KU’s 18 men’s basketball players sign with company to assist in navigating NIL deals
Kansas’ 18 men’s basketball players are entering the brave, new world of Name, Image and Likeness.
The 14 scholarship players and four walkons on the 2021-22 Jayhawks roster have signed contracts with 6th Man Strategies, LLC. It’s a company run by former KU baseball players Matt Baty and Ryan Baty that will represent the players in their NIL endeavors.
The NCAA recently approved a plan to permit all college athletes to earn unlimited amounts of dollars in their own, not-affiliated-with-the-university name, image and likeness transactions.
Matt Baty, who was KU’s Williams Fund director from 2016 to ’18, stated in an interview with The Star that, “Kansas basketball players should have tremendous opportunities ahead due to the loyal fan support, their strong personal brands and power of the Jayhawk they represent on their chests.
“We are excited to work with Kansas athletes as they enter uncharted territory and for the first time have the opportunity to earn money for their NIL. Representing a national brand, these athletes have the ability to capitalize during their careers a unique amount of opportunities. There are few brands like Kansas basketball in the nation.” Baty added, noting the long-term plan of the company is to eventually represent all KU athletes across all sports.
6th Man Strategies, which is not affiliated with Kansas Athletics, will, according to Baty, help the players, “navigate the evolving world of the modern student-athlete through personal branding, sales resources, public relations, tax strategy, legal and business advising.”
The company has selected Opendorse, an established NIL compliance and monetization platform, to streamline the KU athletes’ NIL activities.
Opendorse technology, Baty reports, will “allow 6th Man Strategies to seamlessly deliver opportunities to student-athletes allowing them to review, accept, complete, and disclose all NIL activities from pitch to payment, straight from their phones.”
It also will “ensure compliant and trusted practices,” Baty said.
Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence said: “It’s no secret that KU basketball players are among the most marketable in all of college sports. It’s exciting that 6th Man Strategies is offering their representation to every KU student-athlete, to help all athletes maximize their NIL opportunities. Opendorse is dedicated to supporting Kansas athletes in this rapidly evolving NIL market with a purpose-built technology to help them capitalize on this moment and remain safe through the journey (of NIL).”
Matt Baty provided some examples of how KU players might soon make significant dollars off their own NIL.
For example, plans are for some of the players to have their own website in which Baty said the individual players can sell merchandise and, “give fans an opportunity to get to know the players on a more personal level, their likes and dislikes, music they listen to, home life and other fun and not readily available information.”
“We have a creative team working with them to create websites and brands and individual merchandise sites,” Baty said. “We want their fans to have a place they can go to get a better understanding of who their favorites players are. One thing I have enjoyed most is getting to know the athletes on a personal level and learning about what they want their fan base to know about them. These young men are great people, high character and have big dreams. We want to showcase who they are.”
Baty said his company will be seeking NIL opportunities for players in Lawrence, Kansas City and Wichita as well as nationally. Information will be available at 6thmanstrategies.com.
“The opportunities are open now. We have only touched the surface and opportunities have been plentiful so far from local to national restaurants, car dealerships to national technology companies you see in everyday world,” Matt Baty said. “What is really exciting is the fun access the players want to provide to the fan base. There are very limited (NCAA) restrictions on that. The student-athlete can make an appearance and be paid for their time and appearance.”
NCAA rules state a player must provide a service in order to receive payment.
“You cant just hand David McCormack $100. He has to do something in return for the $100, sign an autographed item, make an appearance or call your grandma and wish her a happy birthday.” Baty said.
Baty said 6th Man Strategies will soon be announcing a launch of “multiple platforms that will make a direct impact to Kansas basketball players.”
That will include the One Hundred Club, made up of 100 individuals and businesses and the Blue Blood Exclusive, a subscriber service that will contain exclusive NIL content directly from the players to subscribers.
“One hundred supporters could be individuals or businesses that give $1,000 a month or $12,000 annually to belong to an exclusive club where you get access to exclusive material and memorabilia, VIP events, dinners, and things like that,” Baty said. “The program I am most excited about is the Blue Blood Exclusive, a subscription based site that will provide individuals with access to weekly newsletters, podcasts, exclusive player content and live fan interviews with players.”
Baty, who said his company will be paid a “general agency commission structure,” said players need NIL assistance.
“There’s a lot of interest. When NIL got approved, some said, ‘Hey I’ll open up my DM’s on social media, say I’m available and it’d be relatively easy to go get (sponsorships).’ It’s not easy to generate revenue through NIL when their job is to be a student athlete first. It’s difficult to run a business when they want to stay on top of their game academically and do everything they can to win for the University of Kansas,” Baty said.
KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self declined comment on the players contracting with 6th Man Strategies. Coaches and other athletic department officials cannot have anything to do with the players negotiating their own NIL deals. However, KU’s compliance department officials are allowed to support the players by answering questions on what is permissible and what isn’t.
In fact, KU’s “Ascend” program, instituted by athletic director Travis Goff, is designed to “assist in navigating the new NIL world.”
KU compliance is allowed to discuss issues such as personal brand management, NIL protection and KU resource engagement. An explanation of the program is available at kuathletics.com.
“Our guys are in a great position to benefit off their Name, Image and Likeness and this program will put them at the forefront in this new day of college athletics,” Self said at the time “Ascend” was introduced.. “Our athletic department has put countless hours and planning into this and has done a great job making this program unique to the unbelievable resources we have here at KU. I’m really looking forward to seeing our team utilize this resource to the fullest ability.”
Self did speak about the importance of players in the state of Kansas being able to land NIL deals last spring when the Kansas legislature did not act on passing an NIL bill. Several other states passed laws allowing players to negotiate their own NIL deals. The laws became unnecessary when the NCAA allowed such transactions to take place at all schools.
“What people don’t understand,” Self said last spring to The Star is “K-State, Kansas and Wichita State are not competing against each other. We are competing against everybody that are equals in our leagues. How in the world can somebody offer something that you cannot? How is that a level playing field? That’s what all three of our universities in our state will be dealing with if in fact something doesn’t occur federally or within the NCAA relative to this.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 9:28 AM.
