Circa CEO Offers to Pay Alleged NIL Deal to UNLV QB Matt Sluka

The CEO of the famed Las Vegas resort and sportsbook offered to provide payment to UNLV quarterback Matt Sluka to resolve an NIL dispute with the school that landed him in the transfer portal this week.
A Las Vegas resort CEO has offered to pay UNLV quarterback Matt Sluka $100,000 to resolve an alleged NIL dispute.
A Las Vegas resort CEO has offered to pay UNLV quarterback Matt Sluka $100,000 to resolve an alleged NIL dispute. / Mike DiNovo-Imagn Images

Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens has offered to pay UNLV quarterback Matt Sluka $100,000 in an NIL deal to resolve Sluka's dispute with the school, according to a report from Brett McMurphy of Action Network.

Mike Palm, the vice president of operations for Circa Sports, reached out to UNLV this week to offer to pay an NIL deal to Sluka on behalf of CEO Derek Stevens, but UNLV's staff told Palm that Sluka is no longer part of the program and that there was no intent to do business with him again.

Sluka announced his intent to redshirt and transfer away from UNLV earlier this week over "certain representations that were not upheld." It was later revealed that Sluka's issue was with an alleged deal with the program over NIL payments that UNLV wasn't making.

UNLV's NIL collective denied having a deal in place with Sluka that required them to pay the starting quarterback.

Sluka transferred to UNLV in the offseason from Holy Cross. He had started the first three games of the season for the Rebels and was a key cog in the team's rushing offense that's allowed the Rebels to embark on their first 3-0 start to the season in 40 years.

The Rebels, who are an early Group of Five College Football Playoff contender, host Fresno State on Saturday.


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Mike McDaniel
MIKE MCDANIEL

Mike McDaniel is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since January 2022. His work has been featured at InsideTheACC.com, SB Nation, FanSided and more. McDaniel hosts the Hokie Hangover Podcast, covering Virginia Tech athletics, as well as Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast. Outside of work, he is a husband and father, and an avid golfer.