UNLV Fires Back, Claims Matt Sluka's Reps Made Illegal Financial Demands Before QB Left Program

In collegiate athletics, it's not often you see a university push back against a student-athlete. After all, we're talking about young adults who chose to represent that university who are still considered amateur athletes despite many being paid. 

This is what makes the UNLV situation involving now-former starting quarterback Matt Sluka unprecedented, because the university isn't giving the student-athlete the benefit of the doubt. Instead, it's pointing the finger right back at him.

Sluka announced late Tuesday night that he will no longer play for the Rebels this season, despite the team being 3-0, due to "certain representations" not being upheld by the program following his enrollment after transferring in from Holy Cross.

"Despite discussions, it became clear these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program," Sluka wrote in a statement on social media. Sluka also shared that he would be taking a redshirt year. If he were to have played this weekend against Fresno State, he would not have been eligible to transfer to another school.

Now we can get to the back-and-forth of it all.

Sluka did not use the words ‘money’ or ‘NIL’ in his announcement, but his father, Bob Sluka, very much went there. Bob told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg that Sluka had an agent prior to the season, and they had "agreed to an NIL deal with the school back in February, never received payments despite requests and never asked for any adjustments to the original deal." He also claimed that the school did not cover his son's living expenses.

Matt Sluka is claiming NIL promises weren't met, while UNLV NIL reps promises weren't given. (Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)

The nitty-gritty of it is that Sluka and his family alleged that promises were made by UNLV, and those alleged promises weren't going to be met, therefore he came to the decision to leave the program.

The timing of it all is what is both fascinating and important in all of this.

Matt Sluka, NIL, And The Importance Of Timing At UNLV

According to sources who spoke with OutKick, Sluka hired an agent, or perhaps just a new agent, after UNLV started the season 2-0, and has since been approached with offers that would lead to more money for the quarterback. In other words, he realized that he was worth more than whatever the alleged deal he and the UNLV NIL collective may or may not have had in place when he enrolled.

According to UNLV's statement, Sluka's representatives came to the program with what it not only saw as "threats," but as illegal demands in both the eyes of the NCAA and Nevada state law.

"Football player Matthew Sluka's representative made financial demands upon the University and its NIL collective in order to continue playing," the statement from UNLV began. "UNLV Athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA pay for play rules, as well as Nevada state law. UNLV does not engage in such activity, nor does it respond to implied threats. UNLV has honored all previously agreed-upon scholarships for Matthew Sluka"

"UNLV has conducted its due diligence and will continue to operate its programs within the framework of NCAA rules and regulations, as well as Nevada state laws."

UNLV using the phrasing "in order to continue playing" implies that these alleged demands from Sluka and his representatives came well after the season started. 

UNLV's NIL Collective Does Not Give In

It's easy to come up with the hypothetical here that Sluka's agent got in his ear about making more money, they brought this information to the UNLV NIL collective, and both parties came to a business decision that led to Sluka redshirting and UNLV's NIL saving money.

UNLV QB Matt Sluka elected leave the team after three games, due to alleged broken promises regarding NIL and other aspects.  (Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

A separate statement provided by Blueprint Sports, which operates UNLV's NIL collective, took things further back in time before Sluka had even committed to transferring to UNLV.

"To clarify, there were no formal NIL offers made during Mr. Sluka's recruitment process. Additionally, Friends of UNILV did not finalize or agree to any NIL offers while he was part of the team, aside from a complete community engagement event over the summer," the statement read in part.

Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, who represents Sluka on the NIL front, told ESPN's Pete Thamel that the QB was verbally promised a minimum of $100,000 by a UNLV assistant to transfer to the program, but "none of that money was paid."

Sources told OutKick shortly before the Blueprint Sports statement was released that it never made any agreement involving a payment of $100,000 to Sluka. The source explained that a payment in the range of $3,000 per month was discussed, but it never came to fruition after Sluka's agent stopped communication.