BYU football players describe how school’s new NIL partnership will benefit them
BYU NFT examples are shown during a press conference in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, announcing a partnership between BYU and Ocavu. The partnership will launch an NFT marketplace at CougsRise.com with a unique NIL component that benefits student-athletes.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
BYU tight end Isaac Rex is going to get a nice paycheck within the month, for doing almost nothing.
His football teammates, more than 100 to date, can also expect some sort of renumeration from a Web3 development company known as Ocavu that has partnered with BYU Athletics to launch the website CougsRise.com. The platform will enable all of BYU’s student-athletes, eventually, to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) in the form of purchases of NFTs (digital collectibles) and/or experiences with fans available on the website that launched Tuesday.
After a new conference Tuesday afternoon in which he spelled out all the ways the partnership can benefit past and current BYU athletes as well as the school’s athletics department itself, Ocavu CEO Jon Cheney said that an Isaac Rex NFT had already been purchased for roughly $8 as part of a three-pack that sells for $24.99 on the site and then sold by the buyer for $1,000.
“We have had multiple NFT opportunities come up, and these guys (Ocavu) are by far the most professional and on top of everything. There’s no (downside). If it blows up, then great, it is lucrative for everybody. That’s how I look at it.” — BYU linebacker Ben Bywater
Cheney declined to reveal what percentage of that $1,000 will go directly to Rex, but he said it is significant. None of the players who also appeared at the news conference — Gunner Romney, Cash Peterman, Ben Bywater or Jaren Hall — were willing to reveal the percentage of each transaction they are getting, although nobody was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
“It is a very generous percentage,” Romney said. “I mean, I know that there weren’t any huge negotiations or anything. But players were more than willing to accept it because it was a pretty generous percentage.”
Bywater, a linebacker from Salt Lake City, said he didn’t hesitate to sign when the opportunity was presented to the nearly 125 players on the football roster. Cheney had said a handful of players had opted to not be a part of the project.
“We have had multiple NFT opportunities come up, and these guys (Ocavu) are by far the most professional and on top of everything,” Bywater said. “There’s no (downside). If it blows up, then great, it is lucrative for everybody. That’s how I look at it.”
As was detailed by the Deseret News Tuesday morning when an embargo on the announcement was lifted, BYU and Ocavu are billing CougsRise.com as the world’s largest fan engagement platform that allows fans to support athletes through NFT experience.”
Cheney, a BYU graduate, said it is a five-year agreement between the tech company and BYU. He said his company has already invested $2 million into the venture and expects to invest another $2 million next year.
When it was reported by The Salt Lake Tribune that the deal “could be worth up to $20 million in the first year of the five-year partnership alone,” on Tuesday, some NIL experts took to social media to express their cynicism.
But Cheney stood by that claim Tuesday afternoon, noting that some of the company’s revenue projections were even higher than $20 million.
“If we didn’t think we could make $20 million we wouldn’t be spending $2 million on it in year one, right?” He said. “Ultimately when you look at the spread sheet … We have all these sports, and you could have, in some weeks, thousands of new moments released and fans of every single sport participating.”
Romney said many of the student-athletes met with Ocavu just hours after the launch and were told it had already made more than $30,000.
Casey Stauffer, BYU associate athletic director for corporate sponsorships, Jon Cheney, Ocavu CEO, and Cash Peterman, BYU football student-athlete, speak during a press conference in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, announcing a partnership between BYU and Ocavu. The partnership will launch an NFT marketplace at CougsRise.com with a unique NIL component that benefits student-athletes.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Casey Stauffer, BYU associate athletic director for corporate sponsorships, Jon Cheney, Ocavu CEO, and Cash Peterman, BYU football student-athlete, speak during a press conference in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, announcing a partnership between BYU and Ocavu. The partnership will launch an NFT marketplace at CougsRise.com with a unique NIL component that benefits student-athletes.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
BYU quarterback Jaren Hall answers a reporter’s question after a press conference in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, announcing a partnership between BYU and Ocavu. The partnership will launch an NFT marketplace at CougsRise.com with a unique NIL component that benefits student-athletes.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
BYU receiver Gunner Romney answers a reporter’s question after a press conference in Provo on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, announcing a partnership between BYU and Ocavu. The partnership will launch an NFT marketplace at CougsRise.com with a unique NIL component that benefits student-athletes.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
“I am really excited about it, honestly. I think it is a really cool opportunity for fans to interact with players. I think everybody benefits from it,” Romney said. “I’m excited because it has unlimited potential. There really is no cap to this. It is just a matter of how many plays you can make during the season and how many big moments you can have.”
Speaking of which, Romney said rumors and speculation that he is missing practices because he is seriously injured are unfounded. Asked if he could play if the Cougars’ first game was tomorrow, instead of Sept. 3, he said: “Yeah, for sure. I am good. I am just resting my body right now.”
In the news conference, Cheney said the project aimed “to get the right people paid for the work they do” was hatched about 10 months ago. As a self-described “huge BYU fan,” he wanted to adhere to BYU’s insistence that everything comply with NCAA rules.
Told of a specific critic on social media, Cheney didn’t flinch.
“That’s great. I am happy to have haters. That means I am doing something unique, pushing the limits here,” he said. “And I will happy next year to (release how much revenue was generated). I am happy to talk about it as we do it. ... It is just math, and so far our projections are ahead — six hours in.”
BYU freshman walk-on kicker Cash Peterman was brought in by Ocavu a few months ago because of his social media savviness, Cheney said. Peterman has acted as a liaison between the company and the players.
“Actually being able to work with them, and learn what NFTs are, and learn what we are doing here with CougsRise.com, has been amazing,” Peterman said. “Because it is setting BYU on a different path to where we basically have our own trading cards, and to where we can interact with fans. That is what it is really about — is players meeting fans, and then enjoying the game and getting involved with our community and those around us.”
Peterman said the sky is the limit because players can benefit long after their playing careers are over.
“As much effort as we put in, we are probably going to get out of it,” he said. “So if players latch onto it, like they already have in the locker room (they will thrive). They know when moments like Tyler Allgeier’s punch (to free a football from an ASU interceptor) get thrown up (on CougsRise.com) that not only does he benefit, but the whole team benefits as well.”
Casey Stauffer, BYU’s associate athletic director for corporate sponsorships, acknowledged that the website will be a great recruiting tool.
“We have a vested interest in making sure that our players as a whole see the value of coming to BYU,” he said.
Stauffer said folks who are concerned that BYU is jumping into the NFT speculation business needn’t worry.
“I don’t see it that we ever approached it as just a straight NFT model,” he said. “Our goal from the beginning was to create something that allowed a connecting point with our student athletes, and our brand as a university athletic department, and an experience. It is much more experience-oriented engagement, than it is NFT.”