Athlete deals discussed at Razorback Roadshow

Big Red poses for a selfie with a fan during the ONE Razorback Roadshow at Mulekick at MAD on Wednesday, May 18. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)
Big Red poses for a selfie with a fan during the ONE Razorback Roadshow at Mulekick at MAD on Wednesday, May 18. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)

It was a good year for Arkansas Razorbacks fans, and some had the opportunity to celebrate this week when the ONE Razorback Roadshow hit El Dorado.

It was a packed house at Mulekick at MAD on Wednesday, where local fans gathered to hear from senior staff members in the University of Arkansas Athletics department.

"We are having one of the most successful years in the history of our athletics department," said Elvis Moya, associate athletics director for community relations and fan engagement, who noted that he hoped the visit would be an opportunity "to give back to all the Razorbacks fans that give to us all through the year."

The Razorbacks spirit squad were joined by members of the pep band and Big Red, the Hogs mascot, to perform the Arkansas Fight song. They were joined by local girls Brinkley Smith and Leanna Upshaw, who brought pom-poms of their own and helped to cheer the teams for an excited crowd.

Terry Prentice, senior associate athletics director for athlete brand development and inclusive excellence, also appeared at Wednesday's event to discuss the department's name, image and likeness initiatives.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approved in 2021 new rules that allow college athletes to make money by selling the rights to their names, images and likenesses (NIL).

"I'm excited to be back in Union County... My mom's originally from Mount Holly, Arkansas, so any time I get to come back to this region, I surely appreciate it," Prentice said. "And another thing -- I know he's not exactly from Union County, but I understand he's from 'LA' -- lower Arkansas -- Treylon Burks just signed his fully-guaranteed $14 million contract two days ago, that's definitely something to be proud of."

A former track and field athlete at the University of Arkansas who went on to work at the University of Kansas and Ole Miss before returned to UA, Prentice said Razorback fans stand out compared to other schools'.

"I'll tell you, no school, no fan base, no state has the passion that Razorback fans do," he said.

Prentice said the past two years have been good for the Hogs, both on and off the fields and courts. Academically, UA's student athletes have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have a 100% graduation rate, he said. Ninety-nine student athletes earned degrees at UA this year, he said.

"That continues to be a record, particularly in the SEC (Southeastern Conference)," he said about the student athletes' GPA. "Lots to be proud of from an academic standpoint."

But, as Prentice noted, fans were there to hear about Razorback athletics.

"There's this little thing called a scoreboard and we're in the SEC and we know that we have to compete well and we have to be at the top of the scoreboard," he said.

The University of Arkansas is home to 19 different sports programs, 18 of which advanced to the post-season this year, Prentice said. On top of that, UA won eight different SEC championships this year, and the baseball season hasn't ended yet.

Last year, UA took home 10 SEC championships.

"We have 18 SEC championships in a two-year span, alright? The next closest school is Florida with eight. The University of Florida has won eight SEC championships and the Arkansas Razorbacks have won 18 in two years. Isn't that incredible?" Prentice said.

Highlighting the department's leadership and impressive rosters across UA's teams, Prentice segued into the athletics program's athlete brand development initiatives.

"We've got a lot of changes going on in our industry," he said. "We're happy to announce, with our new Name, Image and Likeness Office, we've been able to provide education to the student athletes on financial literacy, about personal branding, about social media, about how to contact a business, about how to work with an attorney, or an agent or a financial advisor."

Prentice said 215 of 460 total student athletes at UA took advantage of the NIL office this year, with deal pay outs ranging from "hundreds of dollars in gift cards up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in deals they've pieced together."

"Male athletes, female athletes in all 19 of our sports have taken advantage of this," he said, adding that UA is the only school to have an NIL office within the athletics department, while most other schools bring in third-party vendors to hold occasional workshops.

Noting that Arkansas doesn't host any professional sports teams or Power 5 schools besides UA, he said NIL could be a boon for athletes and businesses alike.

"We know that we've got something special with NIL," he said. "If your business is interested or wants to work with a student athlete or use them in a way to help you, but also help the athletic department and give our kids the best life possible, reach out to our office, we're happy to help walk you through how to do that... Don't think that if you're not a Walmart or Tyson or JB Hunt or Murphy Oil or Murphy USA that you can't get involved. There's a lane for everybody from a name, image and likeness standpoint."

One fan in attendance asked how the NCAA will regulate NIL and other changes to college sports.

"They're afraid of an anti-trust lawsuit, so they're a little slow to react because they're afraid of litigation, going to court, so it's yet to be seen. They're trying to lobby Congress to come up with some kind of college athletics bill," Prentice said. "There's really no appetite for that right now. So as it stands, we just follow our state law from a name, image and likeness standpoint. We've got a strong one in Arkansas."

The Razorback Roadshow continued on to Texarkana on Wednesday night, where football coach Sam Pittman was set to appear. The tour ended Thursday with an evening event in Fort Smith.

But, no event involving Razorbacks athletics would be complete without calling the Hogs, and before they left, Moya and spirit squad members helped lead the fans filling Mulekick as they stood, raised their arms and chanted "Woooooooooooo Pig Sooie!"

photo The Razorback spirit squad cheers to the Arkansas Fight song performed by members of the band during the ONE Razorback Roadshow at Mulekick at MAD on Wednesday, May 18. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)
photo The Razorback spirit squad cheers to the Arkansas Fight song performed by members of the band during the ONE Razorback Roadshow at Mulekick at MAD on Wednesday, May 18. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)
photo Local fans call the Hogs during the ONE Razorback Roadshow held Wednesday at Mulekick at MAD. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)
photo Jeff White views Arkansas Razorbacks sports memorabilia during the ONE Razorback Roadshow held Wednesday at Mulekick at MAD. (Caitlan Butler/News-Times)

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