Former NBA champion and current ESPN star Kendrick Perkins is drawing scrutiny after founding a new company, Nilly, that offers high school and college athletes cash in exchange for a portion of their future NIL rights.
Perkins and his co-founder Chris Ricciardi offer athletes payments of anywhere from $25,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars according to a report from ESPN’s Dan Murphy.
“In return, Nilly gets the exclusive rights to use or sell the athlete’s name, image and likeness for up to seven years,” Murphy reports. “And the company and its investors receive between 10% and 50% of the player’s NIL earnings during that time period.”
Perkins told Murphy that the company reduces financial stress on some young athletes.
“You have so many athletes and their parents who are struggling day-to-day,” he said. “Because we’re actually taking a bit of a gamble on what the student-athlete is going to make in the NIL space, the benefit is the kid — the student-athlete — is able to get financial security so they don’t have to rush.”
But not everybody sees it that way. Many fans believe Perkins is partaking in predatory lending.
These guys tried to get me to write about them earlier this year.
Not only do I think this model is highly predatory and bad for athletes…I don’t even think it’s a great business for the company! Gross all the way around. https://t.co/LnGNkRQVk6
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) October 10, 2024
Every sports league has a program for rookies warning them about this exact scheme. Perk SUCKS for this. https://t.co/sDkn3IrkNi
— Mourt (@aka_mourt) October 10, 2024
“loan sharks, but for the AAU circuit” is not a business I’d feel proud to be a part of https://t.co/G9CfK7nKCq
— Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) October 10, 2024
Fans And Experts Blast Kendrick Perkins For Predatory Lending NIL Scheme
“The vast majority of NCAA athletes will never make a cent playing their sport. Perk is weaponizing his own upbringing to swindle the most vulnerable kids out of the only money most of them will ever see from athletics. He’s a piece of s–,” one fan wrote of the scheme.
Ben Chase, the director of NIL strategy for the Florida Gators, said that “our faculty, staff, and athletes have been advised on NILLY since their PR launch in February. Further, it’s been a top of mind in conversations between NIL Admin across the country since their launch.”
But what do the experts say?
“To me it feels like you are preying on people who need the capital now and using that to cloud their focus on the future,” Michael Haddix Jr., whose company provides financial education seminars to college athletic departments, told ESPN. “It feels predatory, and it’s capitalizing on young people who need money and haven’t thought through the long-term implications.”
Utah law professor Chris Peterson told Murphy, “These are trashy products designed to take advantage of young kids.”
The post ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins Under Fire For ‘Predatory’ NIL Business Aimed At Student Athletes appeared first on BroBible.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins Under Fire For ‘Predatory’ NIL Business Aimed At Student Athletes
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