South Carolina NIL collectives Garnet Trust and Carolina Rise announce merger
There will now just be one collective associated with South Carolina’s name, image and likeness (NIL) efforts.
On Thursday, the two two collectives that had been working with Gamecocks’ student-athletes — Garnet Trust and Carolina Rise — announced a merger.
Going forward, all NIL collective operations with South Carolina will go through Garnet Trust, which has been the official NIL collective for the University of South Carolina since July.
“After getting to know the team at Garnet Trust and consulting with our members, university administrators, coaches, and outside experts in this space,” co-founder of Carolina Rise, JC Shurburtt said in a statement, “it became clear that consolidation is in the Gamecocks’ best interest.”
As a refresher: A collective works separately from the university but can fund name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes by pooling money together from fans and boosters.
The collective can then sign a contract with a player that will allow it to compensate the athlete in exchange for such things as signing autographs, sharing promotional social media posts or making appearances at fundraisers or charitable events.
Garnet Trust operating director Jeremy Smith told The State that “close to 100 athletes” are on an annual contract with the collective and a few dozen others who have done one-off deals with Garnet Trust that might include a brand deal or something similar.
Having two collectives around South Carolina, Smith said, always caused a bit of confusion for fans and boosters who weren’t exactly sure where their money would be most effective. Bringing the operations under the same roof helps clear up some of that confusion.
“We have been working behind the scenes with Carolina Rise for over a year now,” Smith said. “(We) all agreed that coming together was in the best interest of the donor, the student-athlete and the university.”
The move comes as major shakeup looms in the NIL space.
Just two weeks ago, a federal judge in Tennessee granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the NCAA from punishing any booster, school or athlete for negotiating NIL deals during the recruitment process. As a result, the NCAA paused all NIL investigations, basically signaling the arrival of pay-for-play.
Locally, a bill is currently moving through the South Carolina Legislature — and could go into effect as early as the end of March — that would allow schools to provide resources and guidance for their student-athletes negotiating NIL deals.
“Currently, we’re not allowed to play an active role in the NIL space,” USC athletic director Ray Tanner told The State. “But we certainly feel we should be there to help them. ... We (want) to give our student-athletes advice, or make sure they get appropriate, whether it’s an opportunity with NIL, whether it’s tax consequences or whatever the case may be.”
In saying that, Tanner noted that South Carolina has no intention of doing away with collectives.
Quite the contrary, he admitted, even noting that there could be a future where South Carolina could link the Gamecock Club and Garnet Trust where fans could boost their priority standing through donations to the Garnet Trust.
“The Garnet Trust is a well-organized entity and has done a great job, has done it the right way,” Tanner said. “We have no intention of disbanding our collective, because we think they do a very good job and we can be a part of the process more so than we have been before.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2024 at 2:00 PM.
