CLEMSON — Clemson athletic director Graham Neff announced Wednesday the formation of Clemson Ventures.
The entity will serve as a "revenue-generation strategy" as college athletics changes with NIL and the impending House settlement . It will feature five core components: multimedia rights integration, media and original content, NIL agency, sales and marketing and business operations unit.
Clemson Ventures will expand Clemson Athletics Properties (CAPCO) , the school's own marketing and multimedia rights unit, and make revenue by pursuing outside business opportunities through its own organization's production.
"It's done tactfully because of the strategy here internally with Clemson and the assets that we own," Neff said. "But also, it's even more incumbent on us to generate revenues, position ourselves as an athletics department within the changing collegiate landscape and ultimately support our student athletes with resources to the department for our support of them, but also from an NIL standpoint."
Clemson Ventures will help athletes via its NIL agency, allowing the organization to facilitate opportunities to athletes "while ensuring adherence to educational and regulatory standards," according to the school news release. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed an NIL bill into law earlier this year that allows state schools to help oversee offers to college athletes.
Clemson's NIL collective, 110 Society, may be altered with the agency included in Clemson Ventures and future regulations around deal-making, but it is still at the forefront for the department in generating NIL dollars since starting in November.
MORE: Six-hour, last-minute road trip shows trust Clemson's Cade Klubnik has with Phil Mafah
"Clemson Ventures is created to be aggressive in what's intended to be a new NIL, fair-market value lens," Neff said. "Between now and then, our collective, 110 Society, continues to be incredibly important, so we're going to continue to message, fundraise and support."
Neff is optimistic the entity can be a different form of asset activation, other than stadium name or jersey rights deals, and a potential pioneering venture that could lead to other schools following. The department is in the process of hiring a CEO for the entity, and staff details and agency operations will take place in the near future, according to the release.
Graham Neff on Clemson-ACC dueling lawsuits
This was Neff's first time speaking with the media since Clemson sued the ACC in Pickens County, South Carolina, on March 19 over the conference's grant of rights deal and withdrawal penalty. The decision was seen as an initial legal step potentially to depart the conference to join the SEC or Big Ten.
The conference responded a day later with a countersuit in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
"There's not a whole lot in-depth I can go into there," Neff said. "We'll let the court process play out and our legal team to continue to lead that strategy."
Similar to ACC commissioner Jim Phillips ' comments at ACC Kickoff, Neff said the dueling litigation has not impacted Clemson's relationship with the league.
"We, Clemson, are going to be great members of the conference we're in," Neff said. "That starts with me but all of our coaches, student athletes and institution, and be really well read and engaged nationally."
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson's Graham Neff talks new revenue-generating entity, ACC lawsuit
