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SMU football received the death penalty in the 1980s for paying its players, but this is an entirely different era.
Now, in the age of name, image and likeness, Mustangs football and men’s basketball players are poised to receive $36,000 per year, according to multiple reports.
A group of SMU boosters has formed the Boulevard Collective, which intends to spend $3.5 million annually in NIL compensation for those athletes. On3.com was the first media outlet to report the financial figures.
The collective is partnering with NIL service Opendorse and will be led by Chris Schoemann, a longtime college athletics administrator and consultant.
“For a city and alumni base as relationship-oriented as Dallas and SMU, it seems only fitting that the community has come together in this way,” Schoemann said in a statement.
Schoemann told The Dallas Morning News that the collective intends to expand its spending to other sports.
The news comes on the heels of a recent report that Texas Tech boosters will pay Red Raiders football players $25,000 per year through the Matador Club collective.
