Of course this was going to happen. It's a wonder it didn't happen sooner.
College football is a sport where players were finally allowed to monetize their names, images and likenesses more than three years ago, but there are still no clear guidelines governing the market.
There is no governing body with real teeth to enforce this little rule on either side of the contract, and if someone tries, the violating party will hire a lawyer, go to court, and face the NCAA's A new chapter can be added to the long history of failure. Convince a judge that your business model is fair.
Last week, UNLV starting quarterback Matthew Sulka posted that he was leaving the program because “representations” made against him were “not supported.”
— Matthew Sluka (@MatthewSluka) September 25, 2024
His father, Bob Sulka, said: The Athletic Effectively, there was a verbal agreement in January to pay Matthew $100,000 for his final season of college football. Instead, he was given only $3,000 for moving expenses, and despite efforts to pursue unpaid wages, he has been denied a refund by the UNLV organization since graduating from Holy Cross College this summer and showing up in Las Vegas. Bob Sulka said he has not yet received any further payments.
However, Blueprint Sports CEO Rob Sine, in his correspondence on behalf of Sulka since August 29th, made no mention of the outstanding amount and said that the UNLV organization denied the existence of a contract and said UNLV honored all “agreed-upon scholarships” to Sulka.
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The 25th-ranked Rebels, who host Syracuse on Friday and sit near the front lines of advancing to Group 5 of the College Football Playoff, continue to advance.
Unfortunately, there are many pitfalls in a rapidly changing, nearly lawless system that is evolving from the exploitative Stone Age to a sport that fairly treats its most valuable asset: its athletes.
Ultimately, I believe college football will arrive at something akin to a player contract, written by the school and written in near-standard language, which is the ultimate solution to situations like this. Eventually, college football will share some of its billions in television revenue with its players, allowing schools to provide at least some funding to their players.
However, this doesn't have to be you or your program. There are lessons to be learned from this ugly story.
1. Don't do anything unless everything is in writing.
Both parties agree that there was no written agreement. However, the Sulkas claim that the verbal agreement with Matthew's agent, UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, was made in January, months before Sulka transferred from Massachusetts to Nevada.
There are very few norms. And what kind of norms there are differs from group to group and school to school.
“A lot of the conversations I had were the head coach bringing money directly to me,” said a player who operated the transfer portal. The Athletic During this offseason, we conducted an investigation into NIL's internal affairs. “They talk about the numbers they give players at my position based on what they think they're worth based on the level of the recruit and how much playing time.”
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No player is more valuable than a starting quarterback, but Sulka still had to earn that spot over Campbell transfer Hadji Malik Williams, who led the Rebels to a win over Fresno State last week.
In February, a federal judge in Tennessee blocked the NCAA from enforcing the law governing the NIL. Sulka arrived at UNLV in June and started classes on Aug. 26, but throughout that time and through three games, he was unable to get it down on paper. However, he continued playing because he wanted to be a team player.
And in the end, Suka realizes that he went to Las Vegas, and the snake's eyes widen.
Fair or not, his decision to leave a team aiming for a playoff spot a month into the season will tarnish his reputation in the eyes of many.
You should not make any major changes to your life based on your financial arrangement without an enforceable written agreement from your attorney.
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2. Get the right representation.
In college football, there is no agent certification process beyond what some states require to practice as an agent, and the quality of agents varies widely.
Sulka's agent, Marcus Cromartie, splits his time between college and NFL clients, but some around UNLV reportedly didn't have eligibility to operate in Nevada. I had temporarily suspended my relationship with him.
“It was very strange to me,” another agent said The Athletic.
It's unclear why an agent would consider an offensive coordinator's promise binding. However, it was never officially announced.
“We tried everything. Accepting payments. Anything. And they just kept postponing it and postponing it, and to this day we don't know why.” said Bob Sluka, Matthew Sluka's father. The Athletic last week.
Retrieved email The Athletic show Cromartie never brought up the $100,000 in his brief communications with the UNLV organization.
Former Florida signee Jayden Rashada obtained a written contract, but his agent also granted him a letter stating that the Florida Collective could terminate the contract at any time. They shorted him over $13 million. Rashada sued the Collective and Florida State head coach Billy Napier in May of this year.
3. Coach: Know your group.
Coaches can endorse or converse with third-party collectives, both of which were originally prohibited when the NIL was established in 2021, and collectives are subject to NCAA rules. It was born out of change.
The most effective schools have good communication between both parties, and the main reason for this is budgeting. Coaches and staff need to know how much money the team has on hand, or how much they can reasonably raise for transfer prospects and high school recruits.
Bob Sulka said his son's agent wanted to speak with UNLV support staff member Hanky Cooper after the team's victory over Kansas on Sept. 13, and that Cromartie said, “He's avoiding us now because of money,” he said.
As a result of their subsequent conversation, Cooper offered them $3,000 per month for the next four months and told the Sulkas to accept or quit.
In the collective world, $100,000 isn't a lot of money for a quarterback, especially not a starting quarterback on a top 25 team aiming for a playoff spot. That UNLV can only offer $3,000 a month for the remainder of the season shows a clear disconnect between the coach's vision for the roster and the team's means.
Few, if any, coaches make promises they don't intend to deliver. Rumors travel fast, and there is no faster way to undermine confidence in the current roster or future prospects. Agents interviewed said it is against NCAA rules for members of the coaching staff to discuss a player's financial numbers. The Athleticit happens all the time.
“I like to deal with coaches because they're out of their element. They're like, 'We can get away with it.' There's an ego there — wanting to make it happen for your group, your school, wanting to show that you have the money,'' one agent said. The Athletic According to NIL research, this offseason
Whether or not Marion believed it to be a firm verbal offer, Sulka believed it and felt strongly enough to ignore it and leave the program. The agent said it's rare to negotiate the finer points of an offer with a coach. The Athletic This week, however, somewhere between the recruiting process and the fulfillment of the NIL offer, Slukas and Marion weren't on the same page.
4. Honesty is the best policy.
If the money wasn't there, UNLV would have made sense to explain that to its starting quarterback.
I spoke with people involved with UNLV's program this offseason who complained that a lack of NIL support is a big reason why the Rebels can't keep starting quarterback Jaden Maiava. He committed to Georgia, then transferred to USC, where he currently serves as Miller Moss' backup. This is not a team aiming to make the playoffs, and they helped the team win nine games before the season. He threw for more than 3,000 yards and ran for nearly 300 more in Marion's innovative go-go offense.
Maiava left with well over $100,000, according to people briefed on the situation. The AthleticBut it was that lack of support that put UNLV on the market for a transfer quarterback in the first place.
And despite the program's denials about what happened or the level of Odom's involvement, this situation could be damaging to the program and hurt both Marion and head coach Barry Odom in the recruiting process. There is.
UNLV said in a statement that it interpreted Sulka's request as a “violation of the NCAA's pay-for-play regulations and Nevada state law.”
While that may be technically true, these NCAA rules were already struck down in a Tennessee court in February, and the way college football will operate in 2024 will require players to believe they've reached an agreement, among other things. If you do, expect a reward.
Blueprint Sports, which manages UNLV's collective, said in a statement that “no formal NIL offer was made” to Surka and that the collective “has not finalized or agreed to any NIL offer.” Announced.
it's true. And it will hold up in court, preventing Sulka from taking legal action.
But that doesn't address the real problem. In other words, he says he was promised money by a coach who had no agency to provide it and that it never existed in the first place.
5. Consider all options.
When Mr. Sulka pressed “post” on his announcement last week, he chose the nuclear option. He plans to live on Long Island, his father said. His time with the program is over.
With Sulka leaving the team, he will be called a retired player. Even if you quit your job believing you were promised $100,000 and paid $3,000, some people will never look at it any other way.
But he had a choice. Can I suggest something more creative?
Considering how the Sulkas say their efforts to resolve the matter privately have been futile, Sulka could have explained her situation publicly by posting a video or statement to X. is. Sulka made no secret of his desire to be a team player, kept his job, and held on to his coveted spot as a starting quarterback for a playoff contender.
Just 12 hours after Sulka's post announcing his departure, Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens offered to pay Sulka $100,000 to resolve the dispute, but UNLV has no longer been involved with him. He was reportedly told that he was going too far.
By going public for the first time since their relationship ended, he has not received a penny of the money he believes he was promised and in the eyes of many, has lost the public relations battle.
It's a tough one-two punch, but he didn't have to go down that far. No matter what happens between now and next season, it's hard to imagine Sulka ending up in a better situation on the field.
(Matthew Sulka Photo: Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)
