Haley and Hanna Cavinder signed their first endorsement on the first day college athletes were allowed to, and took 25% of a company 6 months after that. Wale took a Chief Creative Officer title and an equity stake at a company that sells airtight pods to stop sneakers from yellowing. OutKast and the University of Georgia put the crown on a football jersey for a game that has never been played in Atlanta. Welcome back to The Closeout. Let's get into it.

On October 15, Forbes reported that Haley and Hanna Cavinder had taken equity positions and co-founder titles at Azúcar, the tequila brand owned by New York businessman Adam Weitsman. Haley's account of it is that Weitsman asked the twins "if we wanted to be co-founders." No stake size was disclosed. No investment figure was disclosed.

The twins are 25. This is not their first rodeo.

Let’s start on July 1, 2021, the day name, image and likeness (NIL) deals became legal for college athletes. The Cavinders signed with Boost Mobile that day and put themselves on a billboard in Times Square. By the first anniversary of NIL, Forbes estimated they had earned about $1.7 million before taxes and fees. By November 2022 they had more than 40 deals. Champs Sports, Eastbay, Gopuff, SoFi, Six Star Pro Nutrition. In December 2021 they joined WWE's inaugural NIL class.

That is the part everyone covered.

Here is the one almost no one did. On January 18, 2022, they co-founded a streetwear company called Baseline Team and took a 25% equity stake and 1 of 3 board seats.

They were 21 years old and in their junior year at Fresno State. NIL was 6 months old. Most of the conversation about college athletes and money was still about whether a quarterback should be allowed to sell autographs, and 2 guards from Gilbert, Arizona had already converted endorsement income into ownership with a seat at the table.

The twins never lost a step on the court, either, which is the part that gets buried. Haley was Mountain West Freshman of the Year, then Mountain West Player of the Year as a sophomore at 19.8 points a game, then set the NCAA Division I single-season free throw record at 97.3%. Hanna scored 23 in her college debut, a Fresno State record, and led the conference in field goal percentage in 2020-21. They transferred to Miami in April 2022 and helped take the program to its first Elite Eight in 2023. Both made second-team All-ACC.

Then they left. On April 11, 2023, Hanna announced she would forgo her final year of eligibility to pursue business ventures. Their agent said they were headed to the WWE Performance Center.

Then they came back. Haley entered the portal in October 2023, committed to TCU in November, de-committed in April 2024, and returned to Miami with Hanna instead. In their last season Haley averaged 18.2 points and Hanna started all 29 games at 6.9 points and 4.2 assists. Haley made second-team All-ACC for a second straight year and won MVP of the Maui Classic.

Haley Cavinder did not enter the 2025 WNBA Draft. Though she was scouted and seriously considered turning pro, she chose to bypass the draft entirely to end her basketball career alongside her twin sister, Hanna.

In an interview released this month, Haley explained her choice, saying the league "was always the dream" but that playing on without Hanna was not the future she wanted. Hanna’s version: "Haley could have easily gone to the WNBA." While that might sound like a sister’s loyalty rather than a cold scouting report, the truth is that Haley simply chose a different exit.

What is not in dispute is what they had already built before their college careers came to a close. A podcast on iHeartRadio since December 2022. A 3-year Under Armour apparel and footwear agreement signed July 1, 2024. Forbes 30 Under 30 in December 2024, for social media. A quarter of a streetwear company and a board seat since they were juniors.

Issue #20 ran Karl Fowlkes on what is missing around college athletes. His argument was that nobody's role is defined, the people in the room have no track record, and NIL agents take 15% and up because there is nothing on paper to stop them. "The 50,000 people around one person culture needs to be stripped away."

The Cavinders are the version where the athlete is the one with the defined seat.

They signed their first endorsement on the first day it was legal. They took their first board seat 6 months later. The tequila deal is the same move, almost 5 years on.

Devin Haney, the undefeated 3-division world champion, signed an exclusive multi-fight agreement between Devin Haney Promotions, the company he founded, and DAZN.

Ryan Bertrand, who played for Chelsea, Southampton and England before retiring in 2024, is fronting a consortium offering at least £87 million over 5 years for a minority stake in AFC Wimbledon, with the club's fan trust voting on it by November 17.

John Mayer launched Sob Rock Records in partnership with Universal's Mercury Records and released his first solo single in 4 years the following day, with no financial terms disclosed.

Russell Wilson, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback, and Ciara, the singer behind the 2004 number 1 “Goodies” and his wife since 2016, became co-owners and investors in QALO, the wearable health company with more than 2.2 million customers and a smart ring that needs no subscription.

Ricky Rubio joined the ownership group at Joventut Badalona, the Spanish club he came up through, as Lithuania's Confluence Valley bought control from Scranton Enterprises, with no capital commitment from him disclosed.

Wale was named Chief Creative Officer and equity partner at CapSole. He is investing in the company. His remit is creative vision, cultural partnerships and growth strategy.

CapSole sells a reusable airtight pod paired with a preservative system built to slow sneaker degradation and yellowing. Darren Lee founded it in 2019 after watching his own collection deteriorate, and developed the system with chemical engineers and preservation specialists. He is still CEO.

The pitch is to collectors who hold sneakers as long-term assets.

That phrase is doing the work. A sneaker that is an asset has a carrying cost, a condition grade and a resale market, which makes it closer to a painting than to a pair of shoes. Issue #21 covered the auction side of that economy, where Pharrell's Joopiter took a percentage of other people's history and carried no inventory. CapSole is the other end: the thing you buy so the asset is still worth something when the auction comes.

No percentage was disclosed. No investment amount, no valuation. What was disclosed is the word equity, and that is the distinction worth holding onto. 

The title is what gets announced. The stake is what pays.

University of Georgia x OutKast

Nike, the University of Georgia and OutKast built a collection around the first Georgia-Florida game ever played in Atlanta. It is at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday.

The Georgia G sits with OutKast's crown. A red wool varsity jacket, football jerseys, rugby shirts, a satin bomber, heavyweight fleece, Max90 tees, cord caps, a snapback and bucket hats. The design pulls from André 3000's and Big Boi's own wardrobes. Class Trip, the Atlanta label founded by Brian Francis, built it with them.

Georgia players and staff get gear nobody else can buy. Eye-shield decals, skullcaps, wristbands, mouthguards and 3 styles of gloves.

It landed on SNKRS and Class Trip yesterday, hits nike.com today, and there is a pop-up at the stadium on game day.

OutKast's role is creative. No licensing terms, no equity, no fee was disclosed by anyone.

Griffin calls NBA games for Amazon, produces through Mortal Media with Ryan Kalil, and co-owns the Monterrey Osos in Mexico's Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional. He made his first investment in 2012, 9 years before college athletes could earn a dollar off their own names. He says on the show that he took creative control of his endorsement work and now goes after equity, with health and wellness as the category he keeps coming back to.

The Osos are the part worth your time. He and Kalil, a 13-year NFL center and Panthers captain, led a group that bought a majority stake in Monterrey's franchise in a 7-team league for what Kalil calls a seven-figure sum, renamed it from the Fundidores, and brought in Julius Peppers, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Barstool's Dan Katz. Attendance went from about 3,000 a game to 8,500. Mortal Media then made an 8-episode series about it, We Are Osos, and put it on the team's own YouTube channel. Season 2 is already shot.

He also has a position on this week's Lead. Griffin says athletes should be paid and that NIL needs clearer parameters, and his specific worry is Olympic and non-revenue sports. He played at Oklahoma when none of it was legal.

NBA ownership is the stated goal.

The Cavinders took 25% of a company at 21, in the 6th month that college athletes were allowed to earn anything. What would you have done with that money at that age? See you next Wednesday.