Syracuse Orange sports can compete on NIL in the Atlantic Coast Conference and on a national scale, but the ‘Cuse does face challenges and has work to be done, according to officials with a nonprofit collective supporting SU student-athletes as well as the founder of an organization that operates commercial collectives around the country.
Name, image and likeness initiatives related to the Syracuse Orange are a robust discussion point these days among ‘Cuse fans, after businessman and philanthropist Adam Weitsman recently said that he was getting out of the NIL game as it pertains to Syracuse Orange players.
Opinions vary among ‘Cuse fans I’ve interacted with on social media in the wake of that development as to whether Weitsman’s decision will be a huge blow to SU’s NIL efforts. Time will tell.
But officials I talked to for this article, while declining to comment on Weitsman specifically, did note that Syracuse University has a national brand, millions of fans worldwide, a substantial alumni base that includes wealthy individuals who could get into the NIL space through collectives, and a business base in the greater Central New York region that could be further tapped into as a significant NIL source.
“We can move forward in a positive way,” says Tony DeSorbo, co-founder of the 315 Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to support SU Athletics by matching Syracuse Orange student-athletes with charities.
Through the 315 Foundation, donors receive a tax deduction for their donations. SU players are compensated by promoting charitable causes, such as personal appearances and via their social media channels.
Syracuse Orange NIL’s programs can succeed, but they do face challenges, too.
Since the NCAA first approved its interim NIL policy in the summer of 2021, allowing student-athletes in all college sports to earn income from their names, images and likenesses, the Syracuse University athletics department has announced various initiatives centered on NIL for ‘Cuse players.
Additionally, the 315 Foundation and another entity supporting Syracuse Orange players, Athletes Who Care, are in operation, both structured as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Might other collectives, or individuals like Weitsman doing NIL deals on their own, pop up in Central New York? That remains to be seen.
Donations large and small help
When I caught up with DeSorbo and the 315 Foundation’s other co-founder, Michael Bristol, they declined to provide specific details on NIL compensation to Syracuse Orange student-athletes.
They did say that in 2022, the 315 Foundation supported every Syracuse basketball men’s player who was eligible for NIL. They added that, in the near future, they’re looking to forge NIL agreements for Syracuse Orange student-athletes in women’s basketball, as well as men’s and women’s lacrosse.
A key for these nonprofit collectives is awareness and marketing. The millions of ‘Cuse fans worldwide, the robust alumni base, wealthy individual donors and the like have to know that they can easily make tax-deductible donations to support Syracuse Orange student-athletes through the 315 Foundation and Athletes Who Care Web sites.
DeSorbo and Bristol say that wealthy donors making significant donations are important, but so, too, are the smaller donations from SU fans. Those $10 and $20 donations add up, they say.
The 315 Foundation co-founders also point out that for wealthy donors who want to financially contribute to an athletic facility or put their name on a Syracuse University academic building, they can invest in those sorts of things, but they also should consider NIL donations as well.
As an example, a $5 million donation for an athletic facility or a SU academic building could be split into $2.5 million for that, and $2.5 million for NIL. Understandably, it may not prove all that easy to convince such wealthy donors to go down that route.
A long-term goal of the 315 Foundation, the co-founders say, is to create an endowment fund or funds that can support Syracuse Orange student-athletes across multiple sports. Such a fund or funds would then get professionally invested, and the investment gains could then support SU Athletics on an annual basis in perpetuity.
It’s also pivotal that ‘Cuse fans, alumni and the like know that their donations – whether $10 or seven figures – will help Syracuse Orange sports programs succeed now and in the future. And if the 315 Foundation, for one, can develop an endowment fund that has sizable NIL funds at its disposal, that will enable the organization to provide NIL deals that can help retain players.
Syracuse basketball recently landed two key transfers
Syracuse basketball senior center Jesse Edwards, a few days ago, committed to West Virginia after entering the NCAA’s transfer portal last week. Since that news broke, there have been rumors swirling around social media that perhaps Edwards was offered a large NIL deal by those supporting West Virginia’s NIL efforts, whether through a collective or another channel.
DeSorbo and Bristol declined to comment on Edwards, but generally speaking, they said if the 315 Foundation is able to increase its NIL capacity for Syracuse Orange student-athletes, that could help in retaining ‘Cuse players.
While Syracuse basketball saw Edwards head to the Big 12 Conference, and several other players on the 2022-23 roster are also in the NCAA’s transfer portal, the Orange got a commitment from Auburn transfer Chance Westry earlier this week.
Last month, Central New York native J.J. Starling said he would transfer from Notre Dame to the ‘Cuse. Westry and Starling, each a freshman guard, are former long-time recruiting targets of Syracuse basketball coaches in the 2022 recruiting cycle.
The 315 Foundation co-founders say that once Westry and Starling have enrolled at Syracuse University, the 315 Foundation will have NIL opportunities for them. DeSorbo and Bristol also believe that local businesses will have further NIL opportunities for these two new Orange commits outside of the 315 Foundation.
I think it’s important to note here that even with Weitsman out of the NIL game, new Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry and his terrific staff were able to land two excellent guards out of the transfer portal, and that’s encouraging.
In the 2022 class, Starling was a five-star, top-25 player. Westry, who didn’t play much in his freshman term at Auburn due to injury, was a four-star, top-40 prospect in the 2022 cycle. These are stellar recruiting wins for Autry and his assistants.
One collective versus multiple collectives
DeSorbo and Bristol say that they are awaiting a final determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service, and if that letter has a positive outcome, it would enable donations made to the 315 Foundation to be tax deductible on a permanent basis. That’s something to monitor.
There is another potential challenge that the 315 Foundation and Athletes Who Care may face. Last fall, two U.S. senators introduced legislation that “would prohibit individuals, organizations, and collectives from using charitable tax deductions for designated contributions that compensate collegiate student athletes or incoming collegiate athletes for the use of their NIL.”
For this story, I also spoke with Jason Belzer, the founder of the Atlanta-based Student Athlete NIL (“SANIL”), which currently operates more than 25 collectives around the country and serves as the employer of more than 1,000 student-athletes.
Collectives under the SANIL umbrella support schools such as Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Creighton, among others.
Belzer’s organization operates commercial collectives, rather than nonprofit collectives, so his perspective is different than that of the 315 Foundation co-founders.
Not speaking specifically about NIL efforts surrounding the Syracuse Orange, from his experience, Belzer says the most successful NIL programs at a particular school have one unified voice, rather than multiple collectives with potentially competing interests in operation, as well as individual wealthy donors doing NIL deals on their own.
I want to make clear that when talking to me, Belzer was not directing any of his comments at Adam Weitsman or any other individual. Belzer did say that from his perspective, it’s the “exception, not the norm” for wealthy individuals to forge NIL agreements on their own, rather than through a collective.
“You want one entity, one well-oiled operation, coming together,” Belzer says, adding that if an individual donor wants to do specific NIL deals in specific sports, that can be rolled into a collective.
Again, not speaking specifically about the Syracuse Orange, but Belzer did say that nonprofit collectives are limited in regard to the hourly and total compensation that they can provide as NIL income to student-athletes.
That can put a school like SU at a disadvantage, Belzer says. He notes that the Syracuse Orange could benefit from having a commercial collective in operation supporting SU players, but he declined to comment when I asked him whether SANIL might end up having a collective of its own in Central New York.
Top commercial collectives have huge NIL funds
Belzer, though, did say on more than one occasion during our chat that he believes the Syracuse Orange “absolutely” can compete in the ACC on NIL.
He cited the ‘Cuse having a wealthy alumni base, a passionate fan base, and a strong business base. Syracuse University is a prestigious institution and also isn’t heavily competing for NIL dollars with other large academic institutions in its geographic area, Belzer says.
From a “potential standpoint,” he says that the Syracuse Orange has as much opportunity, if not more, to have a successful NIL program, in comparison to other ACC schools.
The challenge for SU is that it “doesn’t fully have the infrastructure in place now, but I believe it will come,” Belzer says.
Since NIL involves money, I assume that my fellow Syracuse Orange fans are curious about what dollar amounts can go into name, image and likeness initiatives.
Speaking generally, Belzer says in men’s basketball for example, the top commercial collectives can pay $100,000 annually on average to the top players, while nonprofits can only pay $30,000 to $35,000 per year.
For commercial collectives at Power Five schools that are supporting all sports, the median annual budget is about $3 million.
In men’s basketball, a top-30 program’s commercial collective has an annual budget of around $1 million. The top-tier commercial collectives, in men’s basketball, could have median annual budgets approaching $3 million.
The average NIL income for a Football Bowl Subdivision (“FBS”) player is $15,000 a year, while in men’s basketball, it is $35,000 to $40,000 per year.
Collegiate athletics, for better or for worse depending on who you talk to, have changed forever due to NIL, the transfer portal, and other factors.
The Syracuse Orange faces challenges and still has work to do, but the potential for the ‘Cuse to succeed in the NIL arena appears to be there.