New website turns college sports fans into recruiters

A new Greenville web company aims to capitalize on the passion of college sports fans. In exchange for their passion, fans can contribute to their favorite school's recruiting pitch.

UBooster is an online platform that allows fans to pledge donations to their favorite college programs. Those donations are contingent on the school signing a designated prospective athlete.

"This gives the average fan a chance to be engaged in the process," UBooster founder and CEO Rob Morgan said Monday morning during the website's launch event at Falls Park.

UBooster allows fans to set up a simple account at ubooster.org and search the top recruits nationwide in football, basketball and other sports. Fans can then select a prospective player that may be considering attending the fan's favorite school. To support the school's efforts in attracting the recruit, the fan pledges to donate funds if that player signs with the school.

Opposing fan bases compete to show the recruits which program can generate the most support, although fans are not obligated to donate the pledged funds if the player does not sign with the fan's favorite school.

If the player selects the fan's favorite school, the pledged funds are drafted by UBooster and initially are transmitted to the non-profit Community Foundation. The foundation pays fees to the credit card companies and UBooster and also assesses a two-percent fee for administrative costs.

Morgan estimated that no less than 85 percent of the original contribution finally is routed to the fan's designated athletic department or booster club.

Morgan asserted that no funds will be given or promised to the recruits. That would violate current NCAA regulations prohibiting direct compensation for players and prospective athletes.

"We're not trying to jeopardize amateur status," Morgan said. "We're not trying to influence recruiting in any way. We simply want to monetize the passion of millions of fans in a way that's really never been possible before."

Former Clemson University quarterback Patrick Sapp serves as the UBooster corporate brand ambassador. He also serves as the director of development and liaison to athletics at Clemson.

Sapp said UBooster was designed to establish an additional revenue stream for athletic programs, but he contended that it was not designed to complicate the decision for young recruits.

"These kids are still going to make the decision to go where they feel like they're going to be successful," Sapp said. "I'm not going to go to Texas if they have three quarterbacks in front of me, regardless of how much money they pledged in my honor. That money raised is not going to influence them that way."

Morgan said UBooster has opened discussions with area college programs about partnerships and licensing, but he said those departments are awaiting more clarification on how this venture will fit into their current revenue models and within the current rules.

"They all have very positive things to say about the program," Morgan said, "and yet, they're all concerned about what the NCAA is going to say as it relates to compliance."

Morgan said UBooster was fostered while he followed the major shifts in how college athletics will be regulated and financed.

He cited the case of Ed O'Bannon, a former UCLA basketball player who sued the NCAA seeking an injunction to reform regulations for compensating athletes for use of their likenesses, names and images.

On Aug. 8, U.S. District Court judge Claudia Wilken ruled that the NCAA's regulations limiting athletes' compensation to tuition, room, board, books and fees violate anti-trust laws.

Clemson football player Martin Jenkins is a plaintiff in a class-action suit against the NCAA seeking an injunction to allow a free market to pay college athletes.

"We're not opposed to the evolving legal landscape," Morgan said. "We're trying to lay the groundwork in the current compliance era, so, as the groundwork shifts, we can be right there. This is about student athletes and student athletics. We fully support helping them have the best experience they can and getting the funding they need by way of their schools in a legal, compliant method."