Campfire Film & TV has agreed to pay LSU $1 million for the exclusive rights to produce The Money Game, a docuseries focused on NIL that will follow athletes from the school during the 2023-34 school year.
According to Sportico, which obtained a copy of the agreement, the $1 million LSU will receive is separate from the talent fee, which will involve paying the athletes in the "form of NIL compensation." LSU employees, including football coach Brian Kelly, will not be compensated for their participation.
The series will be co-produced by Axios Entertainment and Shaquille O'Neal's Jersey Legends. It has been given the green light by Amazon's Prime Video. O'Neal is an LSU alumnus, and the documentary will follow “some of the world’s most sought-after college athletes” through “one of the most tumultuous and nail-biting years of college athletics to date.”
Sportico reported that the agreement states that Campfire will provide a contract for each student-athlete involved in the series.
The agreement also creates “minimum athlete access requirements," stating that LSU will “mutually agree” with Campfire on what athletes will be “key participants”; that the school will “permit” the production company to formally interview those athletes at least once; and that LSU will “will assist (Campfire) to cause Student Athletes to provide customary publicity/promotional services for the Series.”
LSU will have significant control over how the series is presented and will be given a copy of each episode before its edits are locked. The school will then have five business days to provide "notes or objections."
“We wanted great financial terms, great partners, someone we trusted, someone we shared a similar vision for what the story would be,” said chief brand officer Cody Worsham. “And then when Shaq got involved in the back end of this, there was [an added] sense of comfort and trust. It is a full-circle moment … NIL is ingrained to what LSU does, and it goes back to Shaq. He was one of the first college athletes to brand himself.”
