Pathway Sports and Entertainment, a new company “focused on monetizing athlete NIL rights,” is launching into the space by “providing players with four-figure guarantees as part of video game NIL agreements,” according to Ross Dellenger of YAHOO SPORTS. The company is “guided by a three-member leadership team” that includes former Altius and NFLPA exec Casey Schwab. Pathway has “signed up more than 400 players” at Alabama, Illinois, Georgia, Texas Tech, Wisconsin and Oregon. Schwab said that, as part of the agreement, each player is “receiving $1,500 in an upfront payment.” Royalty pay is “also expected but that structure is yet to be determined.” Dellenger reports the company has “scheduled visits at other schools soon with intent to sign all of their players,” including those at Clemson, West Virginia, Missouri and Tennessee. The goal is to “sign each scholarship football player at the 134 FBS schools.” That is a total of about 11,000 players at a cost of more than $17M in upfront payments, but the figure “will likely exceed” $20M with a “pool of millions set aside for ‘ambassador payments’ to certain players.” The compensation is “expected to be considered ‘outside NIL’ and exempt from inclusion in the revenue-sharing cap” (YAHOO SPORTS, 2/13).
Pathway Sports focusing on video game NIL agreements
