Middle Tennessee State has saved over $668,000, which it will put toward the school's NIL budget, by eliminating just two alternate football uniforms.
According to Front Office Sports, around $500,000 will come from reducing the number of helmets the school buys, and eliminating two alternate uniforms will save around $84,000 each.
Front Office Sports reported that the money is going toward easing salary-cap burdens in the post–House v. NCAA settlement era, and hiring new people within the football program. But a large percentage is going toward NIL payments.
“How are we going to best compete against different positions if we’re sitting here spending money on stuff that really we’re only wearing one time a year?” general manager Dana Marquez told Front Office Sports. “We just went with one color, and we did a game helmet and a practice helmet."
Around 30% of MTSU football players are currently receiving some amount of NIL payments. The reserve pool of cash from the equipment cutbacks will also by paid out to players.
But MTSU hasn't stopped there. Players are also doing things like visiting a local farmer's market and meeting with vendors on creating product partnerships with them. They're also selling tickets to games, and the school has created a contest for the players to see who can sell the most for a cash reward.
“Everybody’s still running off of an old model of, ‘This is the way athletes are done,’ and they’re trying to compete with the Power 4, and that’s not who we are,” Marquez says. “My goal was to educate our players, our parents, our agents, of having my own business and understanding what it [takes to be] an entrepreneur.”
