Some Michigan State football players reportedly having NIL deals canceled

Some Michigan State football players are having their NIL deals with SD4L canceled. What could this mean for the program?

Just when we’re all trying to enjoy the start of our weekends with no drama and no new Michigan State football story to stress about, something always seems to pop up.

A report from Audrey Dahlgren, a local sports reporter, broke some shocking news on Friday night that Michigan State’s mega-donor Steve St. Andre would be canceling SD4L NIL deals with all Michigan State football players, effective immediately.

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨

SD4L, which was recently announced as the official NIL brand for Michigan State University and was created by meg-booster Steve St. Andre, just canceled all of its deals with football players effective immediately.

— Audrey Dahlgren (@AudreyDahlgren) September 30, 2023

Obviously this sent every Michigan State fan into a panic because, well, this was the most important deal and donor that Michigan State had. The Spartans already lost UWM deals from Mat Ishbia this past year because of a conflict of interest rule in the NBA.

Basically, this was the worst-case scenario.

Fortunately, an updated report from David Harns stated that SD4L is only canceling “some” of its NIL contracts with the football team and not all.

I can confirm that SD4L has canceled *some* of its NIL contracts w/ MSU football players, not all of them. I can also report that the 'This is Sparta!' NIL fund, which is powered by @CGAamerica, has stepped in to help in some way. This is a developing story. I'll keep you posted.

— David Harns (@DavidHarns) September 30, 2023

This leads me to believe that St. Andre doesn’t exactly want to pay the football players who are planning to transfer. Does he know exactly who’s leaving the program? It seems that way if he’s only canceling some and not all of the contracts. Maybe he’s going by the guys who have been sitting out.

Either way, the finger slowly came off the panic button when Harns reported this update.

No one wants to see any of these kids punished throughout this ugly process because none of them asked for this. So no one should blame anyone for wanting to leave. However, you have to understand St. Andre’s side of this as well.

When Michigan State hires its next head coach, we will forget this ever happened because the team will still be signing NIL deals through SD4L.

Also, the entire basketball team still has deals with SD4L.

UPDATE: SD4L has released a statement.

Together, we will keep moving forward.https://t.co/3eBZJ4cz8K | #SD4L pic.twitter.com/9udGpbe85x

— SD4L (@TheSD4LBrand) September 30, 2023