paterno wrote that Penn State "had started more slowly in the collective market than some other schools." Frazier said that Penn State alumni were "aggressive" in making up that ground.
"Penn State is a huge school but they were not one of the first, not one of the leaders in the collective space initially," Frazier said. "So [it's about] making up that ground, saying this is a collective that’s going to do it the right way and we're going to help out as many student-athletes as we can."
Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said that the department's approach to NIL has changed and will continue to change.
"As we put people in place [to administer NIL opportunities], six months from now, is it going to be something different? So I think that's a huge challenge, and it's balancing the place it plays in recruiting, both prospective student-athletes out of high school and either [transfers] or retaining your own student-athletes."
Ultimately, Frazier said, Success With Honor can impact recruiting by successfully delivering upon its mission. Consider this hypothetical: What if, in the future, Success With Honor could say that every Penn State athlete made $5,000 from NIL endorsements the previous year?
"Would that help in recruiting?" Frazier asked.
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