Arkansas ends partnership with NIL collective operator

Arkansas has become the latest school to end its partnership with the Blueprint Sports, the management company that ran Arkansas Edge, the official collective of the Razorbacks since November 2023.

The school announced the news in a press release Monday. The partnership will officially end Oct.15.

Arkansas Athletics took over all NIL deals with Razorback student-athletes that were previously executed by Blueprint Sports on July 1, shortly after the House v. NCAA settlement was approved by U.S. Circuit Court Judge Claudia Wilken a month earlier that allowed schools to pay athletes directly for the first time.

Blueprint Sports has been under the microscope for its practices in recent week. Sportico reported that the company kept 75% of “net direct revenue between the baseline target and $1.15 million, and 50% of net direct revenue above $1.15 million." in their deal with Oregon State.

There has been no evidence that a similar deal was inked with Arkansas. Still, Blueprint Sports held at one point over 70 collectives after acquiring a rival company in February. Now, Blueprint's website is down to just five schools.

Along with Arkansas and Oregon State, NC State, Maryland and Penn State are the last remaining schools still displayed.

Athletics director Hunter Yurachek did not mention Arkansas Edge or Blueprint Sports when addressing the media last week. He also admitted that the Razorbacks were behind their counterparts in the SEC.

"Our overall operating budget ranked towards the bottom of the Southeastern Conference," Yurachek said. "With that information, Coach Pittman did not have the resources he needed to appropriately compete in this conference right now."

Arkansas Edge, the subsidiary of Blueprint, has had its own internal strife, going through three different executive directors in the less than two years that the company existed. Kyle May was the last full-time director before leaving the post in February.

Interim director Marcus Madlock, who held a position at Blueprint, has been listed on the website as the interim director since February.

Many of the campaigns that were Edge properties also ended on a whimper. The "Drive for Five", an early marketing tool in an attempt to get 5,000 fans to sign up for a monthly fan membership giving $25 to help the school’s overall NIL budget came up well short of the intial target.

The collective then moved to a $10 base tier in an effort to attract more supporters.

"The efforts of the Arkansas Edge staff and support from members over the past two years is greatly appreciated," the university said in the press release. "[It] filled an important role for the success of Arkansas Athletics. However, there is a different path forward in the new era of college athletics, that is in the best interest for the sustained success of the Arkansas Razorbacks."

Arkansas will move to a more internal model. Remy Cofield was brought in as the general manager in March, Davonté Higginbottom came on in August as the Director of NIL Strategy.

Edge is still offering fan memberships as of the time of publication.

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