# NBA Players Association cuts agencies, lets players negotiate brand deals direct — $1.5B merchandising platform

*Union infrastructure removes middlemen from endorsement negotiations, teaching physical-product brands how to build direct creator deal flow.*

By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC.
Published 2026-06-23.

Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/nba-players-association-2026-06-23t03-4
Subject: NBA Players Association
Tags: disintermediation, creator economy, deal flow, community infrastructure, influencer marketing, nbpa

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The NBA Players Association launched a direct-to-brand negotiation arm that eliminates agency intermediaries from player endorsement deals, according to Marketing Dive. The infrastructure sits inside the union and allows players to negotiate sponsorships, licensing, and product collaborations directly with brands. The NBPA already operates a **$1.5 billion** annual merchandising business and sees the direct-deal structure as a natural extension — players retain more economics, brands get faster deal cycles, and the union collects data on what actually moves product.

The mechanics are simple. A brand interested in a player endorsement contacts the union arm instead of CAA or Wasserman. The union staff brokers the introduction, provides deal templates, handles negotiation support, and takes a smaller fee than a traditional agency. The player keeps agency-level margin. The brand avoids multi-layer commission stacks and gets direct access to the athlete's decision-maker. Deals close in weeks instead of quarters. The NBPA tested the model with merchandise licensing and is now scaling it to direct product partnerships.

This works because it collapses transaction cost and realigns incentives. Traditional agency representation adds **15-20%** in fees and introduces delay — the brand pitches the agent, the agent pitches the player, the player's manager reviews, the lawyer marks up, the deal cycles back. Each hop adds weeks and margin leak. The union model removes three of those hops. The player talks directly to the brand with union staff as technical support, not gatekeeper. Speed improves. Economics improve. The union captures data on which product categories players actually want to work with, creating a feedback loop that makes future deals faster.

The broader mechanism is **disintermediation through owned infrastructure**. When a community builds deal-making capability in-house, it can cut out rent-seeking layers and return that value to members. The NBPA did this by investing in legal, negotiation, and contract infrastructure once, then amortizing that cost across hundreds of player deals. A traditional agency builds the same capability but extracts **15%** per deal forever. The union charges a flat admin fee or small percentage and reinvests proceeds into member services. Brands benefit because they get to decision-makers faster and negotiate with a counterparty that has repeat-game incentives — the union wants long-term brand relationships, not one-off commissions.

A small physical-product brand can run the same play by building direct creator relationships instead of working through influencer agencies. Start with a tight community: a Slack for **50-100** micro-creators in your category, invite-only, seeded with creators you already work with. Provide deal templates, rate cards, and a simple matchmaking board where creators post availability and brands post opportunities. Charge creators nothing. The value is direct access to vetted brands and fast deal cycles. Brands pay a small platform fee or you take **5%** on completed deals, enough to cover light moderation and legal templates. You collapse the **15-20%** agency tax, creators earn more per post, and you control deal flow in your category. Start manually — a shared Airtable, a monthly Zoom — then automate once you hit **20** deals a quarter. The infrastructure cost is low. The competitive moat is high because you own the relationship and the data on what deals actually convert.

The pattern extends beyond endorsements. Any transaction with high intermediary cost and low technical complexity is a disintermediation opportunity. The NBPA proved that a trusted community operator can build deal infrastructure cheaper and better than rent-seeking agents. For a product brand, that means owning creator relationships, building lightweight negotiation tools, and becoming the platform instead of renting someone else's.

## The takeaway

Build direct creator deal flow with shared templates and a private community — cut agency rent and own the relationship data.

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## Publisher

**Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339.
Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**.

- Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about
- LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt
- MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp
- Client dashboard: https://dashboard.pops4.com/
- Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands