Hunter Dickinson Video Interview Regarding NIL
This popped up on my news feed this morning.
Title says it all. Hunter goes into a little bit of detail regarding his personal experience with NIL thus far and how it's affected and benefited him and other players.
Article Link: https://www.si.com/college/michigan/basketball/hunter-dickinson-michigan-football-basketball-nil-wolverines
Some bullet points:
- Hunter says Juwan Howard is really open, helpful, and sympathetic to the players' NIL opportunities. Hunter really loves and appreciates Juwan.
- Hunter says that the focus is "on-court" success and less on mid-season appearances, commercials, etc.
- Hunter says benefits aren't just the money but also simply gaining experience in dealing with representatives, contracts, money, taxes, etc.
- Hunter says the university isn't allowing certain things like use of the Block M, or partnerships with gambling entities, etc. but thinks they'll eventually have to cave since other universities already allow such things.
Overall I'd say the SI title for the article is a little click-baitey, and the actual substance of the article (based on what was actually said in the interview video) seems to be reading into the situation and drawing conclusions slightly, since Hunter never actually says "The university is totally blowing it." That being said, it clearly doesn't sound like the university administration is going full speed ahead with NIL like other institutions around the country and it taking more of a "less is less" approach. So for all the "NIL Michigan Money Cannon" folks out there... LOL
August 13th, 2021 at 8:51 AM ^
Yeah the article headline is definitely click-baitey. His main gripe is that players cannot use the block M or other Michigan logos.
A bit surprisingly Sam Webb said on yesterday's podcast that Walter Nolen's dad said that Michigan is not behind on the NIL stuff, if anything it's ahead of other schools.
This shit is going to take a little while to figure out, unless you're one of those schools that's already been playing payers for years, since they already have it figured out.
August 13th, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
Do you think Michigan doesn't already have a department that deals with licensing? If Michigan did it right, allowing the players to use the Michigan brand wouldn't hurt it, it would enhance it. They're missing out on a huge opportunity.
August 13th, 2021 at 12:46 PM ^
The block M is intellectual property owned by the University and the manner in which it is used via licensing among others produces a significant income stream. I believe it makes sense for Michigan to control the manner of use and to approve those purposes that enhance the brand and disapprove those that don't. That leaves a lot of latitude for both player and the University. The University would likely not want the block M on smokeless tobacco advertising or sports betting but might be happy to have the M on something supporting a charity like the Chad Tough Foundation.
August 13th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
Right.
So just allow the players to use it IAW current policy.
MDen cannot put the M on smokes.
Hunter cannot be in an add with a block M and smokes.
Problem solved.
August 13th, 2021 at 9:16 PM ^
What most folks/fans don't understand it's that UM has generally monetized their IP by exclusively licensing it under the IMG-related deals. The Block M is reserved for athletics branding per the agreement and the University is paid a pretty penny for those rights that they licensed. It's not as simple as allowing athletes to use it without renegotiating the umbrella deal. Michigan Medicine pays to have their name co-branded at Football, Men's Basketball and other Athletics events (e.g. the post game press conference backdrop).
Other units within the University, for example the College of Engineering, Ross, the Law School, are not even permitted to use the stand alone Block M. There's a whole page on usage rights on the Branding website.
August 15th, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
Fair enough.
Whomever negged you hasn't been to the branding webpage so +1 from me even though probably a lot of us thinks this sucks.
August 13th, 2021 at 3:53 PM ^
This makes perfect sense to me. Allowing athletes to use and effectively sublicense the use of the block M would undercut UofM's own licensing and income streams, let alone control of the brand. I suspect this is standard. I doubt pro athletes can use their team logos in promotions without a license from the team.
August 13th, 2021 at 8:53 AM ^
I think Sam Webb mentioned that a parent of a recruit said M is doing very well with NIL.
I don't think you can blame the AD for limiting the use of the block M for these situations. It's hard to vet the 3rd party when there are 500+ SAs with potentially multiple NIL deals. The U and the AD specifically don't want to jump in bed with a casino or other business that may have illegal or illicit operations. Not to mention conflicts with Nike/Jumpman
August 13th, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
University logos are a pain in the ass. We had to jump through hoops and find ways to avoid using it while I was in college and we just wanted to put it on a t-shirt or something bland. Can't use these 15 fonts, or specific words, and if you use the 1 logo that is allowed (after applying to the proper authorities to use it) you can't alter it in any way.
I get it, kind of, but it's still BS.
August 13th, 2021 at 9:09 AM ^
Yes. This is exactly the right approach, too. Why would UM want to be associated with a casino—the antithesis of high level academics.
If the player is good enough, people will know their association with UM. Plus, they can still identify their association to the school without using official logos.
If a player chooses not to come to UM because of that NIL restriction, that would be laughable.
August 13th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Antithesis? I took Math 425 as part of my engineering degree at Michigan, which I think at the time was called "statistics of probability"
https://lsa.umich.edu/math/undergraduates/undergraduate-math-courses/400-level-courses.html
It was basically gambling theory, because probability math was studies for casino games, and gambling.
This is also why I've never gambled at a casino...
August 13th, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^
It's such a wild, wild west right now that things happening right now might cause trouble down the road. Unfortunately, some of these kids will end up getting sued.
August 13th, 2021 at 8:53 AM ^
This has already been posted and discussed a couple days ago
Edit: Ah it was discussed as part of a comment thread. I see why OP may have missed it
August 13th, 2021 at 8:59 AM ^
Ah shoot. My bad. I looked back a few pages to see if it had already been posted (I obviously hadn't seen it lol) and didn't see anything.
August 13th, 2021 at 10:49 AM ^
Your summary of the information was much better than the prior post.
August 13th, 2021 at 8:57 AM ^
I am not a lawyer, I read this at the bottom of a box of delicious crayons. I believe there are IP licensing implications if the IP holder (in this case UMich with the block M) does not enforce IP requirements equally. Said another way, they can't just give away rights to use the logo.
However, the school should be able to figure out a way to stay competitive in the NIL arena, or atleast copy off other schools of equal size. I am skeptical they will. Seems like Michigan would rather not be the leader or the best at NIL.
August 13th, 2021 at 9:14 AM ^
There was a clip recently of one of the regents at football practice and Harbaugh asked him in front of the team if he could help SA's use the Block M, and regent Acker said "absolutely"
While there will certainly be more important issues I handle as chair, there is probably not one more fun than addressing the @UMichFootball last night. Thanks to @CoachJim4UM, @MattdblU, and the rest of the guys for having me. #goblue #beatosu pic.twitter.com/Hzo1FyE7Bd
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 5, 2021
August 13th, 2021 at 9:41 AM ^
It's a Brandon Brown article. He's a hack who freaks out about everything and has little positive to say about Michigan.
Like I've said earlier, any school that has their NIL perfected at this point was already paying their players before it was legal
August 13th, 2021 at 9:48 AM ^
Logged in just to ask this:
Is he the guy that worked on mgoblog for, like, a minute, maybe around the Rashan Gary saga? And then he basically weirded everyone out for some reason (I think maybe the way he handled communicating with recruits was a bit...off...or something?) and was essentially runoft this very blog?
August 13th, 2021 at 10:00 AM ^
He is that guy, but it was way before Rashan Gary. Pretty sure it was back in the late RR/early Hoke days and yes, his communication style with recruits was quickly called into question by many. IIRC, the saga involved a front page interview with a recruit, a few people commenting on his young appearance, and a subsequent firestorm that resulted in some longtime posters quitting or eventually being banned by Brian.
August 13th, 2021 at 12:12 PM ^
oh man. you are totally right. was that the death of the WLA?
August 13th, 2021 at 2:08 PM ^
Not dead yet, gsimms
August 13th, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
Hunter says the university isn't allowing certain things like use of the Block M, or partnerships with gambling entities, etc. but thinks they'll eventually have to cave since other universities already allow such things.
It's so Michigan to put something arbitrary like not using the Block M as a hurdle for NIL. This is why OSU football is elite and UM football is not. We're not breaking atoms here.
August 13th, 2021 at 10:05 AM ^
Protecting their trademark is not arbitrary. As I read elsewhere, do the New York Yankees allow their players to use their logo in the ads they might do?
August 13th, 2021 at 3:01 PM ^
Protecting their trademark is not arbitrary. As I read elsewhere, do the New York Yankees allow their players to use their logo in the ads they might do?
I'd say the better comparison is, does OSU allow it? If they do UM should, but I really have no idea if they do or not.
August 13th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
if OSU allows something, UM should too is not the standard by which I want UofM making its decisions
August 13th, 2021 at 1:12 PM ^
The Block M is one of the most recognizable logos in all of sports. Of course they're going to protect it. Most professional players aren't even allowed to use their team logo most of the time unless there's a partnership with the team
August 13th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^
If guys like Aaron Rodgers, Chris Paul, James Harden, and Patrick Mahomes weren't allowed to wear apparel with their respective team names or logos in commercials, then why should Hunter be allowed to hawk the Block M all over town?
August 13th, 2021 at 12:42 PM ^
unrelated - but i just saw a tweet where local businesses are paying for all byu walk on scholarships. it's quite possible that this could lead to teams blowing up official scholarship limits. imagine bama with their 85 scholarships then having local businesses pay for another 30.
August 13th, 2021 at 1:13 PM ^
I think the free market and kids wanting playing time should prevent that from ever being an issue
August 13th, 2021 at 3:12 PM ^
Except that they created the 85 player limit because it was an issue.