LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Imagine staking $100 on a top high school recruit to commit and play for your favorite college team. If they do, they get all the money. But if that player goes elsewhere, you get your investment back in full.

Now stop imagining, because that's a reality thanks to the new NIL fundraising platform Fanstake.

The idea for the website was born after a few beers between some Duke basketball fans who were wondering what it would take to get then projected No. 1 draft pick, Zion Williamson, to forgo the NBA and return to college.

"We're like, you know, we could probably kickstart this kid back to school," said Greg Glass, co-founder of Fanstake. "And, at the time, you couldn't. It was illegal."

However, a federal judge ruled last year the NCAA can no longer prohibit athletes from negotiating in advance of selecting a school.

That was the green light for Fanstake.

"That's all Fanstake really is," Glass said. "It's a negotiation platform where you understand what the demand is at these different fan bases in advance of making a decision."

Now, in just a few months following the launch of the platform, millions of dollars have been staked by fans on the website. It's empowering fanbases to become involved with the recruiting process.

"What every school does have are these fanatical fanbases willing to participate and help out," Glass said. "And even if it's just $5, $10, $15 collectively, it sort of democratizes this process. You start to see that with schools like Louisville and fan bases like Louisville ... and they want to get behind their team and their athletes."

Louisville's fanbase has staked the most money on the platform since its launch, according to Fanstake. Tens of thousands of dollars are staked on recruits and current athletes to come to or stay put at UofL.

"I think it speaks loudly to the basketball culture there," Glass said.

Nate Ament, a five-star high school recruit from Virginia who has visited Pat Kelsey and the Cards, has amassed $31,230 from fans to come to Louisville to play basketball. 

If he enrolls at the University of Louisville and is listed on the team's official roster, Fanstake will offer him that money through a Name, Image and Likeness deal. Fanstake takes 7% of the final amount.

If Ament chooses to go elsewhere, 100% of the money staked by UofL fans goes back to them immediately.

"One of the things that stood out to us, actually, when Nate (Ament) first started getting a lot of attention, was the Kentucky fans noticed that the Louisville fans were really outperforming," Glass said, adding that Kentucky fans have moved into second place on Ament, staking north of $11,000. "I love that. I love seeing the rivalries, like both on the court as well as off."

Other notable UofL recruits that have garnered attention on Fanstake include Alijah Arenas and Mikel Brown. And fans have also staked money on current players, like Khani Rooths, James Scott and Koren Johnson to all remain at Louisville rather than transferring elsewhere.

Every Division I basketball and football player are featured on the website, along with a long list of top high school recruits.

"If everyone chipped in, it would be a monster, Glass said. "If everyone chipped in $5, like, it changes the game."

The game, as it exists in college athletics, is generally dictated by organizations called collectives, which pool money from donors, fans, and businesses to provide compensation to college athletes for using their "Name, Image, and Likeness" through endorsement deals, appearances or other marketing opportunities, essentially acting as a network to facilitate NIL deals for student-athletes at a specific university while operating separately from the school itself.

502 Circle is the name of the collective which serves Louisville student-athletes and prospect athletes. Dan Furman, the president of 502 Circle, didn't respond to a request for comment on this story.

However, Fanstake's co-founder believes grassroots funding and collective funding can co-exist.

"We're not looking to be competitive with the university or collectives. We're looking to actually tap into something that they haven't really reached yet," Glass said, adding that he hopes collectives like 502 Circle and Fanstake can team up down the road. "That's our solution, and we don't feel it's competitive. We feel it's complimentary."

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