The House v. NCAA settlement made multiple changes to college athletics, including the implementation of in-house revenue sharing. Schools no longer need third-party NIL collectives to pay players, and can make financial arrangements themselves. Collectives still exist, though. One Pack NIL, and its football subsidiary Savage Wolves, will have a different role, but remains actively involved with the athletic department.
“There was a time six, eight months ago that everyone’s like, ‘All right, we’re going to shutter all of our collectives,’” N.C. State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan said during a news conference earlier this month. “That was kind of the general thought that people were going to have. We didn’t. We talked to them to try to figure out, ‘Is there a place for One Pack moving forward?’”
There are still unknowns in how One Pack will operate in this new space. Corrigan cited the new NIL Go model, operated by the College Sports Commission.
Though player payment is now done through the universities, student-athletes are still allowed to enter into third-party NIL deals. They must be evaluated by NIL Go, which is a system designed to promote compliance. It analyzes NIL agreements for their business purposes and whether the compensation is fair market value.
One Pack Executive Director Chris Vurnakes said Saturday at Meet the Pack the organization’s scope decreased. However, it remains committed to opportunities outside of revenue sharing.
“Our collective’s very focused on finding NIL opportunities for our student athletes in the community, above and beyond the things that they’re doing for revenue share,” Vurnakes said. “What that looks like is things like meet and greets, autograph signings. We’re really focused on growing the corporate side of what we do, connecting our student athletes with the corporate community to be able to do what I think many people look at as true NIL.”
Originally, collectives were not viewed as independent businesses, and that would have required their dissolution. A new ruling states they are independent businesses and can continue operations.
There are additional steps student-athletes must complete to ensure compliance and protect their eligibility, but One Pack and Blueprint Sports, which helps operate the collective, have worked to develop a process that will prevent any issues.
“One Pack has really stepped up, not only from the more significant donors but the subscription model that they’ve laid out,” Corrigan said.
How One Pack will work
The organization offers a monthly donation option, but it also started a round-up donation campaign. Fans enroll by connecting a debit card, credit card or bank account for daily purchases. For every purchase made by the connected card or account, the total is rounded up to the nearest dollar. The spare change is calculated weekly. If the amount totals $10 or more, it will be deducted from the account. If it is less than $10, it will be carried over until the threshold is reached.
Any funding One Pack receives supports the program and members remain eligible for exclusive perks. They can watch the team in closed scrimmages, receive early access to events like Meet the Pack — though the event itself is no longer operated by the collective — personalized meetings, team gear, exclusive travel opportunities and other benefits. The funding goes toward paying players who participate in these activities and remains separate from the Wolfpack Club.
“There is a lot of overlap in the people that support the Wolfpack Club and the collective, but I think there are very separate lanes that we run in,” Vurnakes said. “Even though we are definitely and wholly committed to supporting NC State and our student athletes, we’re just two separate entities that had that same shared goal.”
Vurnakes reiterated the collective wants to be collaborative with the university and plans to deliver the same opportunities and experiences as things continue to evolve.
“When collectives are in lockstep with their universities and athletics department — which I feel is the case at N.C. State — there is success because we’re delivering upon what we’ve what the expectation we’ve set for our student athletes,” Vurnakes said. “That’s the most important thing for me. For three years, it’s been meeting and exceeding expectations for our student-athletes. Now, with revenue sharing and $20.5 million coming from the school, we’re able to be supplementary to that.”
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