Penn State Football: Franklin Says Program’s NIL Figures Should Match the Market

Coach James Franklin was emphatic on Wednesday afternoon that in order for the Nittany Lions to stay competitive with rival programs in the name image and likeness field [NIL] that Penn State would have to match the marketplace.

“We’ve got to do everything we possibly can to put Penn State in the best position this season, and then also protecting our own roster for the future, and then also putting ourselves in a position to be able to tell a story and show the incoming guys what we’re doing and how we’re taking care of our program and our current roster,” Franklin said.

“I guess the question is, if we want to compete with the schools that you guys all write articles about us competing with, why wouldn’t our number be the same as others?” Franklin asked.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day recently stated that the Buckeyes were eyeing a NIL budget of roughly $13 million per year in order to manage the roster. Under new NCAA and legislation, name, image and likeness deals allow student-athletes to leverage those assets for business offerings in the open market. Schools cannot facilitate the deals themselves. In turn, whatever money Franklin and Day think their respective programs need to attract and retain players would be from deals and funds struck and generated by third parties.

Penn State’s most official NIL structure is Success With Honor, but the organization is not officially associated with the university. As of April it had reportedly raised roughly $120,000 through annual subscription revenue. Success With Honor also states that it does not get involved in the recruitment of high school athletes, a tricky line to walk as NIL deals become a bigger and bigger piece of the recruiting puzzle.

“The collective is not affiliated with the university in any way. It is a third party created to work with Penn State student-athletes,” Success With Honor literature reads. “The university is prohibited by state law from arranging third-party compensation for student-athletes as it relates to NIL contracts.”

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, it was reported on Wednesday that Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud signed an endorsement deal with a local Mercedes dealership that saw him drive off with a leased $200,000 Mercedes G Wagon. Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford said earlier this spring that he had made more than $100,000 in NIL deals last season.

“There is no long haul,” Franklin added. “It needs to be now; it needs to be yesterday. College football has changed probably more in the last five years than it has in maybe the previous 20. NIL is not long haul.”

“I can’t get off this,” Franklin said in the middle of his answer to a different question, circling back around to NIL. “If you guys could message me, send me a message on why our numbers would be different than the people we’re supposed to compete against.”

Comparatively, a $13 million goal for endorsement deals and general NIL financing could prove to be quite the challenge for Penn State. In the most recent fiscal year the athletic department reported just over $22 million in “contributions” which encompasses a wide swath of revenue streams from individuals or corporations. While any NIL deals would fall outside of the department’s purview, $13 million would still represent a significant increase in outside money headed toward student-athletes.