A&M’s deal with Playfly a necessary step toward competitiveness
An oft-repeated twist on “The Golden Rule” proclaims “he who has the gold makes the rules.”
That tenet has always applied to college sports.
To wit: Former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian famously once said, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they’re going to give Cleveland State two more years probation.”
The message is the NCAA had a double standard when dealing out punishment for violations. Programs without money got on probation. Programs with money got slaps on the wrist.
These days it seems there are no violations because there doesn’t appear to be any rules regarding recruiting, the transfer portal or NIL. None that are enforced, anyway.
But “The Golden Rule” twist still applies… just with another twist.
Now, it’s he who has the gold rules.
That’s why Texas A&M, in general, and perhaps Director of Athletics Trev Alberts, in particular, should be applauded for landing a lucrative media rights deal with Playfly Sports.
The agreement, announced Friday, will pay Texas A&M $515 million over 15 years. That’s over $34 million annually. Some of that will go toward NIL opportunities for athletes.
Additionally, it is expected that college athletic departments will enter into a revenue-sharing model with student-athletes. That change is expected later this year. As a result, athletic administrators are now looking for new streams of revenue to offset those costs.
A&M must be aggressive and proactive in finding ways and brokering deals to increase athletic revenue.
The deal is currently the richest media rights deal in college sports. Sure, it will eventually be eclipsed, but it’s better to have a golden goose in the hand than two in the bush.
A&M needs the security of that deal to match up with its competition. The extra cash will likely help boost all athletic programs.
But let’s not kid ourselves. The major benefactor will be football. It should be. Football pays for everything else.
The better football is, the better A&M’s athletic department is. To be among the best in college football programs will have to be among the most generous with players.
Last year’s college football playoff confirmed programs must be financially competitive to be athletically competitive.
National football champion Ohio State spent about $20 million on its roster in 2024.
That figure did not come from Slice Bread. It came from Athletic Director Ross Bjork. Remember him?
Prior to the 2024 season, Ohio State coach Ryan Day publicly estimated the program needed at least $13 million to prevent players from going into the NFL Draft or transferring to another team.
The Buckeyes met that mark. Almost every player from the 2023 season came back in ’24.
Then, the Buckeyes were aggressive in the transfer portal. They added quarterback Will Howard from Kansas State, running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss and safety Caleb Downs from Alabama.
You can bet none of them came cheap.
But you can also bet Ohio State wasn’t the only playoff team to spend heavily on its roster.
Oregon booster Phil Knight throws around NIL deals like Mardi Gras beads. Notre Dame reportedly generated $20.5 million from its collective Friends of Notre Dame.
Texas, Georgia and Penn State probably spent as much, if not more.
The price for talent never goes down, so A&M must be prepared to meet, and sometimes exceed, market price.
That is if the Aggies truly want another national championship that’s eluded them since 1939.
A&M has long counted on the loyalty of donors to pick up the tab for its football expenses, whether it be to build structures or buy out failed coaches.
That won’t stop.
But donors cannot be expected to keep covering costs, especially as player salaries escalate.
A&M’s athletic administration must be disciplined, in some ways frugal, and always looking for ways to add to its coffers.
The new media rights deal is an excellent step toward accumulating enough gold in hopes that the Aggies will again rule in football.
A&M’s deal with Playfly a necessary step toward competitiveness
Report: Texas A&M agrees to 15-year, $515 million multi-media deal with Playfly Sports
_AlexByington
Texas A&M is set to announce what has been described as “a game-changing” 15-year, $515 million fully guaranteed multi-media contract agreement with Playfly Sports, according to TexAgs.com’s Billy Liucci. The deal would see the Aggies’ multi-media rights payout jump from $18 million to $34 million annually, per Liucci.
Playfly Sports is a sports media, marketing and technology business centered around the team, league, brand and network, according to its website, and is focused on a consultative, data-driven approach to reach, engage, monetize and measure fandom that gives its partners — in this case Texas A&M — a competitive advantage.
The $515-million agreement is currently the richest media rights deal in the history of college sports, according to Liucci. It will begin in 2026.
Texas A&M’s first-year payout will be a $12 million net positive increase over what the Aggies would receive in the final year of its current media rights agreement with Learfield Sports, one of the most utilized media rights organization in college sports. Per the agreement, A&M will also receive $95 million over the first three years of the deal with Playfly Sports.
In addition to that massive payout, an unspecified portion of the sponsorship deal will be earmarked for Texas A&M’s NIL (name, image and likeness) opportunities for Aggie student-athletes, according to TexAgs.com.
Playfly already holds multimedia rights agreements with 25 college athletic departments as well as the ACC, Big East and what was formerly the Pac-12 conference. Within the SEC, Playfly is already affiliated with both Auburn and LSU.
Texas A&M is in the final year of a 10-year agreement with Learfield Sports originally signed in 2015, though the company has been responsible for the program’s marketed corporate sponsorships since 2006.
Mike Elko earned a passing grade from Greg McElroy for what he did in his first season in College Station.
McElroy graded multiple teams and coaches, including Elko, during a late-January episode of ‘Always College Football’ and Elko earned a B from him for Texas A&M‘s 8-5 overall record in 2024.
“Their year-one grade at Texas A&M? I’m going to give it a rock-solid B,” McElroy said. “You’re probably thinking that’s too generous. No, I think it’s about right because there were a lot of things to like. There was no drop off … there was not major drop off and there was some really positive moments throughout the year.”
That’s about where McElroy expected Elko to be, if not a little better graded, based on what many thought upon his hire by the Aggies.
“I think a lot of people, self included, looked at his hire and thought that’s safe, right. That’s safe. That’s stable. He’s going to be able to provide a structure to a program that felt like it was sometimes in disarray under Jimbo Fisher. Fair or unfair, it just felt like, felt like Mike Elko is just a rock solid hire. Maybe not super splashy, maybe you’re not going to dominate the press conference but, man, you are going to be on a rock solid foundation for the foreseeable future,” McElroy added. “He’s detail-oriented, he’s smart. He’s been there before, he has familiarity with the program, he’s got support within the program. I think there was a lot of things that would work in his favor and it did early on in the season.”
On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report.
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Greg McElroy grades Mike Elko for first season at Texas A&M
Top 10
Texas A&M, Playfly
Isaiah Bond
Mike Rhoades
Cam Ward
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Texas A&M athletics announces new 15-year multimedia rights partnership with Playfly Sports
The following is a release from Texas A&M athletics.
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Texas A&M University Athletics, part of a world-class educational institution with over 80,000 current students and one of the largest alumni bases in the world, and Playfly Sports, the leading revenue maximizer of the sports industry, today announced they have agreed to a 15-year multimedia rights (MMR) partnership. Playfly will work closely with Texas A&M to execute a dynamic custom strategy focused on driving significant commercial growth, including Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), entitlements, premium hospitality, emerging categories, and other opportunities.
“We are entering a new era of collegiate athletics and Texas A&M is positioned to be a strong leader,” said Trev Alberts, Texas A&M Director of Athletics. “This partnership with Playfly reflects our commitment to innovation, maximizing our revenue potential, and providing new opportunities for our student-athletes, fans, and corporate partners. Our ability to find and grow, approved, fair market NIL deals to organically grow our cap will be critically important. With a focus on NIL, premium experiences, and strategic partnerships, we are excited about the transformative impact this collaboration will have on our programs, our university, and the entire Aggie Network.”
An industry leader in revenue maximization, Playfly will drive incremental growth for Texas A&M Athletics through fan engagement, content creation, fan data activations, and the development of new partnerships, events and experiences. Playfly will combine its MMR expertise with a host of proprietary media, marketing, and technology solutions, including member-based services, game-day activations, and other custom strategies, to further cultivate fan relationships and revenue growth.
“Texas A&M is clearly at the forefront in the near-constant evolution of collegiate athletics, and we intend to serve as a key driver in further bolstering and monetizing its powerhouse brand,” said Christy Hedgpeth, President of Playfly Sports Properties. “It is particularly compelling to partner with Trev and his team because we share a strong belief that commercial modernization is an absolute imperative for future success in college sports.”
Playfly will deploy a powerful combination of local, regional, and national sales teams, including many who are already deeply entrenched in the Texas Triangle formed by the state’s four main urban centers of Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. This sales engine will identify untapped revenue sources and yield new brand partnerships. Playfly will utilize its data-driven methodology to capitalize on one of Texas A&M’s most valuable assets, the 12th Man Foundation, The Association of Former Students and its global Aggie Network, tapping into the University’s passionate alumni and expansive fan base to create unprecedented levels of engagement across Aggie athletic programs.
Phoenix (AZ) Mountain Pointe offensive tackle Aaron Thomas has a busy spring ahead. As heads into second year taking part in track, Thomas is eyeing unofficial visits to BYU, Kansas, Texas A&M, Ohio State and Arizona over the next month.
Thomas is set to visit Aggieland on March 25 before returning for an official visit in June. The 6-foot-7, 285-pound lineman has been in regular communication with the A&M staff for several weeks. He is excited to see them in person next month.
“I’m excited to see how the coaches coach and how the team bond is and just how they practice in general,” Thomas told GigEm247.
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The two teams that feature frontrunners for the national player and coach of the year awards are also the same ones that boast the best odds to win the college basketball national championship. Auburn and Duke have been deadlocked in a battle atop the sport since the first month of the season, and with less than a month remaining until March Madness, they show no signs of loosening their grip on the title race.
FanDuel Sportsbook tabs the Tigers and Blue Devils as the unquestioned leaders in the race to cut down the nets at the end of the NCAA Tournament. They are not alone in the fight, but all other contenders are playing catch-up.
The SEC boasts more premier national championship hopefuls than every other high-major conference, but the Big 12 remains an unquestioned top-two league in the sport and promises to send a handful of capable squads in its own right. The Big Ten, ACC, and Big East all have at least one major player in the race, too.
Get the latest basketball and recruiting scoop on your favorite college team today.
Here are the latest college basketball national championship odds from FanDuel:
Auburn has been the national championship frontrunner, or one of them, since November. That will not change unless somebody eliminates the Tigers from the NCAA Tournament. Their lead over the rest of the country is so large that even with multiple losses prior to Selection Sunday, the Tigers would likely still hold onto the No. 1 overall seed. That Bruce Pearl built a behemoth that is nearly perfect against one of the toughest schedules in college basketball history makes him a no-doubt National Coach of the Year frontrunner. The real prize, though, is a tournament crown.
Duke holds just one loss since Nov. 26 and boasts a victory over the best team in the sport. Sure, the ACC is in the midst of a down year, but everything about that résumé screams “national championship contender.” It is not as though the Blue Devils are simply beating up on bad teams. This is the same squad that last weekend handed a tournament-bound Illinois team its worst loss in program history. Everything starts with Cooper Flagg, but this is no one-man show. Jon Scheyer has enough talent on his breakthrough roster to win it all.
The Big 12 regular-season championship race is almost over. Houston clinched at least a share of the conference title Monday with its 69-61 win in a top-10 road matchup with Texas Tech. It was the second win over a top-10 team in as many outings for the Cougars, who are as hot as any team in college basketball and look destined for another deep March Madness run under Kelvin Sampson. The defense is as stifling as they come, but not at the expense of the offense, with LJ Cryer, J’Wan Roberts and Joseph Tugler spearheading a unit capable of rolling to a national title.
Alabama can outscore any team in the country, so it has to be in the national championship conversation, even if its defense is not the most reliable unit. No team scores more points per game than the Crimson Tide. It is the Nate Oats way to play with blazing pace, and when the roster features knockdown shooters like Mark Sears and Aden Holloway, that is a recipe to light up the scoreboard. Alabama has not lost to a team below the projected No. 6 seed line, so it has a very high floor. That is critical for avoiding early-round upsets and paving a path to the Final Four.
Florida saw its outside shot at an SEC regular-season title take a massive blow this week when it lost to Georgia. The national championship is the one that really matters for Todd Golden, though. And with Alex Condon back in the lineup after an injury absence, his Gators have enough firepower to get there. The backcourt is loaded, Condon heads a stout frontcourt and the proof of national title potential is in the results with wins over two different No. 1-ranked teams on Florida’s ledger.
Tennessee is not the most consistent team in the SEC, but at its best, it can beat anyone. It already avenged two of its conference losses, and it stands in a tie for the second-most Quad 1 wins in the country. The potential is clear. In order to realize it, though, the Vols have to avoid off shooting nights come tournament time. Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler are gifted on the offensive end of the floor, but that pales in comparison to their No. 1-ranked defense (per KenPom), which puts uncanny pressure on every single opponent.
If Rick Pitino wins another national championship, his defense will be the primary reason. St. John’s is simply relentless on that end of the floor. From Kadary Richmond locking things down on the perimeter to Zuby Ejiofor putting a wall around the basket, the Johnnies boast a defense that stifled every Big East team at least once. This is the best St. John’s team this century and perhaps one of the greatest ever, but its legacy will not be complete until its March Madness run is over. If it rolls to the Final Four, it will be in rare territory.
Injuries continue to plague the Iowa State roster and are undoubtedly to blame for the Cyclones’ slip from the top seed lines. They hit a three-game skid at the beginning of the month when sharp-shooter Milan Momcilovic missed time, and they lost over the weekend without Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert. Iowa State looked like a bona fide Final Four team earlier this year at full strength, though, so if it is healthy entering the tournament, it can certainly clinch a spot in San Antonio.
Michigan State is the top national title contender in the Big Ten, and it holds a half-game lead over rival Michigan for the top spot in the conference standings. Reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week Jase Richardson continues to mold into the preeminent player on one of Tom Izzo’s deepest rosters to date, and as his ceiling rises, so too does that of the collective Spartans. Tre Holloman also flexed his clutch muscles Wednesday with one of the best buzzer-beaters of the season thus far, connecting from beyond midcourt to stun the Maryland crowd in another top-25 win.
Arizona Wildcats: +3500
Missouri Tigers: +3500
Texas Tech Red Raiders: +3500
Kentucky Wildcats: +3500
Wisconsin Badgers: +4000
Texas A&M Aggies: +5000
JT Toppin has been on fire over the last three weeks. The breakout forward has five double-doubles over his last six games, including scoring outbursts of 41 and 32 points in that stretch. His surge is part of the reason why Texas Tech climbed all the way inside the top 10 and is a significant threat to advance to the second weekend and beyond come March. Wins over Houston and Arizona in Big 12 play proved that the Red Raiders can beat the best of the best.
This article originates on 247Sports.
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