NCAA Basketball: Student Player – The first fan crowdfunding NIL platform

Any college sports fan that’s ever used “we” when talking about their favorite team knows what it feels like to be invested in a program’s success. When it comes to actually impacting their squad’s performance, however, the die-hards have always been on the outside looking in.

Yes, fans can scream their lungs out, defend their teams on social media, and pray for victory, but what if they could influence the most important factor to their team’s success? The players themselves.

Enter name, image and likeness (“NIL”) — and with it — StudentPlayer.com, a platform that is striving to “democratize the recruitment process by giving fans a voice in the formation and development of college sports teams.”

I spoke with Zachary Segal, the founder of Student Player, to learn more.

Segal’s background is in real estate, but he’s long been frustrated by the restrictions on college athlete rights. Like many, he was inspired when California signed NIL legislation into law in September of 2019. Student Player was founded that November and by December, the site was live.

"“How are these [NIL] deals going to happen?” Segal recalled thinking. “Is it just going to be some wealthy booster sponsoring their favorite quarterback?… We realized that if fans and anyone who cares about their college’s team wanted to be heard, they would have to pool their funds together and have it be in a centralized location.”"

The Crowdfunding NIL Platform

How’s it all work? Here’s my attempt at a simplified explanation.

1). Fans choose the team(s) they want to support. The choices are endless, including any men’s or women’s NCAA-recognized sport (from football to volleyball to bowling) at any school (Division 1/2/3).

2). Fans then make a contribution (no minimum requirement). They can direct their money towards the starting quarterback for example, have it equally distributed across all positions, or let Student Player decide.

3). The total contributions for each school/sport/position are tracked and can be viewed by anyone.

4). As the various sporting events take place, the athletes with funds tied to their team/position can connect with Student Player and perform a brief sponsorship obligation.

5). Once they do so, the athlete is compensated accordingly (via a check).

How does this help a fan improve their team’s roster? If a high school athlete sees an attractive financial sum tied to a given team/position, they might be more likely to choose that particular program.

Would this be the deciding factor in their decision? Maybe not early on. But as contribution totals grow and recruits become more aware of the platform, perhaps Student Player can move the needle — particularly in sports that offer fewer NIL opportunities.

The Sponsorship Obligation

Per the site, the sponsorship obligation — which will take five minutes or less — includes completing a few short social media posts/videos that acknowledge StudentPlayer.com and/or a sponsor.

"“[The players] are going to log into their portal, see what the obligations are for their given role, and then they can upload them all from their phone if they want to,” Segal explained. “And then we will verify that it was complete and issue a check.”"

There is some concern that athletes will be taken advantage of in these early days of NIL. With Student Player, however, Segal said the endorsement offers will not be long-term commitments, and that the athletes will know both the sponsor and compensation tied to their obligation before they agree to complete it. The goal is to minimize any objections an athlete might have to the company they are endorsing (e.g. no Adidas sponsorship for a “Nike school” athlete, no offensive brands, etc.).

All of this is encouraging, but athletes should still do the proper due diligence before making sponsorship commitments.

The Sponsors

How do the sponsors get involved? If for example, fans contribute a total of $100,000 to a school’s football team, here’s one way it might work. Student Player will approach a potential sponsor — or vice versa — who can pay the platform a fee in exchange for a player’s (or team’s) endorsement.

"“We’ll say [to the sponsor] we’re going to offer a sponsorship of $100,000 with these funds that the fans contributed”, Segal said. “Would you like it to be you who is endorsed? So, with that $100,000, we can say a requirement is that [the players] endorse Coke, or Pepsi or some other brand.”"

A large corporation may have more resources than the local car dealership for example, but Segal thinks both can reap benefits from Student Player.

"“If Coke wants to do a very elaborate, $10 million deal with the top quarterback, there’s going to be more parties involved.” Segal explained. “But if Coke says, we’d love to do a campaign with everyone in Tennessee, we’re going to have that database. And so yes, Coke could approach [the athletes] individually, but that’s going to be timely and costly. We could do it much more efficiently.”"

The aforementioned sponsor fees, along with conventional site advertisements, are expected to be Student Player’s primary sources of revenue generation. No fees will be taken from any fan contributions.

Moving Forward

If you’re still trying to connect all the dots, don’t beat yourself up. Student Player is doing something unique in a new and evolving NIL industry. While several platforms are working to connect athletes with brands, Segal isn’t aware of any doing so through a “fan-based crowdfunding platform”. There is a patent pending on Student Player’s process.

Going forward, Student Player’s success will rely on the number of dollars (from fan contributions) and eyeballs (from current and prospective college athletes) that it can attract. The platform has raised over $100,000 in total contributions thus far.

Although he declined to provide many details, Segal said there are many people working for Student Player on a part-time basis, and that there is a team of roughly 1,000 people that can be called upon when needed to provide additional support.

While Segal is taking steps to promote Student Player, he’s confident that word will spread organically over time. Once fans tune back in for college sports this fall, there will surely be several that are intrigued by the idea of 1) getting involved in the NIL space they’ve heard so much about, and 2) doing so in a way that could help their favorite programs.

"“Fans can contribute in a way that will be recognized by players before they decide where to go to school,” Segal said “So if you’re watching a game, and you feel like your point guard is horrible, now there’s something you can do about it.”"