The Bobcat Nation

I thought I would give Bobcat Nation an update on the Bobcat Collective. In roughly 7 months, we have been able to propel to the top of the FCS NIL landscape, exceeding over 100 individual NIL contracts across 3 sports and are continuing to add more players every day. After our initial fundraising campaign that allowed us to provide 80 "off-campus" football players $1,000 NIL contracts to assist with cost of living expenses, we have diversified into many other areas including corporate sponsorships, merchandise deals, and non-profit engagements. Although I believe (I'm biased) that we are beating our competition in this space, the competition is trying to catch up and we need to continue to fundraise and provide innovative ways to continually fill our NIL bucket. NIL has become a significant component to the college athlete experience. We believe that if done the right way, NIL can be a win/win for the players, their families, the University, and the community.

As a reminder, there are 3 different ways to contribute to the Bobcat Collective:

• 1. Make a tax-deductible gift: You can make a tax-deductible donation to Bobcat Collective and directly support student-athletes. https://bpsfoundation.net/donations/mon ... community/

• 2. Become a Business Partner: If your organization is interested in working directly with players to promote your business, we’ll help with player communication, contract creation and compliance/reporting. https://www.bobcatcollective.com/about-us#contact

• 3. Become a Member: For as low as, $5/month, you can become a Bobcat Collective member and receive exclusive member benefits with membership proceeds going directly to the players. We have our first big event coming up this spring where are members will be able to take advantage of these benefits. https://www.bobcatcollective.com/donor/memberships

I encourage you also to follow us on Twitter and Instagram to say connected with our updates.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BobcatCollectiv
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebobcatcollective/
Merch Site: https://thenilshop.co/montana-state/

Reach out to me if you have any questions.

Brandon Vancleeve
President - Bobcat Collective
brandon@bobcatcollective.com

bvancleeve wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 28, 2023 8:58 pm

I thought I would give Bobcat Nation an update on the Bobcat Collective. In roughly 7 months, we have been able to propel to the top of the FCS NIL landscape, exceeding over 100 individual NIL contracts across 3 sports and are continuing to add more players every day. After our initial fundraising campaign that allowed us to provide 80 "off-campus" football players $1,000 NIL contracts to assist with cost of living expenses, we have diversified into many other areas including corporate sponsorships, merchandise deals, and non-profit engagements. Although I believe (I'm biased) that we are beating our competition in this space, the competition is trying to catch up and we need to continue to fundraise and provide innovative ways to continually fill our NIL bucket. NIL has become a significant component to the college athlete experience. We believe that if done the right way, NIL can be a win/win for the players, their families, the University, and the community.

As a reminder, there are 3 different ways to contribute to the Bobcat Collective:

• 1. Make a tax-deductible gift: You can make a tax-deductible donation to Bobcat Collective and directly support student-athletes. https://bpsfoundation.net/donations/mon ... community/

• 2. Become a Business Partner: If your organization is interested in working directly with players to promote your business, we’ll help with player communication, contract creation and compliance/reporting. https://www.bobcatcollective.com/about-us#contact

• 3. Become a Member: For as low as, $5/month, you can become a Bobcat Collective member and receive exclusive member benefits with membership proceeds going directly to the players. We have our first big event coming up this spring where are members will be able to take advantage of these benefits. https://www.bobcatcollective.com/donor/memberships

I encourage you also to follow us on Twitter and Instagram to say connected with our updates.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BobcatCollectiv
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebobcatcollective/
Merch Site: https://thenilshop.co/montana-state/

Reach out to me if you have any questions.

Brandon Vancleeve
President - Bobcat Collective
brandon@bobcatcollective.com

First off, thanks for all the work and effort you put in on this. Last week I tried to join as a member and after I put my information in and tried to pay for the membership, nothing would go through. I tried 3 more times and it still wouldn’t take my payment. I will try again today, but if it doesn’t work should I email you directly?

Thanks again for your efforts.

Hi-Line Bobcat wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 29, 2023 6:07 am

bvancleeve wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 28, 2023 8:58 pm

I thought I would give Bobcat Nation an update on the Bobcat Collective. In roughly 7 months, we have been able to propel to the top of the FCS NIL landscape, exceeding over 100 individual NIL contracts across 3 sports and are continuing to add more players every day. After our initial fundraising campaign that allowed us to provide 80 "off-campus" football players $1,000 NIL contracts to assist with cost of living expenses, we have diversified into many other areas including corporate sponsorships, merchandise deals, and non-profit engagements. Although I believe (I'm biased) that we are beating our competition in this space, the competition is trying to catch up and we need to continue to fundraise and provide innovative ways to continually fill our NIL bucket. NIL has become a significant component to the college athlete experience. We believe that if done the right way, NIL can be a win/win for the players, their families, the University, and the community.

As a reminder, there are 3 different ways to contribute to the Bobcat Collective:

• 1. Make a tax-deductible gift: You can make a tax-deductible donation to Bobcat Collective and directly support student-athletes. https://bpsfoundation.net/donations/mon ... community/

• 2. Become a Business Partner: If your organization is interested in working directly with players to promote your business, we’ll help with player communication, contract creation and compliance/reporting. https://www.bobcatcollective.com/about-us#contact

• 3. Become a Member: For as low as, $5/month, you can become a Bobcat Collective member and receive exclusive member benefits with membership proceeds going directly to the players. We have our first big event coming up this spring where are members will be able to take advantage of these benefits. https://www.bobcatcollective.com/donor/memberships

I encourage you also to follow us on Twitter and Instagram to say connected with our updates.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BobcatCollectiv
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebobcatcollective/
Merch Site: https://thenilshop.co/montana-state/

Reach out to me if you have any questions.

Brandon Vancleeve
President - Bobcat Collective
brandon@bobcatcollective.com

First off, thanks for all the work and effort you put in on this. Last week I tried to join as a member and after I put my information in and tried to pay for the membership, nothing would go through. I tried 3 more times and it still wouldn’t take my payment. I will try again today, but if it doesn’t work should I email you directly?

Thanks again for your efforts.

Yes, let me know if you have any further issues and I'll make sure you get taken care of. Thanks for the support.

What is the competition doing differently than us? Anything we can incorporate into the BC?

coloradocat wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 29, 2023 9:08 am

What is the competition doing differently than us? Anything we can incorporate into the BC?

Great question. If I look at what we are seeing across the Big Sky Conference, it doesn't appear there is much going on. Now there can certainly be individual NIL deals going on across the conference that are not visible to the public, but I'm not seeing any strong NIL Collectives in our conference. Nationally, the FCS has a few programs that have built collectives and are having some success. I believe we will continue to see more NIL Collectives created and the competition between these collectives getting stiffer. This site lists known NIL Collectives across the country. https://www.on3.com/nil/collectives/?page=5

A luxury we have at the Bobcat Collective, is our partnership with Blueprint Sports. Blueprint Sports has 16 (and growing) other programs that they work with. (https://blueprintsports.com/our-properties/)They are a mix of "Power 5" and "Group of 5" organizations. Although we are a little different in the FCS, my goal is to compare ourselves to the Group of 5 Schools across the Western US. I feel like that is our competition from a student-athlete perspective. I meet every Monday with 16 fellow General Managers from these collectives and we share ideas on how to continue to improve our product. I recently got some feedback from one of our current players that said his brother is getting recruited currently and has taken visits to a number of Group of 5 schools, he said that none of them are doing anything close to what we are doing from an NIL perspective. That got me excited that we truly are making a difference here at Montana State.

Keep the questions coming!

Brandon Vancleeve
President - Bobcat Collective
brandon@bobcatcollective.com

Does the Bobcat Collective provide the athletes with information regarding tax compliance issues associated with their NIL money? Are there consultants or tax advisors attached to or working with these collectives, that help student athletes navigate tax compliance issues?

Hi-Line Bobcat wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:27 pm

Does the Bobcat Collective provide the athletes with information regarding tax compliance issues associated with their NIL money? Are there consultants or tax advisors attached to or working with these collectives, that help student athletes navigate tax compliance issues?

I hope so. But 2 to 3k in NIL a year isn't going to be a huge tax issue. Now a 60K NIL, huge issue.

Montanabob wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 29, 2023 10:56 pm

Hi-Line Bobcat wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:27 pm

Does the Bobcat Collective provide the athletes with information regarding tax compliance issues associated with their NIL money? Are there consultants or tax advisors attached to or working with these collectives, that help student athletes navigate tax compliance issues?

I hope so. But 2 to 3k in NIL a year isn't going to be a huge tax issue. Now a 60K NIL, huge issue.

The tax amount will be small. However, whether they are W-2 employees of the collective or 1099 independent contractors, they will get an automatic matching notice from the IRS if they don’t file and include the W-2 or 1099. That is a computer generated matching notice from the IRS, so it won’t go away or be missed.

https://www.on3.com/nil/news/ncaa-tourn ... our-teams/

interesting article

Hi-Line Bobcat wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 30, 2023 6:07 am

Montanabob wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 29, 2023 10:56 pm

Hi-Line Bobcat wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:27 pm

Does the Bobcat Collective provide the athletes with information regarding tax compliance issues associated with their NIL money? Are there consultants or tax advisors attached to or working with these collectives, that help student athletes navigate tax compliance issues?

I hope so. But 2 to 3k in NIL a year isn't going to be a huge tax issue. Now a 60K NIL, huge issue.

The tax amount will be small. However, whether they are W-2 employees of the collective or 1099 independent contractors, they will get an automatic matching notice from the IRS if they don’t file and include the W-2 or 1099. That is a computer generated matching notice from the IRS, so it won’t go away or be missed.

Another good question. Assisting them with their tax filings is something we are helping them with. As you could imagine, W2's and 1099's are foreign documents to many of these guys, so we are there to assist them with the process. In the future, we are looking to bring in some local business partners that would like to donate their time to assist the players as part of an NIL partnership with the Collective. If you know of any individuals or companies interested in this, please reach out.

Brandon Vancleeve
President - Bobcat Collective
brandon@bobcatcollective.com

Here's an idea:
https://www.on3.com/nil/news/how-drinki ... ollective/

coloradocat wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 03, 2023 7:06 pm

Here's an idea:
https://www.on3.com/nil/news/how-drinki ... ollective/

Love that idea, but we are restricted on a few things with the players, and bars and alcohol related endeavors are one of those restrictions.

Keep the ideas flowin!

Brandon Vancleeve
President - Bobcat Collective
brandon@bobcatcollective.com
www.bobcatcollective.com

You have shirts and hoodies. How about baseball caps? A Donjoy Mafia cap or a RTDB cap would be cool.

How about shirts/hoodies for all players rather than a select few. I’m guessing every player probably has a handful (10+) friends and family members willing to purchase and if you extrapolate that out over all the athletes, I’d assume that would definitely make a positive monetary difference.

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 05, 2023 9:18 pm

You have shirts and hoodies. How about baseball caps? A Donjoy Mafia cap or a RTDB cap would be cool.

We are launching hats, posters and stickers in the coming months. RTDB caps are a must, I agree.

ThoughtUKnew14 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 05, 2023 9:31 pm

How about shirts/hoodies for all players rather than a select few. I’m guessing every player probably has a handful (10+) friends and family members willing to purchase and if you extrapolate that out over all the athletes, I’d assume that would definitely make a positive monetary difference.

We currently have 58 players that have merchandise contracts, and we have every intent to have every player with a merchandise deal before next season. I met with the team last week and told them that plan, which they were excited about. We have currently sold over 1000 units which equals over $10,000 of NIL funds for these players. We will also be rolling out "Gold" versions of our designs, as well as, more group designs. The WR group is working on a design around their nickname "AirRock".

Why can i not find where to buy player t-shirts. Help?

stevo wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:05 am

Why can i not find where to buy player t-shirts. Help?

https://linktr.ee/thebobcatcollective

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:37 am

stevo wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:05 am

Why can i not find where to buy player t-shirts. Help?

https://linktr.ee/thebobcatcollective

Thanks for the assist @AFCAT, I added the LinkTree site to my signature.

bvancleeve wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:40 am

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:37 am

stevo wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:05 am

Why can i not find where to buy player t-shirts. Help?

https://linktr.ee/thebobcatcollective

Thanks for the assist @AFCAT, I added the LinkTree site to my signature.

Yes, Sir. The link is in mine as well. Gotta continue to build on this project and you are doing an awesome job at it.