NIL Q&A: BOL speaks with Yea Alabama

Jay McPhillips, the Executive Director of Yea Alabama, spoke with BOL about how the Collective provides opportunities and aid for student-athletes.

Yea Alabama is the official University of Alabama NIL program established to cultivate and harness Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities for Alabama student-athletes. As a contributor to Yea Alabama you have the opportunity to gain access to exclusive fan experiences, content, marketing opportunities, and more.

CLICK HERE to learn more about how you can get involved with Alabama’s official collective, and help the Crimson Tide in its quest to establish itself as one of the top NIL programs in the country.

Jay, if I sign up to support Yea Alabama or make a contribution, where does my money go? Are there a lot of administrative costs or can I expect my money to go directly to the support of Alabama’s athletes?

McPhillips: “There are no administrative costs that are removed from membership or merchandise sales proceeds. 100% of those funds go directly to student-athlete support. We have raised the funding separately to cover all operating expenses for Yea Alabama, which are a much lower percentage – less than 5% of total revenue – compared to most collectives which typically have collective operating costs that range from 10-15%.”

Does Yea Alabama support all Alabama athletes or just football and men’s basketball players?

McPhillips: “We support all UA teams though the NIL value certainly varies from team to team and athlete to athlete.”

How robust is Yea Alabama versus other collectives associated with competing schools? How urgent is the need for additional members and supporters?

McPhillips: “The need is certainly urgent. We have lost players in recruiting and to the transfer portal because a competing collective presented a player an opportunity to earn more from their NIL. Other collectives are reporting much higher subscription numbers than Yea Alabama, while providing much less content. That is the current reality. If we want to compete at championship level, then we will need Alabama fans to participate in NIL activities at a much higher rate.

Our job is to make that an easy choice for fans by providing great content and opportunities. That is why we’ve positioned Yea Alabama memberships to be attractive and also affordable. For the same price as a Netflix subscription, our fans can help create a direct competitive advantage for all of our teams, while getting the benefit of the great content.”

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In terms of monies paid or NIL opportunities provided to Alabama’s athletes, are they all paid the same and afforded the same opportunities or does it differ from player to player?

McPhillips: “It definitely differs from player to player based on the value of each player in the market. Some of that also depends on how hard they are willing to work. For instance, a player that is willing to attend more events, sign more autographs, and engage with sponsors on social media will earn more.

Players can also help themselves by building their reputation. Terrion Arnold is the perfect example. He drastically increased his value through his attitude — his embrace of Coach Saban’s tough coaching style and his relationship with Miss Terry made him a fan favorite, which paid off in real dollars.”

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Once an Alabama student-athlete signs with Yea Alabama, are they also free to seek their own negotiated NIL deals via their own marketing agent or agency?

McPhillips: “Absolutely. Our contracts with student-athletes are not exclusive. They are welcome to sign with an agent and secure their own NIL deals if they’d like. The best analogy I’ve come up with is that Yea Alabama is playing the role of point guard trying to help create or facilitate as many scoring opportunities, or NIL deals in this case, for our athletes as possible.

Whether we’re directly or indirectly involved in each NIL transaction isn’t our primary focus. Our goal is to cultivate and harness an environment for as many NIL opportunities as possible. The better we are at that, the more attractive UA becomes for prospective student-athletes to attend.”

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I think the fans understand that Yea Alabama is a wholly separate entity from The University and Alabama’s athletic department — but are you allowed to work with the coaching staffs in any manner in the recruitment or player retention process?

McPhillips: “No, we are not allowed to work with the coaching staffs. That being said, we understand the importance of NIL to players. So, we want to provide the same level of performance that the coaches provide on the recruiting trail and on the field.

We need to be able to offer NIL opportunities that are on par with the opportunities offered by the University. That is why we have modeled Yea Alabama on what Coach Saban established in the football program: focusing on giving the players the resources and training to build their NIL brand in a first-class way. We don’t just give them money for nothing, but rather expose them to a professional-level training and opportunities to build their skills while also making money off their NIL.”

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There’s a lot of misinformation out there. What are common things you hear about Yea Alabama or entities that support Universities and their athletes in the NIL space that are just simply not true?

McPhillips: “I think the most common misconception is that Alabama does not have to be successful in NIL to be successful in athletics. That is simply not true in 2024. Think if you were an 18-year-old kid going off to college and one school presented the opportunity to potentially earn $12,000 per year through NIL opportunities and another said you could potentially earn $50,000 per year. Which would you take? Now you would hope that they would also look at the long-term benefits of Alabama but most people are going to take the better financial opportunity. That is our reality.”

Can we expect anything new from Yea Alabama in 2024 in terms of new approaches, new merchandise or new events?

McPhillips: “We have several new things in the works for 2024. We are working on some exciting new offerings to our Red Elephant Club members that will give them even more access to coaches and players. We are also working on providing a higher level of content on the recruiting front. Finally, we are working on ways that we can provide much of our in-person content, like Nick at Noon, to remote members.”

As an Alabama fan and supporter who wants to support Alabama’s athletes to the best of my ability, what can I do via Yea Alabama?

McPhillips: “Become a member today! If you attend a game, that is a great way to show support. Our teams definitely feed off of the energy created by the fan support. In the same way, investing in NIL demonstrates to the players that the fans are supporting them. If you love to see the University do well, join. If you love to see our athletic teams win, join. An investment into Yea Alabama is an investment into the future success of all our athletic teams – which means more wins and more championships.”

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