Why is UNLV QB Matthew Sluka walking away from his undefeated team?

Updated Sep. 26, 2024 7:10 a.m. ET

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One of the leading authorities on NIL in college athletics said Matthew Sluka's decision to end his season at UNLV after three games because of a disagreement over $100,000 could tempt other players to leave their teams during the season to pursue better opportunities — even if they don't have a beef with their current school.

“This is unprecedented and a sign of the times,” said Blake Lawrence, whose company Opendorse works with dozens of schools and more than 40 booster-backed collectives on name, image and likeness compensation.

Sluka, by playing in fewer than five games, preserves his final season of eligibility and can play elsewhere in 2025.

Sluka's agent, Marcus Cromartie, told The Associated Press that his client decided to sit out the rest of the season over a $100,000 NIL payment that was promised by an assistant coach after he agreed to transfer to the Rebels last winter. No written contract was ever put in place, Cromartie said, and efforts to set up a payment plan were unsuccessful.

UNLV accused Sluka’s representative of making “implied threats” and “financial demands upon the university and its NIL collective in order to continue playing," which is against NCAA rules and Nevada state law.

How did it come to this?

The NCAA cleared the way for NIL compensation in July 2021, forced by state laws that were about to make it illegal to bar college athletes from cashing in on their fame. The NCAA has stuck to its rules against schools paying athletes directly to play, though that could change soon. For now, what's left are messy situations like this and the potential for more.

Even if Sluka had a signed NIL contract, Lawrence said, it wouldn't have prevented him from quitting because such contracts cannot be tied to playing performance.

Michael Lowe, a Philadelphia attorney whose firm represents schools, conferences and collectives in the NIL industry, said the Sluka situation will encourage athletes to take a hard look at their potential value if they were to change schools.

“Maybe you have a situation where an athlete didn’t have an NIL deal but suddenly has increased his market value to other schools and makes the unilateral decision to redshirt and sit out the rest of the year, go into the portal and try to get money from another school,” Lowe said. “It’s sort of the evolution of the student-athlete into a quasi professional. More and more of this stuff is going to keep happening.”

As for unfulfilled NIL promises, Lawrence said the Sluka case shows why it would be better for all involved if schools had direct control over athlete compensation rather than collectives or boosters.

“If the agreement is ironclad between an institution and a student-athlete, you’re certain payments will be made and promises will be kept,” he said. “But it’s hard for the school to control the actions of third parties. It’s actually impossible for them to do so.”

Who is Matthew Sluka?

Sluka, who grew up in Locust Valley, New York, announced in January that he would transfer from Holy Cross to UNLV to play his final season. He was one of the top quarterbacks in the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision and a two-time finalist for the Walter Payton Award as the top player in the FCS. He was terrific in the first three games this season, all wins.

Why does he want to transfer?

Sluka was vague about the reason in his announcement on social media, but his agent said it was because of the unpaid $100,000 NIL deal.

“I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” Sluka posted on X. “Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future.”

To Lawrence, Sluka has put himself in position to make more money elsewhere if $100,000 is not going to be coming from UNLV. Sluka is not considered an NFL prospect, so now could be his best chance to cash in on football and perhaps step up from the Group of Five level in Division I to a Power Four program.

“I won’t even speculate this is what Sluka is doing, but the concept of an athlete preserving a year of eligibility while being a sure-fire standout at the G5 and leveraging the remainder of their season to finding a new home at the (power conference) level is a smart business decision,” Lawrence said.

NIL compensation is generally better at the Power Four level, plus revenue sharing that could begin in 2025 further enhances an athlete’s earning potential.

Why would he leave the team now?

This would have been Sluka's final season of eligibility. A player who does not appear in more than four games in a season is allowed to take what's known as a “redshirt,” meaning the year will not count on his eligibility clock. He is now able to transfer to another school and play in 2025.

Is a player on an athletic scholarship allowed to quit?

A scholarship is not a contract. An athlete can quit a team. It would be the head coach's decision whether the athlete continues to receive athletics aid for the rest of the academic year.

What are the transfer rules?

The NCAA in April approved rules changes that allow Division I athletes who meet certain academic eligibility requirements to be immediately eligible at their next school, regardless of whether they transferred previously.

Can a school offer NIL deals as a recruiting inducement?

Not technically, though it surely happens. Schools are not allowed to directly pay NIL money, though the NCAA allows schools to identify NIL opportunities and facilitate deals between athletes and third parties. Prohibitions against pay-for-play and schools compensating student-athletes for use of their NIL remain in place, at least for now.

“The NCAA fully supports college athletes profiting from their NIL, but unfortunately there is little oversight or accountability in the NIL space and far too often promises made to student-athletes are broken,” the NCAA said Wednesday without mentioning Sluka by name. “Positive changes are underway at the NCAA to deliver more benefits to student-athletes but without clear legal authority granted by the courts or by Congress, the NCAA, conferences and schools have limited authority to regulate third parties involved in NIL transactions.”

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