Boosters have become more important than ever in the name, image and likeness era of college athletics, and Arkansas head coach John Calipari has come up with a way to protect those who want to help schools build out their rosters. Travis Long, who played for Calipari at Memphis, and his business partner Steve Stelmach founded a company called the 32 Group earlier this year. Though Calipari has no direct involvement in the New York-based company, the 66-year-old coach is the one who proposed the idea for a way to protect donors who commit money to players. For a 3% premium, 32 Group offers donors an insurance policy to protect against a player getting injured. If a player were to suffer a season-ending injury prior to Jan. 15 of their first season at a new school, the entity that committed the money to the player would be paid back in full. If the player were to be ruled out for the year between Jan. 15 and Feb. 15, the policy would return 50%. For example, a school, collective or business that committed $1
