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More clarity is being added to the Matthew Sluka situation in Las Vegas. The quarterback’s father shed light on what transpired to lead to his son’s recent redshirt decision.
The UNLV football team is said to have swindled Sluka out of nearly $100,000 in NIL money. Promises weren’t fulfilled, so the starting signal caller bolted!
Sluka announced a decision to sit out the remainder of the season after leading the Rebels to a 3-0 start. That would allow him to preserve his final year of eligibility, which could be played elsewhere in 2025.
The passer arrived at UNLV this offseason after spending four years at FCS Holy Cross. In three outings with the Rebs, he shined.
Matthew Sluka totaled seven touchdowns while throwing for 318 yards and rushing for 253 more. In the process, he led the team to wins over Power Five programs Kansas and Houston.
Sluka cited unfulfilled NIL promises in that redshirt decision, though many in the media claimed that he’d been tampered with by another school.
The quarterback’s brother did his part to clear the air by refuting online lies. His father is now doing the same.
Matthew Sluka’s dad says UNLV football paid his son pennies.
Adam Rittenberg of ESPN spoke to Bob Sluka this week. He sent out a series of messages on X detailing what was said.
Bob Sluka, father of UNLV QB Matthew Sluka, told ESPN that his son’s agents 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.
-X: @ESPNRittenberg
A payment plan was supposedly in place, though Sluka says the Rebels kept pushing the payment dates back when asked to fulfill their initial promise.
“They keep deferring, ‘We don’t know. You have to wait,'” Bob Sluka told me. “Then it was like, ‘We’re going to give him game checks.’ So we’re like, ‘OK, great.’ We did not ask for a single dollar [more].”
Sluka added that Matt’s living expenses weren’t even covered.
-X: @ESPNRittenberg
That original NIL deal was reportedly worth $100,000, though there is uncertainty surrounding whether that deal was made verbally or in writing. Matthew Sluka has only received $3,000 according to his father.
Bob Sluka told me that when Matt reported to UNLV, he was told NIL deal would be distributed via payment plan. Then was told to wait until classes started, and then the games. During a Sept. 19 call, Matt’s agent was told UNLV would not pay anything other than 3K relocation cost.
-X: @ESPNRittenberg
“We’re a hardworking family,” Bob Sluka told Rittenberg. “To be able to have an athlete like Matt, we don’t even really care that much about the money. But there is a principle to it. He’s not the first athlete to have this happen.”
Matthew Sluka’s father’s account sheds light on potential closed doors discussions and details why his son played in the first three games despite not receiving that NIL money. They kept telling him it would come – until they told him it wouldn’t!
UNLV, meanwhile, continues to deny the accusations.
Rob Sine, CEO of Blueprint Sports which operates UNLV’s Collective, told @CBSSports “Everything we do is contracted, we don’t do anything verbally” and that the collective never made a $100k promise to QB Matthew Sluka.
— John Talty (@JTalty) September 25, 2024
We’ll see where things go from here.