Oregon State athletics defends contract with Blueprint Sports

(PORTLAND TRIBUNE) -- Oregon State University’s athletic department denies claims that Blueprint Sports excessively profits from a deal struck in August.

On Tuesday, sports business media outlet Sportico published an article regarding Blueprint’s business model and its contract with Oregon State. The article’s author, Daniel Libit, shared screenshots of the contract to Twitter. It caused uproar from Beavers fans about how NIL donations are distributed to athletes — and how big of a cut Blueprint really gets.

“We appreciate the concern because they’re passionate about the success of Oregon State, its programs and its student-athletes,” Oregon State Athletics’ executive deputy athletic director Brent Blaylock said. “We match that passion (by) making sure we’re doing everything we can to make our teams and our student-athletes as successful as they can be (and) we feel that this (deal) is another tool and resource that we have to help maximize that.”

Blaylock said Blueprint does not receive any of Oregon State’s NIL funds until the university’s negotiated and pre-established fundraising goals are met. Dam Nation memberships are not included in that sum, he added.

The biggest gripe regarding the contract stemmed from a hypothetical breakdown in Sportico’s article. The hypothetical states: “If Blueprint generated $3 million of net direct revenue in a year, it would receive a total payout—including management fee, fundraising bonus and contract admin fee—of $1,542,500, slightly more than half the pie.”

Read more at here.

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