With Name, Image and Likeness now owning a firm place in the college sports landscape, it has become imperative that athletics departments -- and/or their supporters -- establish their own ability to raise funds for players.
Rising Spear has been on the scene in the Florida State community for a few months, but it has mostly been operating in the background after a soft launch.
Now, the new independent organization -- which helps FSU student-athletes earn money by promoting companies and charities -- is about to kick things up a notch. And Seminoles all over the world can donate to the cause.
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Because Florida law prohibits state universities from having direct involvement with NIL deals, a third-party organization like Rising Spear can help fill that gap. And starting late Sunday night, the website RisingSpear.com has been updated and is now fully functional and accepting contributions.
"Our goal is to get Florida State back where it belongs," Rising Spear's Matthew Quigley said. "That's where Rising Spear is going to help out [FSU football coach Mike] Norvell and staff. ... We at Rising Spear have really been getting after it these last three months, preparing for this spring game week."
The organization will be announcing a variety of new initiatives and events this week in conjunction with the website relaunch. There will be member-exclusive events surrounding the spring game this coming Saturday, and Rising Spear also is officially partnering with a national collective called MarketPryce, which allows student-athletes to directly link with marketing opportunities around the country.
For FSU fans who want to donate directly to the cause, they can give to Garnet Spirit or Gold Spirit through the website.
Gold is the typical NIL set-up in which the players can earn endorsement deals with private businesses.
The Garnet Spirit fund, as is explained on the website, is a not-for-profit platform that creates opportunities for athletes through appearance fees to help meet the needs of the local community -- for example, a visit to the Boys and Girls Club or helping run a sports clinic.
"People can give to that and get a tax deduction," Rising Spear co-founder Bob Davis said. "They can also restrict it to a sport."
The same goes for the Gold platform: When someone earmarks money for Rising Spear, Davis said, they can designate that it goes to just one sport. So, current Florida State athletes all over campus can be rewarded through Rising Spear -- not just the football program.
And those numbers are about to go up.
Davis said Rising Spear currently has 35 FSU student-athletes already under contract, with two more applications that just went out.
In February, that number was 3.
Davis said Rising Spear is in contact with prospective football recruits and can work to set up deals for them while they're still in high school. But, and this is a big but, no contracts are signed and no payments are made until after that recruit is officially enrolled at Florida State. And the money cannot be used as an inducement for a recruit to sign.
Quigley also made sure to point out that unlike most NIL collectives, Rising Spear is not a revenue-generating business. Davis and fellow founder Alan Flaumenhaft have set it up so that all proceeds are going directly to the athletes; they do not collect fees from companies or take a cut of the athletes' deals.
Quigley and Davis said they understand that some fans don't like the idea of NIL deals and would like college athletics to stay the way it was in the past. But they also know that times have changed, and schools that don't adapt will be left behind.
"That way of thinking is not going to get you a national title," Quigley said. "And I think this is where Bob and Alan, who are co-founders, really were able to thread the needle for the kind of perfect solution for this problem.
"So, a person that does not want to think they're paying a player can donate to our Rising Spear Garnet side, and that is literally a charitable donation. Bob had a great analogy the other day that our Rising Spear Garnet side, that's almost like the United Way of NIL funds. ... It's a phenomenal thing."
For more information on Rising Spear and how to donate, visit RisingSpear.com.
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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council