Knight Club to help UJ student-athletes capitalize on name, image and likeness

Sep. 14—JAMESTOWN — A new local nonprofit organization has formed to assist the University of Jamestown men's basketball players to help monetize their brands and capitalize on their name, image and likeness.

The Knight Club is an independently-run organization that will help student-athletes monetize their brands by promoting charitable causes and community service organizations and procuring commercial name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, said Brian Lunde, a member of the Knight Club's board of directors.

"It's really now to help them with their education expenses," he said. "They could have three part-time jobs or they can work with our NIL collectors that's also getting them compensation."

He said the Knight Club will start out as a 501(c) but will eventually become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. He said it takes about eight months for the IRS to approve the organization as a 501(c)(3).

"We will be nonprofit but in terms of tax deductible, this first year, you may not get a tax deduction," he said.

Lunde said $2,000 to $3,000 can go a long way for a student-athlete at the university. He said the Knight Club isn't looking to give deals like some Division I schools such as the $9.5 million deal that recent University of Miami recruit, Jaden Rashada, received this summer.

Starting the Knight Club is a great opportunity for UJ's student-athletes to use their name, image and likeness to meet with partners in the community and get compensated to pay for things that aren't covered by the university's scholarships, said Luke Heck, an attorney on the Knight Club's board of directors.

"It's an opportunity that is being utilized across the country from high-level Division I athletes and it's starting to trickle down," he said.

In a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2021, the NCAA v. Alston, the court ruled that student-athletes can start earning money in exchange for promoting charitable causes and endorsing commercial products and services, Lunde said. Student-athletes are allowed to connect with supporters in the community to procure NIL deals that benefit the athletes and the supporters.

A NIL collective is a business or organization that sources and facilitates name, image and likeness opportunities for athletes of a specific university, according to the NIL Network's website.

Lunde said student-athletes will be compensated for a combination of their time and value.

"So if they are well-known athletes, they will be in more demand," he said. "They will bring attention to a charity or a business that works with them. "

The Knight Club will connect student-athletes with charitable and community service organizations that want the athlete's assistance in promoting their causes through personal appearances, social media promotions, advertising or other agreed-upon activities. Lunde said the Knight Club, rather than the charity or civic organization, will compensate each player equally who participates in the program.

"This is one of those things that the athlete can do good and get compensated for their time and effort because these players are highly visible, highly popular, and they can now get compensated for helping others," he said. "I think with a lot of the players, it's never going to go beyond charitable."

It's win-win for players and charities, he said. He said the NIL collective pays for the player's time and value working with charities and the charity doesn't have to come up with any funds to pay for the athlete's promotion.

"The charity wins and the NIL collective is the nice go-between to make it all happen," he said.

The Knight Club, as a marketing adviser, will also help specific players earn NIL money by connecting them with local businesses that want the athlete's endorsement and promotion of their products or services. He said the athletes can provide businesses with a variety of promotional services including social media posts, personal appearances, print and broadcast advertising and enhanced media coverage.

Lunde said all administrative fees and legal expenses involved in negotiating and procuring a NIL contract between an athlete and business will be paid by the Knight Club. He said the student-athletes will keep 100% of the compensation from a business if they use the Knight Club to facilitate a NIL agreement.

The organization and its law firm, Ottmar & Ottmar P.C., will ensure that the Knight Club remains compliant with all NIL rules and regulations developed by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, Lunde said.

The Knight Club has a board of directors with four members — Brian and Barb Lunde, Mindi Schmitz and Heck.

"We aren't going to be a paid board," Lunde said.

Lunde said the Knight Club will start by assisting just men's basketball players. Eventually, the plan is for the Knight Club to assist all of the university's student-athletes.

"It's one of these things we have to walk before we can run," he said.

The Knight Club will operate off of donations. Lunde said anybody can donate any amount to the Knight Club but the organization is seeking a minimum donation of $1,000 to create a pool of money large enough to work with the charities so the Knight Club can pay the player for his or her time and value.

As NIL collectives are established, it complicates the decisions about recruiting and creating scholarships for athletes because this type of funding is coming from an external source, said Polly Peterson, University of Jamestown president. As a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, UJ has an agreement that scholarships cannot exceed tuition so the university does not provide scholarships for a student-athlete's room and board, she said.

She said she hopes the university isn't competing with the Knight Club to get the same dollars that UJ seeks. For example, UJ's Jimmie Booster Club raises funds to help support scholarships for student-athletes.

"I hope that other charities in our community don't have to compete with those collectives for those same dollars," she said.

By having the Knight Club, she said it allows for some of the funds to be granted to student-athletes at a decision level that does not include the university. She said there will be two separate organizations fundraising for the same purpose — scholarships for athletes — and one has to follow NAIA rules while the other is not restricted by NAIA rules.

She said the NIL collectives complicate the scholarship packages when there are resources coming from outside the university.

Peterson said she supports the right for a student-athlete to earn a living or a wage for the strengths they provide to another.

"That is the whole premise of how our capitalist society works," she said. "If you are good at something and you are well-liked and you have great work ethic, then somebody is going to pay you to come and work for them. ... If a business in town wants to ask one of our student-athletes, will you come and do an ad for us, they should get paid to do that ad."

She said she is a strong proponent of the idea of amateurism in college athletics, especially in small- and mid-sized colleges and universities that compete at the same level as UJ. UJ's mission is to provide its students with a holistic experience that includes commitment to quality academic experiences and co-curricular experiences such as athletics, performing arts or student government among others to help students learn outside the classroom.

Lunde and Heck both said the Knight Club will not meet with a recruit. Heck said the Knight Club will not engage with anybody until the individual is a member of the varsity team.

"We're not going to meet with them because we are just not going to go down that road of 'Did they come because of the money they are going to make,'" he said. "It may put us at a disadvantage, but I think we want to stay away from any of that "'Are you using your NIL collective to recruit?'"

Heck said he thinks it would be a violation of recruiting procedures for the Knight Club to use NIL collectives as a recruiting tool.

"If you are reaching out to potential recruits and saying we have these great opportunities with the Knight Club for this to supplement your scholarships and so forth, I think that's starting to look like where you are getting into kickbacks for recruiting and paying money under the table and so forth," he said. "We seek to avoid that at all cost."

Lunde said his interest is in how the Knight Club is spreading its pool of funds among the team.

"This is about helping the whole team," he said. " ... The collective allows you to help the whole team so it doesn't lead to locker room issues. If you work with charities in our community, you will benefit too. You don't have to be a star to benefit from a NIL collective."