Panther Collective

[BCPanther]

A group of MBB donors had launched an NIL collective. $65,000 raised already and are ready to start providing memberships to the collective.

This is VERY exciting and an absolute necessity if we want to recruit and retain players in today's world. Onward and Upward.

https://thepanthercollective.com/

[PantherAlum09]

The site looks great. Well done to all who put this together. I'm just a small fish, but I would be willing to help out in central Iowa if needed at some point. For now, I'll contribute and support!

[Neighbor]

How do these NIL groups work? Is the revenue distributed equally? Based upon some metric???

[BCPanther]

How do these NIL groups work? Is the revenue distributed equally? Based upon some metric???

I can't speak to how this one is set up but the others around the country are set up so that the more volunteer work that guys do, the more they get. The 'most marketable' (ie best players) get a higher rate for their time. Each guy has their own contract with the collective that lays out terms.

One unique thing about ours appears to be that guys are still able to swing their own NIL deals outside of the collective. There are several out there that require players to go through the collective for any deal they put together.

I don't love that this is where we're at with college sports but it's where we were bound to end up after the NCAA drug it's feet for so long after the Olympics changed the definition of amateurism.

[UNIdad]

Iowa State's "We Will Collective" claims to use its funds to retain, not recruit ("pay-to-play"). Although, I suspect that there are some straight cash payments to retain players, they are trying to stretch the dollars by doing things that have value beyond the price tag. For instance, they like to talk about how they make it possible for families of players to come watch them.

At this point, it is just football and men's basketball. They are talking about extending it to women's basketball, but I don't think that has happened.

The "We Will Collective" event a few weeks ago raised a few hundred thousand dollars through a meet-and-greet event with football players and coaches, as well as an auction of sports memorabilia, social opportunities with ISU sports people, and vacation deals.

There was another Iowa State players-only collective that I think tried to raise money to be distributed evenly among the members. However, I haven't heard anything about it in months.