Smith Baiad

Thank you to @WinterSportsLaw for highlighting this. To the parents out there, if your son or daughter was offered a revenue sharing or NIL contract by a school, I would suspect (and hope that you would) hire a lawyer to review, redline and negotiate its proposed terms. It’s about legal rights. Rev shares and NIL collective agreements are drafted by lawyers for the schools (and, in some cases, by the conferences). Why should players not have their own lawyers reviewing their contracts? It’s not about the dollars. It’s about the language set forth in the 15-25 pages of rev share agreements and NIL contracts and LOIs/MOUs that come after page 1 referencing the dollars. College athletes and their rights need to be protected. To be sure, they are the “little person” in this billion-dollar industry despite, coincidentally, generating the billions of dollars at issue.

as someone pretty tapped in both team side & w/ the media, i’ve found the discourse the last 48hrs pretty hilarious. there’s some excellent draft analyst/media evaluators & some incredible team side guys obviously. i think it’s pretty easy to see who puts in work & who doesn’t.

Great first college spring✅ Blessed to come out without any injuries🙏🏾 only up from here!

Good for Kalen DeBoer! That’s market forces at work. He’s getting $12.5 million per year because Alabama believes that’s his worth. The school is the arbiter of fair market value and there’s no third party that can reject the deal. Yet, athletes must submit deals to a College Sports Commission so that it, which has no basis for making “fair market value” determinations, can unilaterally and arbitrarily decide whether deals are accepted or rejected. It’s such a perverse system.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! - @gideon_fulcher - QB/ATH - Statesboro High School

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! - @TylerSc56819361 - Bryant - App State

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! - @AWynnFB - EDGE - Chattanooga

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! - @Syncere_8 - Cornerback - App State

I am so proud and excited to announce that I am starting an NIL agency, Baiad Sports Group, that is focused on building athletes careers through loyalty, integrity, and expertise. Our mission is to help athletes and put them first, through transparent and honest representation.

If you’re an agent and you’re charging a commission on an athlete’s scholarship and/or not letting an athlete out of the representation agreement without a 90 day period passing, then you should reconsider your profession.

Texas Tech GM told me NIL and revenue sharing have changed everything and because of that, every college athlete should have an agent. There are bad agents out there… But there are a lot of good ones too. For most players, it makes a real difference. ⬇️ @USAT

From Texans Assistant GM Chris Blanco regarding the role of NIL and how it plays into evaluations come draft time.

An agents first job should be to vet potential suitors and find the best FIT for their client. Then they should proceed to fight for their clients financial worth. The $$ matters AFTER the fit is secured. Some agents are hurting their clients trying 2 reach their personal quota

@DavonUsher Grass isn’t always greener, super important athletes understand this!! Too many kids playing their last snap/minute/etc and they had no idea.

I also advise, and influence ALOT of guys to stay down, and stay at their current schools. The portal isnt for everyone and just because you didnt play last season, doesnt mean you won’t play this year. Some of yall gotta trust the process.

I had a player at Morgan St this year. He had countless NIL deals outside of his school. More than some P5 guys. So this is a false statement 🤷🏾‍♂️

@DavonUsher Have to genuinely want to do it for the kids, or else it’s not gonna be done the right way!

A lot of athletes are getting it confused. Not every NIL agent is there to build you. Some are solely focused on getting you into a collective deal so they can secure their percentage. No brand strategy. No real endorsements. No long-term vision. No games. Just quick cash.

The right representation should help you: • Grow your name beyond your school • Land real endorsement deals • Build relationships with brands • Set yourself up for life after the game If your “agent” isn’t doing that… you’re being managed, not developed. Choose wisely.

What’s going to happen with the coaches and staffers now too? Do they only get 1 free transfer every 5 years too? What happens when a player has coaches that recruited him leave 2 years in a row and the next coach recruits and plays his own guys instead of the old staff recruit? It needs to always go both ways. Feels like we are just scrambling and trying to sign things without thinking of the implications. Indiana just won the National Championship, there has never been more parity and transparency in the sport and it is perfectly great how it is right now. Players finally have the power they have always deserved and are being paid above the table with fair compensation and opportunity across the country instead of under like before NIL. Players deserve to be able to transfer 8 times in 5 years if they want to. How does that affect anybody else besides them and why does it matter if they decided to do that while finishing school too and getting both an undergrad and secondary degree fully paid for? Nothing needs to be changed. @CoachForGov @realDonaldTrump

If you’re an athlete restricted from transferring because of an expected executive order, then feel free to reach out. We will seek emergency relief, as it is an illegal restraint, and will communicate with attorneys general to support such efforts.

Many college "leaders" are celebrating President Trump's signing of an executive order that will purportedly save college sports. What their commentaries fail to highlight is that the order does not create any rules. It does not grant the NCAA an antitrust exemption. It does not and cannot declare that NCAA rules are immune from legal challenge. It tells the NCAA and federal agencies to do certain things (such as returning to a one-time transfer with immediate eligibility rule and preempting state NIL laws). However, each of those things must still comply with existing law and survive judicial review. The order says so in Section 4(b), which conditions the NCAA's rulemaking mandate on actions taken "to the extent permitted by law and applicable court orders." The executive order's enforcement mechanism is federal funding. That's a real threat. However, conditioning federal funding on compliance with an executive order is something that courts are willing to scrutinize and reject when the legal foundation is insufficient. And let's not forget that at his roundtable one month ago, President Trump said he anticipated any executive order he signed would be challenged in court. I expect the NCAA to attempt to adopt rules consistent with the executive order's directives, and that challenges will be brought to the courts. Congress will hold more hearings on college sports. No bills will be passed. Lawyers will bill more hours (thanks, President Trump!), state attorneys general will fight back against the federal government interfering with their state laws, and the courts will strike down any new policies that violate antitrust law.