Former UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka is currently unemployed. College football is no longer an amateur sport with the existence of unregulated NIL practices and he was not going to play for free.
There are a lot of questions that continue to hover over the bizarre situation in Las Vegas, but it sounds like his time with the Rebels is completely finished.
Sluka announced his surprising decision to sit out the rest of the 2024 season and take advantage of his redshirt season on late Tuesday night. The unusual move stems from an alleged lack of payment that was promised to him by the university. He and his family claim that UNLV guaranteed the former Holy Cross star a lump sum of at least $100,000 to transfer during the offseason.
However, Sluka only received $3,000 from the school and its NIL collective for the cost of his initial relocation. The university (and its affiliated Name, Image and Likeness entities) cite a lack of formal, written agreement to explain the lack of payment. It notes that negotiations were ongoing, after a 3-0 start to begin the season, for monthly payments of $3,000.
Sluka’s camp says that is not enough, especially after the alleged promise of $100K— which UNLV has repeatedly disputed.
Other reports suggest that he might have received another, bigger offer to transfer again. By taking a redshirt for 2024, he will be able to play one final season of college football in 2025 at a new school.
There is a lot of “he said, she said” going on and truth usually falls somewhere in the middle. Regardless of what actually went down between the two parties, Sluka left Las Vegas.
UNLV was, and is, unwilling to pay Matthew Sluka $100,000.
According to Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the university actually received an offer from an outside business entity that is willing to pony up on its behalf. Circa CEO Derek Stevens and vice president Mike Palm reached out to the university with an offer for the local casino mogul to pay the money to keep Sluka on the team.
Palm said that the offer was immediately shot down by UNLV because the starting quarterback already left the team. The relationship was already dead. There was no chance of a rekindling.
Circa was willing to pay whatever necessary to ensure the Rebels could retain their dual-threat signal-caller. It was too late.