Included in the fallout of UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka quitting the team after a 3-0 start over alleged unfulfilled NIL promises is a seemingly minor detail that is emblematic of the larger chaos in the NIL landscape: The Nevada Secretary of State office has no record of Sluka's agent, Marcus Cromartie, as a registered sports agent in the state, a spokeswoman for the state's SOS office told CBS Sports.
Blueprint Sports CEO Rob Sine initially told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday morning that Cromartie is not a registered sports agent and confirmed that fact with CBS Sports, sharing "we were introduced to the agent less than a month ago for the first time … we informed (the agent) that he was not registered with the state or with the school and that he needed to be."
Cromartie told ESPN earlier Wednesday that Sluka left UNLV after an unfulfilled NIL promise of $100,000.
Cromartie is with the agency Equity Sports, which represents numerous NFL players, most notably Patrick Mahomes. The 33-year-old is a former Wisconsin football player and cousin of former NFL stars Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Antonio Cromartie.
Cromartie's status as an unregistered agent in the state of Nevada is yet another wrinkle to the story that rocked college football on Wednesday, a war of words and leaks between each side that could threaten to get ugly. In a statement Wednesday, a spokesperson for the UNLV athletics department said UNLV does not engage in demands it interprets as violations of NCAA pay-for-play rules, "nor does it respond to implied threats."
Blueprint operates the Friends of UNLV NIL Collective in addition to multiple others, including the University of Nevada's. Nevada's Secretary of State Francisco V. Aguilar previously co-founded Blueprint Sports.
In 2023, a bill was introduced to make high-dollar NIL disclosures public and provide the state's secretary of state with the bill's enforcement capability. The bill was not passed, and the spokeswoman said that "the Secretary's previous employment does not relate to his official duties."
The spokeswoman for Nevada's SOS office would neither confirm nor deny that an investigation was being launched into Cromartie specifically. Nearly every state has at least some certification process and laws on the books governing who can be a sports agent and how. Nevada does not have many agents formally registered, but the number has grown in recent years as multiple professional sports franchises have moved to Las Vegas. Enforcement of such rules across the country is virtually unheard of, which contributes to the unregulated nature of NIL nationwide.
An attempt to reach Cromartie by telephone late Wednesday was unsuccessful.
Typically, an aggrieved party, such as a player or even a school, would have to file a complaint for an investigation to begin. There is an exception to Nevada's Uniform Athlete Agents Act made on the following two grounds:
- A student-athlete or another person acting on behalf of the athlete initiates communication with the individual.
- Not later than seven days after an initial act that requires the individual to register as an athlete agent, the individual submits an application for registration as an athlete agent in this State.
Whether either instance occurred between Cromartie and Sluka would likely be the focus of any investigation. Cromartie did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
John Talty contributed to this report
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