Lead Sponsor of Arkansas NIL Bill Speaks on Timeline

Razorback fans could see new innovation come as soon as baseball season

Arkansas Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek calling the Hogs at a basketball game against Texas A&M. / Craven Whitlow-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas NIL is once again going through a potential shift. A bill filed Thursday morning in the Arkansas House (H.B. 1044) would allow the University of Arkansas to conduct 50/50 raffles for Arkansas Edge, the third-party NIL collective for Razorback Athletics.

The lead sponsor in the House of the bill, RJ Hawk, has been working on the bill for over two years and hopes that it will increase the Razorbacks' NIL footprint, along with the state's other collegiate institutions of athletics.

"I wanna see all of our colleges succeed in the NIL market," Hawk said in a phone interview. "I've heard people say that Arkansas' NIL is worse than Ole Miss. That shouldn't be happening."

The proposed raffle would have similar guidelines to the 50/50 raffle held by Florida. A drawing held once per home sporting event, where half of the raised money goes to the winner of the raffle and the other half goes to the collective.

"We've only got seven or eight big money people that are giving money to the collective to make this happen," Hawk said. "There's gonna come a day that if we don't start doing things so that we're also trying to raise money rather than going back to these seven or eight people, they're gonna go, look, I'm kind of tapped out."

Fans over the age of 18 can purchase raffle tickets either at the game or online and/or on a mobile device with an Arkansas IP address within the state's borders.

It should be noted that where the money goes is up to the sole discretion of the university running the raffle. The bill gives six categories in which the money raised from any potential drawings can be used.

1. Administrative costs of running the raffle (not including salary)
2. Operational and promotional costs of running the raffle
3. Athletic scholarships
4. Compensation of a student-athlete for the commercial use of
his or her publicity rights (NIL)
5. General support of the institution of higher education’s
athletics teams
6. Purchase, maintenance, repair, debt service, or construction of the institution's athletic property.

The bill still faces some challenges. While Hawk's been researching the bill for two years, many of his colleagues are uninformed of the changing landscape of college athletics.

"There are some people that have called me and they don't get it," Hawk said. "[They ask] why we're having to do [this] and what exactly is NIL?"

Under the provisions of the bill, no other third party other than the university (in this case the University of Arkansas) is allowed to assist in the operation of the raffle, including casinos.

"It goes back to Amendment 100 of the Arkansas Constitution," Hawk said. "It requires gambling or any type of raffle to be done in a brick and mortar building. To allow these raffles to be done by casinos is unconstitutional and we would have to put the casinos on the campuses because we're telling the school that they can run them. We'd have to put in a casino office on campuses."

Carlton Saffa, part of Saracen Casino Resort, who would not be allowed to run a 50/50 that supports Arkansas NIL under the bill, is one of the opponents. He has recently been involved with disputes with Oaklawn Casino and Resort, another major player in the industry.

Folks-@RJHawk is a good guy. Please show him some grace, especially when same not shown to you.

His NIL 50/50 bill is bad. But his heart is in the right place.

Beat the bill not the person. #arpx

— 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐚 (@carltontsaffa) November 21, 2024

Because of the "emergency clause", the bill can become law 90 days after the Governor signs the bill. Before it goes to the desk of Governor Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, it must pass a committee vote and pass through both chambers of the legislature. The session does not begin until Jan. 13.

Because of the way the constitution is written, Hawk says HB 1044 is the quickest way for Arkansas to get some kind of 50/50 up and running. He is hopeful that fans will see the first raffles at some point during the baseball season.

"I have no beef with Saracen." Hawk said. "I have no beef with Oaklawn. I don't wanna be a part of their fight that they've they've had."

You can read the full bill here.

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