kristi dosh

Big announcement this week: Kristi has a new co-host, Jeff Schemmel! Jeff is the President and CEO of College Sports Solutions, a consultancy focused on helping athletic departments maximize their efficiency, leverage their resources and increase revenue.

Kristi and Jeff are joined this week by Cole Gahagan, CEO of Learfield—a leading media and technology services company in intercollegiate athletics. 

They discuss: 

• Recent changes at Learfield and how they help Learfield be better positioned for the future 
• The current state of the college sports multimedia rights landscape 
• The Learfield Allied NIL program 
• Conference realignment 
• With Colorado as a Learfield partner, what “The Prime Effect” has been like this season 

Visit Learfield.com to learn more about the many services they offer within intercollegiate athletics. 

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

I'm joined this episode by Chris Giles, co-founder and CEO of FanRally, a platform that replaces traditional season tickets with a tech-enabled subscription service.  

Members pay a monthly subscription fee instead of paying for tickets and can reserve seats directly on their phones, finding games that work best for their schedules.

FanRally is aimed at modern consumers, including younger fans, who are comfortable with subscription services. Also, the seat reservations can't be resold, so it helps teams identify the fans attending games and to build more direct relationships with them.

The company was founded in 2020 after Chris had served as COO of the Oakland A's and VP of Sales & Strategy for the San Francisco 49ers.  

Backed by Capital One, it has already partnered with more than 20 teams across the NCAA, NBA, MLB, MiLB and NHL.

In the episode, we discussed:

• How university partners have used FanRally
• How FanRally can replace season tickets in a way that benefits both fans and the athletic department
• Integrating an existing point-based system into FanRally
• How FanRally allows athletic departments to reclaim revenue currently going to third-party resellers
• The data available to departments using FanRally
• Ways professional sports teams are doing ticketing better than college athletics
• Using FanRally to increase student attendance at games
• How sponsors can benefit from FanRally
• How FanRally increases a team's yield from a revenue perspective on premium seats

You can follow FanRally on Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

On Friday, September 9th, I was joined on campus at the University of Florida by NCAA President Mark Emmert. 

Special thanks to the UF Institute for Coaching Excellence for hosting this, which was an interview for both of the NIL courses I teach at UF in the Sports Management and PR departments. Students and athletes alike were invited, and I appeared in my capacity as a professor. Although this was not a media interview, the NCAA has granted me permission to share it.

In our nearly 90 minutes together, we discussed:

• How Year 1 of NIL played out
• Biggest challenges ahead for NIL
• Whether Congress will pass a bill to regulate NIL
• The debate over student athletes becoming employees
• Compensating student athletes as ambassadors of universities
• The challenges of student athletes unionizing
• Where NIL goes from here

There were so many great nuggets in this conversation, but especially the concept of student athletes as brand ambassadors, which comes up several times throughout the interview.

You can read a summary of the parts of this discussion that interested me the most on Business of College Sports.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

In this episode, I'm joined by Eddie Rojas, the founder of the Gator Collective. Eddie was a former baseball player at the University of Florida and was one of the first to start an NIL collective to support student athletes in their name, image and likeness endeavors.

The Gator Collective's success is marked by it's more than 2,000 members and $500,000 in annualized revenue, in addition to numerous one-time gifts. It was also the first collective to sponsor the athletic department it supports, which has allowed it access other collectives are missing.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The idea behind the Gator Collective and how its model works
• The in-person events and activations the Gator Collective has staged
• How they've mobilized Gator Nation
• What the formal sponsorship arrangement looks like with Florida's athletic department and how it benefits both parties
• How the Gator Collective built the relationship with the athletic department
• Big upcoming goals for the Gator Collective

You can follow the Gator Collective on Twitter and Facebook.

Are you a collective or thinking about starting one? Check out the new NIL Collectives Insider!

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

Former UGA football players Ty Frix, Keith Marshall and Aaron Murray, along with Ty’s brother Trent Frix, recently created The Players’ Lounge, a digital collaborative space for college fanbases, with the University of Georgia as its initial focus. 

In addition to using a Discord channel to connect fans, the group will launch an NFT collection called DGD Mafia on Sunday, January 9 to benefit current UGA football players.

Those who purchase the NFTs will also gain access to exclusive content and experiences, both within The Players’ Lounge and also in physical locations. Fifty percent of all profits will go to current UGA football players who will leverage their name, image and likeness to help promote the NFT launch.

I recently sat down to speak with Ty Frix and Murray about this creative new approach that leverages the platform of former UGA players to benefit current student athletes. In this podcast, you can eavesdrop on our conversation about their plans and why they felt compelled to create something that benefits current student athletes after their own experience as players.

We also discussed how this model could be duplicated for other schools and fanbases, which I think makes it an intriguing listen for all college athletic admins and fans.

You can join The Players' Lounge community here and follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

In this episode, I am joined by Dave Capitano, the Higher Education Practice Leader at Baker Tilly. Dave has worked with hundreds of universities on a variety of higher education matters, from finance and operations issues to esports and name, image and likeness.

I was recently on Dave's podcast discussing the first 50 days of NIL. In our time off air, he mentioned his passion for esports, and I jumped at the chance to have him come on and educate me because I've admittedly been sleeping on esports.

Did you know more than 175 colleges and universities have an officially recognized varsity esports program with more than 5,000 student athletes participating in esports? There's a whopping $16M in scholarships for elite esports players--a fact I was shocked to learn. In addition, more than 475 institutions have esports clubs.

Dave joined me this week to share what it takes to add esports, the revenue opportunities, and even the crossover opportunities with athletic departments. Sneak peek: he shared a fantastic idea I think all athletic departments should steal with regards to engaging donors!

Some things that Dave and I discussed on the podcast were:

• The popularity of esports at college universities ranging from the Division I to the club sports level
• The scholarship opportunities involved with esports
• The different revenue opportunities involved with esports
• Facility considerations for esports
• The challenges of policing your team in a competitive, virtual world
• A look at esports recruiting
• Crossover opportunities for athletic departments and esports programs

Check out Baker Tilly's esports evaluation guide for more information.

You can follow Baker Tilly on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. As mentioned, you can also follow Dave on TikTok.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

This episode I'm joined by Oliver Luck, former WVU football student athlete, NFL player, NCAA administrator...and perhaps most important to this conversation, the former WVU athletic director who guided the Mountaineers through the last round of conference realignment. 

While Luck considered it an honor to be the athletic director at his alma mater, he was faced with challenges during his tenure. Not the least of those was Pittsburgh and Syracuse leaving the Big East in 2011, which necessitated a move for WVU. 

Luck chats about his career, the history of conference realignment, the challenges that an athletic director faces and the impact that television and other schools have in the realignment process.  

In this episode we discussed: 

• How Luck found out the Big East was in trouble
• Luck's first actions once he realized WVU needed to find a new conference and which conferences he called first
• The challenges realignment brings for an athletic director 
• The tight knit circle that an athletic director has when making decisions about realignment 
• The different factors that a school considers when weighing the options of realignment
• How schools can salvage old rivalries even when changing conferences 
• The lawlessness of conference realignment 
• The amount of stress involved for an athletic director during realignment

If you've ever wanted a peek behind the curtain of conference realignment, you've come to the right place! Strap in and learn all about what it was like to guide WVU through the last round of realignment.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

I'm joined this episode by Rob Seiger, a partner in Archer & Greiner P.C.’s Sports Law Group, to talk about the issues facing international student athletes when it comes to taking advantage of new name, image and likeness rights. 

Rob represents college and university athletic departments in immigration and related compliance issues for their foreign athletes. So, we chatted about the advice he's currently giving to his clients when it comes to international student athletes and NIL.

In this episode, we discussed:

• Current rules for international student athletes on student visas
• Is there a difference for international student athletes between getting paid $50 for an Instagram post and getting free food from a local BBQ restaurant for your entire offensive line?
• Gifts vs. compensation
• What we can learn from the issues the NHL faced with visas for international athletes
• How and when the federal government might provide guidance for international student athletes re: NIL
• His advice for international student athletes right now
• How things would change for international student athletes if student athletes were considered employees

You can follow Archer & Greiner on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Some NIL trackers that may be of interest:

State-by-State Legislation Tracker

School Policy Tracker

NIL Marketplace Tracker

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

This week, I'm joined by a former U.S. Navy Seal and Purple Heart recipient who now serves as a D3 athletic director. Mike Wisecup  is the AD at Colby College and joined us to discuss his background as a Navy Seal and how he applies it to his athletic department. Wisecup also discussed the challenging aspects of his job--one of which is maintaining cohesiveness within an athletic department.

Colby College recently opened the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center, a facility with more than 350,000 square feet, making it the largest athletic facility in D3. The complex includes the only Olympic-sized Myrtha pool in Maine, an ice arena with year-round regulation ice, the Margaret M. Crook Center with three regulation-length basketball/volleyball courts and so much more.

Some of the things we discussed included:

• His unexpected journey from Navy Seal to Athletic Director and the surprising similarities between the two positions
• His college experience as a student athlete at the United States Naval Academy
• The challenges of his position
• How departments can eliminate the “silos” inside a department and create cohesiveness
• What went into the building of D3's largest athletic facility
• Things he wished he'd known about building and opening the facility

Following his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1998, Mike Wisecup served as a Navy Seal for 20 years and was awarded a Purple Heart before moving into college athletics and working his way to becoming the athletic director at Colby College.  

With a passion of molding students into better citizens, Wisecup discusses his journey, some challenging aspects of his position and how schools can eliminate siloed departments inside an athletic program and increase universal cohesiveness within the department. 

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

This week I'm joined by two guests: Jim Cavale, CEO of INFLCR, and Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential. We're chatting about how AI can help student athletes improve and grow their social media platforms and attract offers from brands.

INFLCR and Influential announced a partnership that will give the student athletes on INFLCR's platform the ability to tap into Influential's IBM with Watson APIs to gain insight into their current influence. These analytics will help student athletes improve their social media presence and allow brands with whom they're in alignment to find them.

Jim and Ryan both shared more about how their respective companies are helping student athletes as we enter this new NIL era. Ryan also shared some great advice for student athletes based on all the many data points his AI-powered platform will share with brands.

Jim on Twitter: @jimcavale
INFLCR website

Ryan on Twitter: @RyanMDetert
Influential website

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

I'm joined in this episode by Brian Kappel, a partner in Lightfoot, Franklin & White's NCAA Compliance & Investigations practice group. Kappel is here to break down the NCAA's new Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP).

The IARP is a group of lawyers, judges and arbitrators who operate separately from the NCAA to handle complex infractions cases. There are often significant disagreements between the involved institution and the NCAA's enforcement staff.

Because of trial-like procedures involved in the work-up and presentation of IARP cases, the elevated stakes and penalties associated with the process, and the lack of an appellate remedy, it is critical that institutions and individuals going before the IARP understand what’s involved and approach it like a litigator, with an eye toward not only NCAA practice and precedent but also advocacy.

Kappel says institutions or individuals before the IARP should thoroughly understand the process and their role, as well as that of their counsel. This includes the best methods to assist or participate in fact gathering and any re-investigation done by the CCU, the drafting of early submissions to the IARP regarding procedural and dispositive rules interpretations questions, and hearing preparation.

Listen in as Brian shares how the IARP works, the types of cases making it into the system and the consequences of decisions made through this process.

You can learn more about Lightfoot, Franklin & White at www.lightfootlaw.com.

You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

I'm joined this episode by Malaika Underwood, the SVP of Licensing for OneTeam Partners. Malaika has extensive experience in the licensing arena and is a former standout intercollegiate athlete and professional athlete herself.

Malaika recently joined OneTeam from The Brandr Group, where she worked on the forefront of the college NIL issue. She also managed partnerships with player associations to develop business on behalf of athletes in the college licensing and marketing space. Her career stops also include Collegiate Licensing Company where she managed all partnerships with the SEC, ACC and Big East.

Malaika played volleyball at the North Carolina, and is the longest-tenured player on a USA Baseball National Team, male or female, and has earned five Women’s Baseball World Cup medals, as well as two Women’s Baseball World Cup All-Tournament Team selections.

We discussed what group licensing opportunities might exist if legislation allows for group licensing. We also threw around ideas for how those deals might come to be without the need for a players' union. Additionally, we discussed opportunities available for female student athletes in a group licensing context.

You can connect with Malaika on LinkedIn or check out OneTeam Partners on their website.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

The topic of coaching salaries, particularly for college football and men's basketball coaches, are often pointed to as an excessive source of spending for athletic departments. With athletic departments facing unprecedented financial difficulties, it's an expense some are looking at more closely. It has been suggested that salary caps be instituted similar to what we see for professional athletes. But is that even legal?

I asked Gabe Feldman, Director of the Tulane Sports Law Program, Co-Director of the Tulane Center for Sport, an NFL Network Legal Analyst and sports industry consultant to join the podcast to discuss what can--and can't--be done legally to contain or reduce coaching salaries.

We broke it down in simple terms for all the non-lawyers and talked about what competition law is meant to accomplish and how it applies to college sports and coaching salaries, in particular. Gabe also shared his thoughts for courses of action that are legal and could be pursued in the future.

Gabe also provided insight, along with other antitrust law experts, in my piece for Forbes on this topic: Can Athletic Departments Cap Coaching Salaries to Save Money?

You can follow Gabe on Twitter @SportsLawGuy. Also, check out his sports law podcast Between the Lines.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.

You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.