The marketplace for college athletes to engage in Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) deals was created in 2021 after the NCAA v. Alston case and now it seems like every college is ready to start spreading the wealth. There are already more than 100 “collectives” either in operation or being formed. They allow alumni/fans/whoever to donate money to assist a specific school in creating opportunities for student-athletes to make some money off of their celebrity. We have reached out to many collectives and will try to interview representatives from as many of them as possible to see how each of them operates. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Travis Diener of the Be The Difference NIL Collective, who discussed what his group is about and what it has accomplished so far.
In 2001 you were named a Parade All-American: which of your fellow honorees impressed you the most (Tyson Chandler/Channing Frye/LeBron James/other)? It was probably Tyson because I competed against him on the AAU circuit. We played the SoCal All-Stars in the Peach Jam, and then he went right to the NBA out of high school as the 2nd overall pick.
In the 2003 NCAA tourney as a player at Marquette you made the Final 4 before losing to Kansas: what is the secret to winning games in March? You need to be pretty talented from 1-10, which we were. You also need some luck and a few bounces to go your way: we almost lost our 1st game to #14 seed Holy Cross. It is all about matchups: we had some great matchups along the way until Kansas blitzed us.
You spent 5 years in the NBA: what is your favorite memory from your time in the league? I am from a small town in Wisconsin so growing up my dream was just to play high school basketball for my uncle. To end up playing with/against the best players in the world (some of whom were my idols) was always memorable.
In the 2020 TBT title game you made the title-winning 3-PT shot to clinch the $1 million 1st prize for Golden Eagles: did you think the shot was going in, and where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It felt good! It is all about muscle memory and I had taken that shot before tens of thousands of times. That kind of capped off my long basketball journey in my late 30s: to play with some guys who I had actually coached and relive those moments is something that I will never forget.
Last July you held a “Champions for Literacy” basketball camp: what is it like to work with former Marquette teammate/newly inducted Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade? It was great! Our lives have obviously gone in different directions since we joined the NBA, but to get back together with him and have a 3-day weekend celebrating literacy in southeast Wisconsin was a lot of fun.
You are executive director of an NIL collective called “Be The Difference” that was formed last year: how complicated was it to create (if at all), and why did you do it? It was not too complicated but was something that needed to be done. If you look around the college landscape I think that NIL is a top priority for a lot of student-athletes. If you want to stay competitive nationally then you need a collective in place to provide opportunities for players to better both themselves and their community.
Your focus is on basketball: how/why would you decide to open it up to other sports? We started off with men’s/women’s basketball and the next 2 sports where we will sign people up are volleyball/lacrosse. Now we are in a place where we can continue to better the experience for student-athletes in several sports.
Do you think the NIL model will be as effective at a non-football school, and what is the biggest difference between your collective and those at football schools (if any)? Not having football is not detrimental because men’s basketball has always been a huge focus for our alumni/donors. Even in my era we had an extremely high budget and were treated well. A lot of our time/effort is spent on basketball because we do not have as many sports as other schools do.
What kind of deals have you been able to work out so far? We partner with nonprofits like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and our main vision is for our students to represent themselves and the school in the right way. We will continue to grow and add new organizations in the future.
Earlier this year we saw a basketball team’s season suspended (New Mexico State) and a football team’s coach fired (Northwestern) due to hazing: how concerned are you about entering contractual relationships with teenagers who might end up behaving badly? When you are talking about 18-19 year old kids they are still trying to grow/develop, but it comes down to the fact that I trust our coaches/administration and the character of players they are bringing into the program. We have not just talented players but also good human beings.
