Dabo Swinney makes plea for NIL funds before upcoming good changes for Clemson

Swinney speaks to the media Tuesday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Nov 26, 2024, 12:43 PM

CLEMSON – The changing landscape of college athletics, NIL, and revenue sharing has coaches, fans, and players alike wondering how best to navigate the new normal. One thing head coach Dabo Swinney knows for sure is that no one will have more money than Clemson.

Clemson University has unveiled plans to to keep the school at the forefront of that landscape. And Swinney says Clemson will be the leader.

“Yeah, nobody is going to have more money than Clemson. Nobody for the first time ever,” Swinney said during his Tuesday press conference. “So that'll be good.”

Swinney agreed that the next seven months – before the House settlement revenue share plan goes into effect – are critical, and that people don’t understand the truth of what is happening.

“Well, it's critical, but a lot of people don't really understand the kind of the dynamics of where we are right now. I've said many times, we're kind of in the fourth quarter, we're in the back 20% of insanity, and we've got some normalcy in this new world coming, but rev share doesn't start till July 1,” Swinney said. “And so right now, it's just wacky-land. You can do anything you want and it doesn't even have to make any sense. There's no real standard.

“And so what they're doing is the university is going to allow us to do what we need to do until we can get to rev share. Because right now we don't have rev share. There is no rev share. It's just NIL, which is just pay-for-play right now. And in the past, the 110 (Society), you didn't really have any benefits to give to 110 other than you're helping us. And that's been a challenge...That's just the reality of it. It's not going to be a challenge for the rev share. That's going to be a blessing. It's going to really be a difference maker for us.”

Swinney said the school’s plan that will allow people to earn IPTAY points while giving to the 110 Society is a game-changer.

“But we have to get to July, and we're competing against a lot of big NIL schools,” Swinney said. “With just IPTAY, people understand giving to IPTAY and they get points and they get credit and all that stuff. Now it's worked out to where you're going to get all that (with the 110 donation). So it's critical to be able to do that, and that they've created this partnership to where you can get the points, you can get the credit, you can do all this because it's the only way we're going to be able to compete between now and July.

“And so that's going to be important because you best believe you're going to have some challenges and we need to have rev share conversations now, not in July.”

Until July 1, there is no true standard or regulation for pay-for-play.

“Come July it is going to have to meet a standard. Right now there's no standard,” Swinney said. “But come July, there's going to have to be a standard. That's why we went out and hired ESM (sports marketing agency). That's one of the best sports marketing agencies in the country, and we pay the fee. And so NIL will still be there and it can stack on top of the rev share, but it has to meet a standard. And if it doesn't meet a standard, then you're going to get penalized and they're going to take money from your rev share. So it's not just pay for play anymore.

“It's going to be true NIL. And again, we will have to meet an actual standard, and again, all third party regulated, which I think is going to be really, really good for everyone because not everybody is alike right now. I mean anybody could get anything they want NIL wise, but that will be different. So, the rev share will be the critical piece, and the NIL will have to meet a true standard. And again, there's a lot of regulation that's going to be coming about with that. So that'll be a positive, but it's not going away. It's going to change how it's managed.”