Dave Feit: Nebraska’s Jerky Wars

I always knew a rift would come between the various entities working to help University of Nebraska players profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Whenever big money (and bigger egos) is involved, conflict should be expected. A program with a large, passionate fan base like Nebraska has plenty of both.

But I never expected that split to occur over beef jerky.

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The 1890 Initiative — Nebraska’s primary NIL collective — launched a line of “Cornhead Beef Jerky” on Saturday.

Cornhead Jerky is made by Certified Piedmontese, a Lincoln-based beef brand owned by Tom and Shawn Peed. Tom Peed founded the company now known as Sandhills Publishing, and his son Shawn is the current president. In addition to their other donations,* the Peeds are the financial force behind the 1890 Initiative: funding the collective’s salaries, offices, equipment and other operating expenses.

*If you are a “stick to sports” person, skip this italicized section. Otherwise it is worth mentioning the Flatwater Free Press report from last April detailing some of the Peed family’s generosity in recent years.

Simply put: The people running the 1890 Initiative are selling an existing product made by one of their sister companies (rebranded as “Cornhead”*) to raise money for the collective.

*1890 currently uses the “Cornhead” brand for two other products: Cornhead Lager made by LaVista-based Kros Strain Brewing, and Cornhead Vodka produced by Foundry Distilling out of Des Moines, Iowa.

In theory, it makes a lot of sense. While I don’t have any market research to cite, I assume there is a lot of overlap between the demographics that love Nebraska football and consume jerky products.

The issue is that somebody else already realized this, and is attempting to stand where those demographic circles overlap.

And thus, the first shot in the Jerky Wars was fired.

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The launch of Cornhead Jerky was not well received by the makers of Pipeline Jerky.

Pipeline Jerky is a different brand of dried meat products with NIL ties to Nebraska players. Their jerky — both beef and pork — is made at a pork plant in West Point, Nebraska. The brothers who run the popular HuskGuys Twitter account (and their numerous offshoots) have a partnership with the manufacturer, and Pipeline has been selling and shipping since the end of 2022.

The “Pipeline” is the nickname for the offensive line of the 1994 Nebraska team that won the national championship. Pipeline Jerky distributes a portion* of its sales to players on Nebraska’s offensive line.

*I do not know — and made no effort to find out — how much Nebraska student athletes make from any of their NIL deals with local businesses (jerky sales, T-shirts, restaurant entrees, HVAC commercials, etc.) and/or deals struck with the 1890 Initiative.

Frankly, I don’t want to know.

Some things don’t need to be public knowledge. I don’t need to know how much you make at your job. You don’t need to know how much I get paid because you decided to read this article (but I thank you for reading!). And we don’t need to know how much an offensive lineman might earn from the sale of a 3-ounce bag of dried meat.

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The online blowback to 1890’s jerky announcement was swift and loud.

Led by the passionate and vocal fans of Pipeline Jerky (and/or the HuskGuys’ Twitter accounts), the vast majority of responses and quote tweets I saw were very negative toward 1890’s launch.

In December 2023, I saw 1890 picking up a lot of goodwill in the fan base when a) Nebraska was able to land five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola, and b) Matt Davison — former Husker wide receiver and president of the 1890 Initiative — conducted a media blitz to raise awareness, raise funds and educate fans on 1890’s purpose and methodology.*

*Or, as I noted at the time, “address some of the criticisms, distrust, and other perceived baggage that has held 1890 back.”

But now I see 1890 eroding a lot of that support by needlessly bulling into a market that Pipeline Jerky was serving — and by most accounts,* serving well.

*Full disclosure: I’ve never tasted either brand of jerky. But I am open to participating in a blind taste test to pick the best one.

Some Twitter users speculated if the negative reaction would cause 1890 to pull the plug on its jerky sales. Personally, I doubt it.

But based on the online responses I saw, 1890’s announcement probably helped Pipeline Jerky have a big spike in sales.

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To me, there’s a fine line between introducing products that your target audience will support and seeing somebody else’s success and saying “we should do that too.”

In 2021, the Nebraska Alumni Association (along with Lincoln’s Zipline Brewing) launched “Dear Old Nebraska Brew” — an American lager where a portion of sales supports the Alumni Association.

In 2023, the 1890 Initiative and Kros Strain Brewing introduced “Cornhead Lager” — an American lager where a portion of sales supports NIL efforts.

I’m guessing the location of that line varies, depending on which side you’re on. With beer, there’s a much larger market so there’s likely room for two similar products that both (in some way) support the University of Nebraska. I don’t know enough about the jerky market to say the same.

As I see it, the big beef in the Jerky Wars is Nebraska’s dominant NIL collective choosing to enter a space — using its own product — where another Nebraska NIL operation was already established and doing good things.

Certified Piedmontese sells a ton of meat products on its website (and in its Lincoln shop): steaks, burgers, sausages, charcuterie meats and much more. Did they consider putting the “Cornhead” brand on any of these products? Or possibly working with a different vendor to introduce a “Cornhead” product that, you know, is made from corn?

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Is Nebraska’s fan base big enough to support two dried meat snack providers giving NIL money to student athletes? If not, who loses?

I have seen the argument that it’s good for student athletes to have options as they seek to maximize their NIL value during their relatively short collegiate careers.

It’s been a long time since I took those two Economics courses at UNL, so I can’t say for sure if this competition is a sign of a capitalistic, free market or something different.

Regardless, I think the central issue goes deeper than any economic principle.

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At the heart of it, the Jerky Wars aren’t even about jerky.

Instead, they are about the desire — from the fan base, and (presumably) from the Athletic Department — that Nebraska’s various entities in the NIL space can all play nice and pull in the same direction.

Husker fans understand that NIL can be a game changer. A way for Nebraska to become more competitive on the field, court, etc. by attracting and retaining better athletes.

Here’s the thing those in the NIL space need to understand:

We the fans don’t care who is collecting the money that goes to the athletes. We don’t want to watch Nebraska businesses undercut each other. We just want to make sure that our contributions — be it a six-figure donation or six bags of jerky — are helping the Huskers.

We don’t want to have to choose sides between 1890 and Pipeline Jerky. Most fans and donors understand that 1890 is currently THE collective for Nebraska athletics. Why alienate current and potential donors by going after another company already supporting Nebraska athletes?

We all know that when Nebraska wins its next championship the folks fueling NU’s NIL funds will tell their friends “I did that!” But until then, put your damn egos aside and get along. Measure your beef sticks on your own time.

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Currently, on Certified Piedmontese’s website, you can buy twelve 3-ounce bags of Certified Piedmontese Hickory Beef Jerky for $104.99 ($8.75 each). There is a separate listing for twelve 3-ounce bags of 1890 Cornhead Beef Jerky – Hickory for $110.89 ($9.24 each).

I do not know if there is a difference between the two products beyond the name on the packaging. I also do not know if the 49 cents per pack price difference represents the entirety of the NIL contribution to 1890.

Personally, I hope all of this uproar, potential backlash, and division wasn’t over something as small as 49 cents per package.

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