SBJ College: Playfly looks to stay ahead of the curve

Playfly Sports has quickly carved a significant spot in the college multimedia rights space in the few years the company has existed, working with a number of Power 4 schools (65 total college clients). Playfly Sports Properties President Christy Hedgpeth stopped by the SBJ offices on Tuesday to talk about the company and its strategy moving forward (answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length):

On the company's positioning heading into Q4 and into 2025

Hedgpeth: “We're really trying to redefine what an [multimedia rights] partner is, what a ticketing partner is. We've been really fortunate to be able to partner with more and more schools. This year, as an example, is our first year on the MMR side with Penn State and Virginia Tech . We're really looking for the right partners, where there's a fit. ... We will continue to really focus on being valuable for our current partners. But also at this time of tumultuous change in the college space, clearly more and more schools are looking for commercialization, and that's really what we thrive on. That's what we're going to look to bring to partners and to expand our portfolio.”

On questions beyond commercialization that Playfly school partners are asking

Hedgpeth: "The top ones would be, 'How can you help us with NIL? … We also get a lot of questions about new inventory that has now been approved, like field logos -- ‘Should we do it? What kind of value can we expect?’... Broadly there are questions around, ‘How can we operate a little bit more efficiently?’ We try to take a holistic view of our schools and where those opportunities to unlock more commercialization potential [are].”

On expectations for the new Penn State partnership

Hedgpeth: "We have a transition team that has been deployed there in State College partnering with [AD] Pat Kraft and President [Neeli Bendapudi]. ... We have a lot of shared values and perspectives on the potential for Penn State and already with some of our capital expenditures we've been able to invest in the bowl in Beaver Stadium to add some additional elements, super LED ribbon boards, some additional field level signage. But [we’re] just wading into it at a rate that makes sense for Penn State and continuing to look for lots of opportunities, whether that's field logos, naming rights [or other things that might come].”

On storylines she's watching in the industry

Hedgpeth: "It's very clear that this is a time for transformation of how colleges approach the business side. It’s been fairly stable for a long time and this current environment -- whether that's the House settlement, NIL, the transfer portal -- it's a forecasting mechanism for change. The athletic departments that are willing to really work with their constituents and take a hard look at, ‘How are we really commercializing our IP and our rights? Are we set up in the right way? Are we being assertive enough?’ [They] are going to be very well positioned.

“Change is always fraught, but we're seeing the schools that are willing to really examine their processes, their people, their structure, their approach, their categories and how their assets are going to be best positioned to compete in the future. And that's, frankly, what's important for a lot of schools is to have a broad-based athletic program and to be competitive across sports. That's something that does directly tie to the commercial optimization piece as well.”

The Georgia-Alabama thriller on Saturday night easily led Week 5’s slate of games, with ABC drawing just under 12 million for the game – good enough for the best regular-season primetime game on network since 2017, notes my colleague Austin Karp.

Another SEC matchup -- Oklahoma-Auburn -- was No. 2 with a little over 5 million viewers. Deion Sanders and Colorado proved to once again be a draw at No. 3 with 4.1 million for a game against UCF on Fox, even though the network did not put the game in its “Big Noon Saturday” window (that noon game was Minnesota-Michigan, which was No. 5 for the week with 3.6 million). 

ESPN took the No. 6 spot for the week with 3.3 million for Miami-Virginia Tech, which is the second-best Friday night game since 2018 for the cable net. 

Below are the top 10 most-watched games for Week 5 of the college season.

Collegiate Sports Connect, the joint venture between WMT, D1 Ticker and College Sports Associates, rolled out "Connect 2.0" on Monday in an effort to expand on their initial recruiting tool that was created in 2021.

“If you've been in one of those lobbies at a professional conference, that was the initial vision,” said WMT Chief Innovation Officer Chris Freet. “And it's just gotten more robust with time.” 

College Sports Connect was designed to help streamline the hiring process for athletic department nationwide. In practice, it offers schools a way to better tab candidates for more junior roles that likely don’t warrant the cost of hiring a search firm.

The venture has seen significant interest in its first three years of existence, including 10,000 users across college sports, along with 50 schools as clients that range in size from Ohio State and Clemson to Austin Peay and Cleveland State.

“What most athletics departments do and still do to this day, is they lose somebody; they post the job online; they call three or four of their buddies and they say, ‘Hey, send me some good names;’ and that's the extent of their recruiting philosophy,” said Drew Turner, president of Collegiate Sports Associates. “... We had some time to brainstorm and the end result from the search firm's perspective of what we wanted to create was a more proactive strategy towards recruitment.”

Version 2.0 of Collegiate Sports Connect is now hoping to expand on that initial growth. The company created automated profiles for anyone working in the Power Four athletic department using publicly available staff directories and bios. Those people are then able to “claim” those profiles and fill out further personal details like contact info, add resumes and more.

The platform is free to use for individuals, while schools can use the software as clients for pricing that ranges from $12,500 to $20,000 annually. There are also slimmed down trial versions available to those universities that want to test out the platform at lower rates.

The recent case of UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka highlights the risks student athletes face. Promised $100,000 for transferring schools, Sluka instead received just $3,000 — a classic example of how verbal agreements and a lack of oversight can leave student athletes vulnerable. And while I’m not pointing the finger exclusively at the agent in this case (there seems to be enough blame to put on all parties involved), the time to formalize the NIL agent certification process is overdue.

As NIL continues to transform college athletics, student athletes face a new set of opportunities and challenges. Perhaps one of the greatest risks lies in the hands of those advising them — NIL agents. In the current environment, there is no formal certification system for agents specifically focused on the unique issues surrounding NIL, leaving student athletes vulnerable. Student athletes ought to have a certification system for NIL agents, one that mirrors the protections afforded in professional sports, while addressing the unique complexities of the collegiate environment.

The Current State of NIL Agents: Unregulated and Unprepared

At present, NIL agents fall into two broad categories: certified agents licensed to represent athletes in the NFL, NBA,MLB, etc., and non-certified individuals operating solely as “NIL agents.” Neither group has received specialized training on the intricacies of NIL, and this is where the risk lies.

To represent athletes in NIL deals, agents should have an understanding of a wide range of policies and regulations. This includes not just contract negotiation but knowledge of state NIL laws, NCAA and conference rules, individual university policies, as well as guidelines from the IRS (tax implications of NIL earnings), FTC (social media compliance), and even the State Department for international student athletes. However, there is no standardized training or oversight to ensure that NIL agents are equipped with this knowledge.

Without a certification system, student athletes remain at risk for jeopardizing not just their ability to earn from NIL, but also their education and future career prospects, whether that be in the working world or in professional sports.

Lessons from Professional Sports

Professional leagues have long recognized the importance of agent certification. These leagues’ respective players associations oversee a formal certification process, ensuring that agents understand both the business side of professional sports and the specific regulations within each league. Certified agents must pass exams, complete training, and adhere to codes of conduct, all aimed at protecting athletes’ interests.

In pro sports, agent certification has mitigated the risks of improper representation, unethical behavior, and financial mismanagement, helping professional athletes secure the best possible outcomes both on and off the field. Even these systems are not without flaws. Enforcement remains a challenge, and some agents have found ways to exploit loopholes, underscoring the need for continuous oversight.

NIL: A Unique Set of Challenges

While professional leagues offer valuable lessons, NIL has introduced its own set of complexities that make the case for certification even stronger. First, we are dealing with student athletes who are juggling academic and athletic commitments, while for the first time dealing with the business side of athletics. 

In addition, NIL deals often involve a broader array of stakeholders, including the student athlete, university, brand sponsor, and collective. With each stakeholder a layer of complexity is added.

Who Should Oversee NIL Agent Certification?

I’ve heard some call for the NCAA to take the lead in creating a certification system for NIL agents. I think that would be a mistake. 

Instead, much like professional leagues that entrust agent certification to players associations, the NIL agent certification system should be overseen by a third party. Organizations such as Athletes.org, College Athletes Players Association, and the National College Players Association are all focused on athlete advocacy and education and could be well-positioned to establish and manage such a system.

The Path Forward

Unlike so many aspects of NIL that feel complicated and uncertain, the creation of a certification system for NIL agents is attainable. Such a system would establish minimum qualifications, require specialized training in NIL regulations, and hold agents accountable to a code of ethics designed specifically for student athletes.

Stakeholders across the industry — universities, conferences, and even brands partnering with athletes — have a vested interest in ensuring that student athletes are protected. It’s time for them to come together to develop a comprehensive certification process that ensures NIL agents are equipped to guide athletes safely through this new frontier.

NIL Corner is a monthly column from SBJ Forty Under 40 recipient Bill Carter. Bill is the founder of the NIL consulting and education firm  Student-Athlete Insights .

• I trekked out to the Pacific Northwest to check out the first Apple Cup since Washington split from Washington State and the Pac-12. Usually at the end of the season, the game took place Sept. 14 as part of a new five-year deal between the schools to keep the rivalry alive. 

• Meanwhile, Oklahoma is starting a new tradition after hosting its first game as a member of the SEC, and AD Joe Castiglione took me inside how the Sooners prepared for their tilt with Tennessee -- including accommodating ESPN's "College GameDay" crew.

• In this week's journal op-ed, former Coastal Carolina University football coach Joe Moglia explains who the House settlement could force many smaller schools to choose between professional college athletics and amateurism.

• Washington is taking its multimedia rights to the open market, said AD Pat Chun, and the school is also exploring bringing those efforts in-house. The Huskies' contract with Learfield ends in June.

• FloSports will use Magnifi to automate the creation of its real-time college football highlights, reports SBJ's Joe Lemire. The integration is already active and will be a part of the upcoming FloCollege vertical set to debut on Oct. 15.

• Iowa State athletics is getting a major LED upgrade across seven sports venues in 2024 and 2025, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick, with Daktronics delivering more than 20,000 square feet of digital displays at Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium, as well as venues for soccer, swimming, softball and track and field.

• Sacramento State announced plans to construct a new multiuse stadium for its football program, notes McCormick, part of the school’s larger effort to be considered for the reassembling Pac-12, an effort branded “SAC 12.”