On the Arkansas football field this fall camp, “dapping” is very much in vogue.
A revamped offensive line featuring new Vols football transfer Addison Nichol alongside former Spartans in Keyshawn Blackstock and Fernando Carmona, Jr. looks to redeem their unit in the eyes of Hog fans still reeling from the spectacle of last year’s disaster.
Eric Mateos, new offensive line coach, doesn’t want to leave the improvement of team chemistry to chance, either. So he’s going beyond encouraging his players to show camaraderie and mandating it instead: “We talk about 100 daps a day right now, which means like we want to touch each other 100 times a day as far as high five or knuckles or whatever it is,” Mateos said. “Just because that creates a sense of togetherness.”
There’s nothing more elemental to team sports, of course, than such displays of chumminess. The only thing different here is Mateos is actually counting the high fives, back slaps and fist bumps as a metric in and of themselves. Unusual, sure, but still in line with the spirit of the game.
What’s far less elemental to college football, however, is exchanging symbolic chest bumps with sports casinos.
Drama with Oaklawn, Saracen Thickens
For decades, the prospect of casinos and college athletic programs as bedfellows seemed unimaginable. Slot machines, blackjack and sports betting are all about making money. College sports, meanwhile, were supposed to hinge on amateurs feeling grateful for getting free educations and nothing more.
That’s changed, and the boundaries of these two worlds blur more by the day.
On Tuesday, Hogs head coach Sam Pittman publicly thanked Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort for a $500,000 check that its president, Louis Cella, had written to the Razorback Foundation.
“This is what it is going to take for us to compete in the SEC and nationally,” Pittman said.
Pittman’s post happened in the backdrop of Oaklawn’s in-state competitor, Saracen Casino Resort, going public about an apparent blockade of technology that its chief marketing officer says would significantly bolster the Razorbacks’ NIL war chest. Not just one-time gifts, but recurring revenue that could total millions of dollars per year.
As Wally Hall, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports columnist tells it, Cella had called Pittman after hearing “someone” it now appears is Saracen was looking to “expand casino wagering from the four legally licensed counties to statewide by allowing people to play slot machines, blackjack and roulette on their phones or computers no matter where they were in the state.”
“To sweeten the idea, and this is where Pittman came into the picture, a raffle would be started and the proceeds would go to the Razorbacks’ name, image and likeness package.” (Saracen refers to this as a 50/50 drawing, not a raffle.)
Apparently, Cella told Pittman that such an expansion is illegal but that Oaklawn could still help. Then, boom: $500,000 just like that.
Going forward, Oaklawn will also allow winners of its jackpots to donate to Arkansas Edge, the Hogs’ NIL collective.
“I realize this doesn’t solve the entire financial crunch for U of A athletics,” Cella, a U of A law grad, told Hall. “But if more Arkansas businesses will consider pitching in too, it will be a huge step in the right direction for Razorback nation.”
Hall implied such a partnership is only natural given the institutions’ history: “For more than 100 years, the two largest sports programs in Arkansas have been the Razorbacks and Oaklawn.”
Vols Football Kowtows Too
Go east, say, 700 miles and you’ll hear a similar line thrown out around the big news for Tennessee football this week: the Vols have inked a deal with Pilot Flying J, the North American chain of truck stops headquartered in Knoxville, to help finance their $337 million stadium renovation.
“Today is about two historic brands in Knoxville coming together,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White said. Requests for the financial terms were not disclosed but White told the Knoxville News-Sentinel that it was a “huge” deal.
This fall is the first season that the NCAA will allow commercial sponsor advertisements on football fields. Most SEC athletic departments haven’t yet sold the naming rights to their stadia but Tennessee caved in because, it’s safe to assume, Pilot Flying J made a lot of sense as a local company and will give them a boatload of cash.
The company, critically, also didn’t insist that the current name of the stadium and field be changed, only amended. “Neyland Stadium. Home of the Vols. Proudly preserved by Pilot,” is how a Tennessee football news release phrases it.
“New signage saying ‘Home of the Vols’ will be placed on the east side of Neyland Stadium, flanked by Pilot’s logo,” according to the News-Sentinel’s Adam Sparks.
“Pilot branding will also be on each side of Shields-Watkins Field. And Pilot sponsored content will appear elsewhere in UT athletics and the Vol Network.”
Replacing “Neyland” in “Neyland Stadium” would have been too much of a shock to Vols football fans and would have resulted in backlash hurting Pilot’s brand. The “preserved by Pilot” language softens things, just as the idea of a 50/50 drawing where half the cash goes to the Arkansas Edge NIL softens the fact that the Razorbacks may soon partner with a sports casino(s) on an ongoing basis. Saracen already sponsors certain regular season football games as it becomes more well-known in state, just like thegruelingtruth.com did in the betting market nationwide.
No Putting Genie Back in Bottle for Arkansas Football
Fifteen years ago, these kinds of arrangements would have been unimaginable. But high-major schools need to find ways to drum up more cash, and quickly, after the Supreme Court decision that will put them on the hook for an extra $20-$22 million to student-athletes starting next summer.
One day, the Razorbacks will sell off the naming rights to Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Sooner than later. That much is inevitable given the current naming rights expired in June 30, 2024. Expect whatever entity buys them to take a note from the Vols and Pilot Flying J and avoid removing “Razorback” from the name of the stadium itself.
Also, given the forces now in motion, it won’t be a surprise to see increased partnership(s) between Oaklawn and Saracen and the Razorbacks going forward. Indeed, on Wednesday afternoon, radio personality Bobby Bones reported that he’d spent nearly 50 minutes on the phone with Lou Cella and pressed him on what specifically Oaklawn could do going forward to help the Razorbacks win more.
Cella wouldn’t commit to anything beyond saying they can “reconvene and hopefully figure out a way to get more of the dollars to the University of Arkansas.”
To what extent the sports casinos further affect the Razorbacks’ finances will be a test case for the rest of the SEC to watch.
Assuming it goes well, you can also expect an expansion of such partnerships across the South.
It’s been decades since the Arkansas and Tennessee football programs, respectively, won their last national championship. Like it or not, it’s clear these programs must keep kowtowing to big money in order to bring home their next.
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Read Oaklawn’s official stance below: (originally posted on “X” by David Bazzel)
Hear the latest from Mike Irwin on selling naming rights to Razorback Stadium starting at :
More on Hogs and Tennessee football from BoAS here:
