Athletics, NIL, and Private Capital: The Current and Future State of Collegiate Athletics in a post-House World

Damon Barry

Damon O. Barry is the Managing Partner of Ballard Spahr's Denver and Boulder offices and is a member of the firm's Senior Leadership Team. As an experienced M&A and government affairs attorney, Damon solves problems for his clients and assists companies with complex business and legal transactions.

He advises and represents both buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, and sophisticated commercial transactions. Damon’s clients include directors and executives of public companies, owners of closely held companies, executives and directors of government agencies and others in a wide range of industries including software and technology, retail, hospitality, food and beverage, real estate, cannabis, financial services, government and manufacturing. He also advises professional athletes and coaches on sports law matters.

A former in-house counsel, Damon routinely advises corporate legal departments as well as serves as outside general counsel for middle-market companies.

Damon spent more than a decade at a publicly traded, multinational corporation where he served as Vice President of Business Affairs, Assistant General Counsel (Deputy), and Corporate Secretary. In that role, he advised the executive team and provided oversight on the operational and legal aspects of all business operations, including corporate growth strategies, corporate governance, and oversight of regional operations in Europe and Central and Latin America. In this position, Damon played a key role in a number of mergers, acquisitions, and commercial transactions exceeding $3.5 billion in value.

Damon is a Co-Leader of the firm's Cannabis, Psychedelics, and Emerging Therapies Team. In that role, he provides strategic advice to organizations as they navigate the patchwork of state and federal laws governing cannabis and psychedelics use.

Damon earned his J.D. from the University of Nebraska College of Law and his B.A. from the University of Washington.

Reggie Calhoun, Jr.

Reggie Calhoun Jr. is the Director of Football NIL and Revenue Sharing at the University of Colorado, where he leads the legal and structural enforcement of athlete compensation systems in the post- House era. He is the creator of The $10M Athlete and The $50M Roster—two governance frameworks that now define the national standard for athlete readiness and institutional structure in a post-house environment.

As a system architect and revenue strategist, Reggie has spent over a decade building enforceable operating systems for athletes, institutions, and external stakeholders. His expertise spans NIL law, fiscal structure, talent retention, and postsecondary transformation. He is also the founder of ProStrat Innovations, the governing infrastructure behind Athlete RevOps and Structural External Operations.

Reggie’s work has been featured in national publications and recognized across sports, education, and entrepreneurship for its clarity, discipline, and legal defensibility. He is not a spokesperson for NIL—he is the one enforcing it. His systems have been awarded, licensed, and installed across the industry for one reason: they hold.