OXFORD | Ole Miss recently launched an ambitious athletics capital campaign with the goal of raising $350 million for far-reaching facility improvements, including a substantial Manning Center renovation and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium upgrades that will feature an entirely new west side of the venue.
That’s a lofty endeavor on its own, but with NIL (name, image and likeness) at the forefront of the current college sports conversation, as well, Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter is familiar with donors questioning where their dollars should go in this environment.
“There’s a balance there and I’ve talked to some people and said that we need them to give over here, but if they need to give over there we certainly understand that, too,” Carter said. “That’s just part of the ever-changing world that we’re in right now.
“As we think about capital projects in the future, what’s more important to a 17-year-old kid, is it the great weight room I work out in or is it the opportunity to potentially have an NIL deal? It’s going to be interesting to see how it shakes out. The short answer is both, and let’s work on what that looks like moving forward.”
The $45 million Manning Center renovation is underway with an estimated completion of summer 2023. Ole Miss is hiring architects now for the football stadium and softball stadium improvements, and the soccer stadium will follow softball. Substantial outfield renovations at Swayze Field are included in the overall plan, and the golf complex will be completed in the earlier part of this overall timeframe.
The $215 million Vaught-Hemingway Stadium upgrade should start construction following the 2023 season and be ready for the 2025 season. The significant plan will build the west side of the stadium from scratch and include bleacher and chair-back seating along with premium seating upgrades, a new press area, a new ticket office and other area upgrades. There are north end zone improvements in the plan, also.
The 2024 home season will be affected by this construction, but the hope is that the west side is at least constructed halfway up to limit the amount of ticket issues.
The current fundraising environment with the capital campaign somewhat competing with NIL programs for dollars could alter the fundraising timeline, but with advanced planning necessary, the construction timelines are set.
“The hard part about that is to get things started you start that planning process so early,” Carter said. “We are hiring the (football) stadium architect in the next few weeks to get them working and they have 12 months. We’ll be fundraising that whole time, but when you hit the date to start so you hit the date of completion, you may not have the money raised. It definitely changes the way you think about that. Ole Miss folks have always stepped up for what we ask them, and they will here, too, but it certainly gives that other options for them to think about.”
The NIL arena, which allows student athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness, has exploded with supporters around many schools ramping up detailed plans to connect athletes with businesses and other opportunities. A two-way transaction is required with NIL, meaning athletes must provide some benefit to the payer.
The Oxford-Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Foundation are implementing an NIL program to benefit every student-athlete at Ole Miss equally, with available dollars divided by the number of athletes who opt in. The fundraising will center on members of the chamber, and athletes will have access to mentors, internships and other advantages.
From a football-only perspective, The Grove Collective is the most ambitious plan currently in the works pertaining to Ole Miss.
The LLC founded by William Liston, David Nutt, Paul Hurst, Crymes Pittman, Matt McDonald and Lawrence Deas is close to announcing its first two partnerships and has raised a “substantial” amount of fundraising to this point.
A website that allows for online donations is expected by April, as well as other content. The for-profit designation allows The Grove Collective to operate as its own ecosystem, giving players an easy access point to provide their side of the agreements.
“There are groups out there that are doing it the right way and following all the state laws in the right way, and we’ve heard about some of those and would support doing things the right way,” Carter said. “I’m sure there are others doing things the right way we don’t know about and there may be rogue groups out there doing things the wrong way, which we don’t want. But I’m all for NIL the right way.
“The hope is the institution can get a little more involved with that. Right now the way the state law is written, there’s grey area, but we don’t want to overstep and get in trouble. For me if we’re going down this path, it makes sense for the institution to have a say in the flexibility and the communication because we certainly want to do it the right way and are compliant in all angles.”
The Mississippi NIL laws have held up well in functionality compared to other states to this point, but there’s movement currently to provide even better structure for the universities in the state. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are working together to attempt to iron out the best practice for NIL moving forward. While the schools can’t negotiate deals or be involved in soliciting or putting deals in place, one idea nationally is to allow schools to certify certain businesses as trusted organizations for fans who want to contribute.
Multiple placeholder bills are currently in the Mississippi legislature. Spearheaded by Representatives Clay Deweese (R-Oxford) and Scott Bounds (R-Philadelphia) on the House side and Senator Rita Potts Parks (R-Corinth) on the Senate side, there’s support to adjust language as necessary to fit the best practices moving forward.
While the public nature of NIL agreements are an obvious recruiting tool because it’s apparent which schools’ supporters are able to provide better opportunities than others, it’s against NCAA rules to broker deals or promise specific NIL deals during the recruitment process. It’s obviously happening across the country to varying levels, but safeguards and law changes could help the schools direct things in a legal way.
“It’s gone to a place that we all suspected that it would, hoped that it wouldn’t,” Carter said. “But it’s the world we’re living in. Sometimes you feel slimly, even talking about it because for years in college athletics you don't give the student athletes anything and now they can get stuff, but you want to do it the right way.
“It’s a change in the thought process, and I think we’re in a good spot. Ole Miss has been on the front end of NIL in a lot of ways and the Ole Miss faithful is in a good spot. Hopefully we can follow the trend and keep moving forward.”
