College sports business notes: On Anthony Richardson’s NIL deal, Army’s star and Oliver Luck

When Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson signed his first NIL deal in November with Gainesville Dodge, the dealership received a strong dose of positive publicity. 

In fact, Richardson, a former four-star recruit from Gainesville’s Eastside High, detailed how he’d been a fan of the Charger model since he was a child and recently had fallen in love with the larger Durango. With the deal, Richardson has enjoyed use of a 2021 Dodge Durango or similar and gets to exchange it every three to six months until the end of the 2023 season, Darren Rovell reported when it was announced. 

But Richardson’s use of a 2021 Dodge has attracted headlines of a much different nature of late. It was reported Friday that Richardson, 19, was stopped in the vehicle at 4:11 a.m. on April 4 in Gainesville for driving in excess of 105 mph. He awaits a mandatory court hearing May 25, court documents say, because his speed was more than 30 mph over the speed limit (60). 

If Richardson was indeed driving the vehicle that Gainesville Dodge provided him, this looms as one of the first high-profile cases in which a company becomes wrapped up in negative attention because of the actions of a student-athlete. Peter Schoenthal, CEO of Athliance, said Richardson’s case specifically could prompt companies in the future to ensure they protect themselves from negative headlines when engaging in a NIL deal.

“NIL is tied to one’s marketability, and negative headlines can always lead to consequences on the marketing side,” Schoenthal told On3 on Monday. “This space evolves daily. It is reasonable for dealerships, and others, to add in clauses that could end up nullifying potential NIL deals. Going forward, I can absolutely see a company putting in a moral clause. In the Richardson case, I could see a dealership now adding, ‘This contract is null and void if the car being produced as NIL payment is used to go over 100 mph, or you are cited for reckless driving.’ ”

Schoenthal was among the first NIL leading voices to raise questions, in general, about far-reaching ramifications should an athlete who is provided with a dealership’s vehicle run afoul of the law. His words from February carry even more weight now, amid movement in some corners to relax school policies and/or state laws to enable universities to help facilitate deals for athletes. 

“Let’s say a school gets involved in facilitating and brokering a deal and they get involved with a local car dealership and the player gets a loaner car from the dealership, or leases the car, that’s part of his deal,” Schoenthal told On3 this winter. “And then the athlete driving down the road gets into an accident. … When there’s a lawsuit, who is going to be attached to that lawsuit? It’ll be the player and it’ll be the university.”

As Schoenthal says now, expect a variety of new forms of deals to emerge as unflattering consequences come into clarity. “The space,” he said, “is still figuring itself out.”

No NIL for All-American OLB

Some college football All-Americans won’t earn even a dollar from their NIL. Consider the case of Army outside linebacker Andre Carter II, who finished second in the nation to Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr. with 15.5 sacks last season.

Carter was named an Associated Press third-team All-American in 2021 and will be a senior at West Point this season. But athletes attending United States service academies – i.e., Air Force, Army and Navy – are not permitted to monetize their brands. As active-duty service members, they must adhere to federal laws, including ones addressing the use of public office for private gain. As a result, they cannot use their team role or stature for private gain or for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise. 

So while Carter will return to campus, expect lots of sacks but zero endorsements. 

Anderson, on the other hand, currently has a $682,000 NIL valuation, as per On3. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

Oliver Luck hired by NIL firm

Former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck is joining NIL consulting firm Altius Sports Partners full-time as chairman after advising the company and its clients during its first two years of operation.

Founding partner Casey Schwab will retain his role as company CEO.

Altius, which focuses on compliance and education, has a client list of two dozen schools, each of which pays roughly $100,000 a year for the company’s services.