The Business of College Sports

Former UGA football players Ty Frix, Keith Marshall and Aaron Murray, along with Ty’s brother Trent Frix, recently created The Players’ Lounge, a digital collaborative space for college fanbases, with the University of Georgia as its initial focus.
In addition to using a Discord channel to connect fans, the group will launch an NFT collection called DGD Mafia on Sunday, January 9 to benefit current UGA football players.

Those who purchase the NFTs will also gain access to exclusive content and experiences, both within The Players’ Lounge and also in physical locations. Fifty percent of all profits will go to current UGA football players who will leverage their name, image and likeness to help promote the NFT launch.
I recently sat down to speak with Ty Frix and Murray about this creative new approach that leverages the platform of former UGA players to benefit current student athletes. In this podcast, you can eavesdrop on our conversation about their plans and why they felt compelled to create something that benefits current student athletes after their own experience as players.
We also discussed how this model could be duplicated for other schools and fanbases, which I think makes it an intriguing listen for all college athletic admins and fans.
You can join The Players' Lounge community here and follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.
Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

In this episode, I'm joined by Samantha Arsenault Livingstone, an Olympic Gold Medalist, high-performance consultant, speaker, educator and mental health advocate.
Samantha was a member of the U.S. Swimming National Team, 1999 U.S. Pan Pacific Team and 2000 U.S. Olympic Team. As an 18-year-old, she stood atop the Olympic podium in Sydney, Australia after swimming the lead-off leg of the record-setting 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay. Post- Olympics, Samantha battled an eating disorder, depression and shoulder surgery.
With the help of an amazing mentor, she rose from the rubble stronger, happier and healthier, ending her career as a 7 x NCAA All-American. To close out her career, Samantha led her teammates to the 2005 National Championship title as the co-captain of the Georgia Bulldogs.
At home in the classroom, Samantha spent six years teaching high school science and coaching swimming. She is the founder of Livingstone High Performance and the Whole Athlete Initiative (the WAI) providing pillars of support to athletes, coaches, parents and organizations to elevate mental health and improve performance. In addition to private and group coaching, Samantha consults with teams and organizations on athlete wellness initiatives, leadership, strategic planning, rising skills and developing high-performance cultures.

She is a certified instructor of Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE) and a certified instructor of Mental Health First Aid. Samantha holds a master's degree in secondary science education from the University of Georgia. She lives in New England with her husband, Rob, and four daughters.
In this episode, we discussed:

• How coaches and administrators can spot issues student athletes might have coming into their program from home or previous sports experience
• How administrators can set the tone for compliance for everything from practice limits to sexual abuse and communicate to student athletes that it matters
• Samantha's message for student athletes who fear coming forward about violations will lead to retaliation
• How coaches can create a culture where student athletes feel comfortable talking to them about issues
• The lack of mental health resources and education in intercollegiate athletics
• As a parent, how Samantha talks to her kids about what is and isn't appropriate behavior from their coaches

Samantha's website: www.samanthalivingstone.com
Follow Samantha on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.
Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

In this episode, I'm joined by Melissa Korn, a Wall Street Journal reporter who co-authored the newly released book Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal with her WSJ colleague Jennifer Levitz.
One morning in March 2019, many of America's rich and powerful woke to three hundred FBI agents at their doors. Among them were actress Felicity Huffman, designer Mossimo Giannulli, business executives and storied college coaches, with one thing in common: They'd all worked with Rick Singer. Sought after by wealthy parents as a college whisperer, Singer helped children nationwide secure spots at the schools of their dreams--for some, by any means necessary. When his scheme crumbled, more than 50 people would be criminally charged.

In Unacceptable, veteran Wall Street Journal reporters Korn and Levitz trace the rise and ruin of the largest scam of its kind ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues. With unparalleled access to primary players in the case, they reveal how Singer cashed in on the ultimate status symbol: an acceptance letter at Stanford, Yale, Georgetown, or USC. They detail how the scheme exploited existing loopholes, with bribes and lies giving already privileged families an irresistible edge.
In this episode, Melissa and I talked about how this story unfolded and what college athletic administrators should be on the lookout for in the future to prevent this from happening again.
You can follow Melissa on Twitter @MelissaKorn.
You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.
Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

What can history tell us about the ability of college football to weather a pandemic? Jeremy Swick, the historian and curator of the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame, joins me this week to chat about the 1918 Spanish Flu and how both it and World War I impacted college football.
What was it like with some teams playing and others not? What was college football like when it was all over? Jeremy walks me through all his knowledge on the subject and we talk about what this fall might--or might not--look like and how it might impact the long-term health of college football.
Jeremy is tasked with maintaining the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame’s extensive collection of artifacts, books, photographs, artwork and publications as the Historian and Curator Coordinator. He was instrumental in establishing, and now updating databases for various educational and historical artifacts and props. In addition, Jeremy curates all new exhibits at the Hall, including exhibits for marquee matchups, the rotating specialty exhibits and Black History Month.
You can follow Jeremy on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. You can follow the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as well.
You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.
Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.

I'm joined this week by Malik Jackson, an associate attorney at Smith Hulsey & Busey in Jacksonville, Florida who is a member of the firm's sports litigation department.
A former Princeton quarterback, middle school teacher and football coach, Jackson has taken a particular interest in how NIL impacts student athletes prior to their arrival on a college campus.
Although we used Florida's law as an example in some of this discussion, it has broad applicability based on where most states (except California) and their high school sports associations have come down on NIL thus far.
We discussed:

• Advice for the parents of elite high school student athletes
• How the advice might be different for high school basketball athletes versus other sports when it comes to NIL
• What questions high school student athletes and their parents should be asking relative to NIL during the recruiting process
• How the early NIL deals we've seen impact recruiting
• The complication of everyone not playing under the same rules right now for NIL
• What parents need to watch out for when it comes to NIL and their high school student athlete
• How parents might become the problem for some student athletes
• When student athletes should engage an attorney for NIL

Mentioned in this episode:
High school basketball student athlete Mikey Williams signing with Excel Sports Management
High school QB Quinn Ewers considering bypassing senior year of high school because of NIL
You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of my analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.

You can follow Kristi on Twitter and Instagram to discuss further, ask additional questions or suggest future episodes.
You can find more of her analysis on the business of college sports at BusinessofCollegeSports.com and Forbes.
Need data and real-world experts to help you make decisions in your athletic department? Check out College Sports Solutions and connect with Jeff on LinkedIn.