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 Patrick MacWilliams of The Massachusetts Collective, who discussed what his group is about and what it has accomplished so far.
You are the director of an NIL collective called “The Massachusetts Collective” that was formed last October: how complicated was it to create (if at all), and why did you do it? I was somewhat familiar with the NIL space and had been following it closely but it has evolved quite a bit since then. I am still involved with the fundraising arm of UMass Basketball and have been around the program for a while. I thought it was important to form a collective and it helped that I know how to start/run a business. What I did not expect was the amount of time involved: I spend about 35-40 hours/week on it, which is a big challenge.
Your moving and storage company agreed to NIL deals with a trio of UMass athletes on the very 1st day of the NIL era (July 1, 2021): were you nervous about getting started right from Day 1 without knowing exactly how everything would pan out legally? I was not nervous at all. We were familiar with the basic framework and the school was helpful with the compliance issues. The comfort level was there from both ends for the 1st deal we did with Noah Fernandes. I love being engaged in this space and am still learning more each day.
The UMass athletics department has endorsed the GoMassNIL Collective in addition to yours: is that a good thing (since they offer opportunities for non-basketball athletes) or a bad thing (more competition for your own group) or other? Their founder, Jim Hunt, and I go way back: he was actually my dentist when I 1st moved to Amherst! We still play golf together and have talked for hours and hours about whether we want to work together/separately. Even though he wanted to work with Olympic sports and I wanted to work on basketball we still talk daily. It is not a competition so we still work hand in hand. As of this month, The Massachusetts Collective has assumed all basketball NIL responsibilities at UMass and is an official partner with UMass Athletics and Learfield.
Your entire focus is on basketball: how/why would you decide to open it up to other sports? I would consider doing something besides basketball…but only with strict conditions. We would have to find the right people dedicated to running it because I already know how much work it takes: you cannot be passive about it so it is very unlikely. The head of the UMass football collective (https://midnightridenil.com) is similar: we work together all the time and talk frequently. I do not think it makes sense to mix all of the sports together.
You have stated that your goal is to sign 3-5 players per season: why did you choose to focus on a few players rather than the entire team? We think that everyone has a different value: that is how the free market works. What has changed over the past year is creating a baseline “salary” for everyone on the team of $5000/year and then signing deals with the top guys for a significant amount more. Our current budget is around $150,000 for the 4 athletes we have currently signed, which I think is good money for the A-10. The numbers can always change and we are always working on fundraising so that we can build it out.
What kind of connection does your group have with Coach Frank Martin/Athletic Director Ryan Bamford? I talk to Coach pretty frequently, especially in the offseason, while following all of the rules/regulations. The coaching staff is made up of a bunch of great guys and we hope to do more promotions/experiences with Coach this year. We are starting a campaign next month to try to get 50 new members during the 50 days leading up to this season’s tip-off. Ryan has been extremely helpful behind the scenes to connect us with everyone for compliance purposes. He has been open with us and answered our questions: his endorsement of us was huge and he constantly supports us.
What kind of deals have you been able to work out so far? The most interesting deal we have done was our 1st 1 with an international player named Tafara Gapare. He was heading back to New Zealand for 3 days during winter break and I had to literally track his flight so that I knew when he was allowed to put pen to paper (he is now at Georgia Tech)! It shows our organizational power as to how we can get a deal done. We also have new players like highly-touted transfer Josh Cohen, who recently signed a big deal with us.
People are obviously free to do whatever they want with their hard-earned money…but do you ever have any second thoughts about whether you should be encouraging your donors to do something else like fight cancer/reduce homelessness? It is all up to your personal preference. For me, supporting UMass Basketball is something that I have always done, and through our Collective we have charitable aspects as well. People should get involved with whatever they are passionate about, be it a food bank/animal shelter/YMCA/etc. Any income that I can dedicate to other sources is important, but if we want UMass to return to a semblance of their 1996 Final 4 team then this is a big piece of the puzzle.
Do you think the NIL model will be as effective at an A-10 school, and what is the biggest difference between your collective and those at high-major schools (if any)? We can definitely have a huge role in the A-10. As you compare collectives within the A-10 I think that we are on the stronger side, but schools like Dayton are coming: if they had to raise $200,000 in a very short time then they could do that. We are focused on getting anyone involved at any level to see the benefits that we can give them. 1 difference with the bigger schools is the amount of people/money involved. We had RJ Luis signed to a 2-year deal, then he ghosted us/entered the transfer portal/enrolled at St. John’s. I know that their resources are a LOT more than ours. There is some loyalty involved but to be honest: if someone gets an offer to play for Rick Pitino at Madison Square Garden then they should f—ing go! If we can come close to the NIL money of the Goliaths then at least the players might think twice about it.
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 into contractual relationships with teenagers who might end up behaving badly? We have a great lawyer on our team but you always have to do your homework/check people’s references regardless of their age. There are bad actors everywhere but we talk to whoever we can and have protections in our contracts for bad behavior. We are aware of it but I have not really thought about it besides doing due diligence.
