usually no. the $ is between the brand and the model

Posted on: May 3, 2024 at 10:32:28 CT

or the company and the athlete. the agency/collective helps with the paperwork and takes a cut of the overall deal though and that's how the folks who work there get paid. but like a modeling agency, a collective can say "i represent A and B and C brands, and they collectively represent a marketing budget worth $X" so when someone says tennessee's collective has $5M to spend on players, what that really means is the collective has a roster of companies that may or may not be willing to spend up to $5M on players' likeness.

it certainly doesn't mean the university of tennessee, or tennessee's AD, or even tennessee's collective paid Prospect Jones $5M to sign with the vols. and it doesn't mean there's $5M available to be spent this year or in this recruiting cycle. a lot of deals that are actually made are multi-year engagements that pay over time and have an out. so when someone says Prospect Jones got paid $1M to sign with teh vols, he really got a 5 year offer that might pay him $50,000 in year one, $100K in year 2, $250K in year three... etc. the reality is that contract gets cancelled midway through because the kid isn't a starter or whatever. then they're ****ed because they thought they were getting a million but they didn't and now they're transferring.

that's the game.