This week, we detailed some changes the Royal Blue Collective made in 2024.
Before BYU’s magical run, the collective restructured players' contracts and some starters saw their pay slashed by 50% from their 2023 numbers, according to several members of the team.
Some starters were making less than highly prized recruits, former safety Crew Wakley said. Bonuses for a high-value freshman may have been $40,000 twice a year. For others, it may have been just $6,000.
“Scout team players were getting more than me,” Wakley said.
It left a bad taste in some players' mouths even as the Cougars rose to a top-10 ranking.
But what about 2025? Will there be changes in how the collective operates, or who operates it?
Royal Blue Collective leaders gave some answers on both fronts.
For one, the collective expects to move in-house once revenue sharing goes into place this summer. It was something we hinted at last summer in The Salt Lake Tribune, but is now being finalized.
When BYU starts paying athletes directly, about $22 million a year (with more than $12 million going to football), the collective will hand over the reins to the university.
“There’s going to be some transference to the university,” collective leader Lon Henderson said.
But does that mean some of the issues outlined by players — like the disparities in pay between starters and star recruits — will be fixed?
Henderson said there would always be some differences in pay.
“I think that’s happening this year. There are some people that we had a certain allocation to. I mean, some are going to be [making] three to four times [what others are] and others are not going to. ... They will choose to go somewhere else. That’s the rodeo of the NIL.”
But Henderson believes the floor of the pay scale will increase with revenue sharing.
“There’s definitely going to be a new level of pay coming in,” he said.
The Big Thing
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars defensive end Isaiah Bagnah (13) pressures quarterback Garret Rangel (13) during the game between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Provo on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024.
Defensive end Isaiah Bagnah was one of those starters who took a pay cut before 2024, a reduction of about $700 a month.
When he tried to negotiate his own deal outside the collective to make up for lost revenue, Royal Blue terminated his contract, he said. It broke the non-compete clause in the contract.
But when the season started, Bagnah kept seeing his name on T-shirts the Royal Blue Collective was selling. They put his replica jersey on sale, too.
He thought it was odd the collective, which was no longer paying him for his name, image or likeness, was using his NIL to turn a profit.
He said he brought it up to people at BYU, who told him the collective would pay him for his NIL on that shirt. They promised it would come at the end of January. But there still hasn’t been a payment, he said.
“Crazy thing is, I see their merchandise everywhere. All over the facility, all over Provo with my name on it. I’m still not paid for it,” he said. “They canceled my contract. They still utilize and make money off of my name.”
Fourth down
There were more anti-LDS chants over the weekend. This time, BYU basketball was playing Arizona when the “F--- the Mormons” taunt came out. We spoke with several religious scholars about why it happens this often.
It is just about a lock the Cougars are going to the NCAA Tournament. After beating Arizona, BYU is solidly off the bubble. Now it is about seeding.
BYU has one more game against Utah, but not against Craig Smith. Utah fired Smith before the season even ended in Salt Lake City. He was in his fourth year.
4. Spring camp
Spring camp starts on Thursday in Provo. Already, defensive coordinator Jay Hill believes his side of the ball can be even better than it was in 2024.
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