money University of Texas offensive linemen offered $50,000 each to 'make a positive impact'
A group of University of Texas (UT) football players could earn $50,000 by working with a new non-profit.
Horns with Heart, founded by a group of six UT alumni, recently announced The Pancake Factory initiative and pledged to pay every offensive lineman on scholarship to make charity appearances.
"Whether it be in the local Austin community or the communities that they grew up in, what we want to do is we want to make a positive impact,” Horns with Heart Co-Founder and President Rob Blair said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "So they will be expected to make charitable appearances, whether that be, say for instance as an example, we partner with Habitat for Humanity. Who wouldn’t want 14 big offensive linemen building a house for them? So it’ll all be going back to the community as well as there will be financial donations from Horns with Heart to the charitable organizations that we partner with as well."
In July, the NCAA passed an interim policy allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL). Prior to The Pancake Factory announcement, most NIL deals involved companies paying athletes for brand promotion via social media.
“These guys are local celebrities,” Blair said. "And being able to put that name image and likeness rule into effect is crucial for what we are aiming to do and making a positive impact in our community.”
'We're just scratching the surface'
Horns with Heart has been in touch with both Texas offensive linemen and charities already, Blair said, and the organization hopes to create synergy between the players' passions and the causes they benefit, especially since the organization is aware of how time consuming it can be.
“These guys are busy at practice,” Blair said. “They don’t have time to go out and get a second job. … Being able to do something and help enact change for them as well as their family, as well as giving back and giving that positive aspect to the community, it’s a win, win, win.”
Keeping the partnership going on a recurring basis is one way that NIL could help make certain athletic programs attractive to prospective athletes. While using NIL deals to influence recruits is technically against the NCAA interim rule, many involved in college sports are aware that will still happen and hope NIL may help create parity in college athletics.
Athlete brand builder Zach Soskin said The Pancake Factory initiative is the start of a larger shift in the NIL space. Since the use of the player’s name, image and likeness is broad, the deal serves as a catch-all tactic to ensure a large number of athletes can be paid — a common goal among athletic program donors.
“This is just the start,” Soskin, the co-founder of Voltage Management, told Yahoo Finance. “We're just scratching the surface of what a lot of people that would consider themselves old school or purists might not like, but NIL being used for talent acquisition is going to be a massive thing.”
Soskin noted that donors who own businesses could be better positioned to front the estimated $800,000 yearly tab for the Texas offensive linemen. And if the athletes provide marketing, publicity, or another form of service using their NIL in exchange for payment, the donors will be more incentivized to continuously contribute.
On the other hand, given that paying college athletes for charitable endeavors NIL deal is uncharted territory, questions remain about the financial viability.
“You wonder... How long are these [donors] really going to be able to do it?” Soskin said. “What happens if there's a down year?”
Josh is a producer for Yahoo Finance.
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