Students looking to break into the sports industry got another shot at negotiating mock NFL contracts last month at Villanova. Following the 12th annual Tulane Professional Football Negotiation Competition, Villanova hosted its own event March 20-22, drawing dozens of teams from law schools across the country and a judging panel of NFL agents, team executives and salary-cap specialists.
Launched in 2022, the competition gives law students a realistic look at how NFL deals come together — from analyzing player performance to structuring guarantees, bonuses and early cash flow. Over two days, competitors participate in 45-minute negotiation rounds on both the team and agent side, working through contracts for six players.
A trio from Temple — Priya Ahmad, Trevor Dunn and Charlie Rivera — won this year’s event with a mock deal for Texans QB C.J. Stroud. In the final round, they negotiated a five-year, $358M contract with a $71.6M average annual value, $150M fully guaranteed and $196.5M in cash flow over the first two years.
Temple’s team said advice from industry professionals — including Vanderbilt director of salary cap management CJ Olson — helped them focus on how deals are structured beyond headline numbers.
“The APY is important, but a lot of the money comes in in the fifth year of the contract,” Ahmad said. “The numbers on the paper are important, but also what they mean in reality is important as well.”
All three Temple students see Villanova as a step toward long-term careers in sports law, but with different angles. Ahmad, a three-year law student, is eyeing the NFL’s post-draft hiring cycle and hopes to work on the salary-cap and team-operations side. Dunn said he’s looking to do work on the college side in the future while Rivera wants to stay in sports law and help grow Temple’s sports and entertainment law society and negotiation team.
The Villanova event is part of a growing circuit of sports law negotiation competitions. Tulane hosts NFL, NBA and MLB free-agency simulations, while New York Law School runs NIL and college sports competitions. Industry executives increasingly attend the events to scout emerging talent.
“It was a big goal of mine to bring competitions in house. I think we do a great job of spreading the work, the knowledge and everything we do to be successful outside of Philly,” said Austin Meo, a 2022 Villanova Law School graduate. “We were the only ones to give some students a shot because they couldn’t go compete at Tulane.”
Registration for Villanova’s competition ranged from $350 to $600 per team.
