Duke had $35m- Dark Money? WSJ

ImTheVillageIdiot

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Some of our fans love stories like this so that the expectation at UK never surpasses the "mid" range.

Gives us a nice built-in excuse.

Reminds me of the Tubby Smith era when about 40% of the fans cleaned up the pig vomit he left behind every March.
Whatcha mean, Saul? If true, how would we compete with 35M? We thought we were loaded with 8-10M this year
 

Son_Of_Saul

Heisman
Dec 7, 2007
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Whatcha mean, Saul? If true, how would we compete with 35M? We thought we were loaded with 8-10M this year
If they truly had a $35 million per year NIL, why would they have settled on the likes of Sion James and Malik Brown in the portal? Those guys are very good players, but wouldn't Duke have just stacked the roster with NBA level guys at those same positions?

Do they have a collective of $35 million as a long-term investment for NIL, or do they have that money from year-to-year?

Details like that matter.
 
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ImTheVillageIdiot

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If they truly had a $35 million per year NIL, why would they have settled on the likes of Sion James and Malik Brown in the portal. Those guys are very good players, but wouldn't Duke have just stacked the roster with NBA level guys are those same positions?

Do they have a collective of $35 million as a long-term investment for NIL, or do they have that money from year-to-year?

Details like that matter.
Actually, good point. And they backed down in the Dent sweepstakes. I don’t have WSJ so I’m gonna assume something isn’t right about that report.
 

4UK4life1

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Dec 21, 2004
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Whatcha mean, Saul? If true, how would we compete with 35M? We thought we were loaded with 8-10M this year
When I saw someone say we were loaded and then saw them say the number was 8-10 million, I was hoping they meant from one donor lol. Seeing the rumors of players getting up to 3 mil each had to have some sort of legs to it.
 
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chasingwildcat

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If they truly had a $35 million per year NIL, why would they have settled on the likes of Sion James and Malik Brown in the portal. Those guys are very good players, but wouldn't Duke have just stacked the roster with NBA level guys are those same positions?

Do they have a collective of $35 million as a long-term investment for NIL, or do they have that money from year-to-year?

Details like that matter.
sion james is nba level player

I believe each Duke five star receive 2M


So as a team definitely duke investigates more than 10M...
 

chasingwildcat

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Foster, Protcor, Evans, Pat N, Sudan guy, Flagg, that white shooter

Each one may cost 2M already as they are highly sought five stars

It is easy to speculate that Duke has more than 10M nil each year
 
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Son_Of_Saul

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Dec 7, 2007
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sion james is nba level player

I believe each Duke five star receive 2M


So as a team definitely duke investigates more than 10M...
Sion James wasn't NBA level when he left Tulane, and that's the point. You pay top dollar for elite portal players if you have $35 million/year to work with.

James wasn't even ranked in the top 60 composite transfer rankings. Duke could have had better, and if they had $35 million in portal cash each year, they wouldn't have settled on the #61 rated player and "maybe" cup of coffee NBA guy.
 

Son_Of_Saul

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Foster, Protcor, Evans, Pat N, Sudan guy, Flagg, that white shooter

Each one may cost 2M already as they are highly sought five stars

It is easy to speculate that Duke has more than 10M nil each year
No one disputes that. The whole point of my argument is that it's far fetched that they have $35 million a year in NIL. There are MLB baseball teams that barely have twice that payroll - for 162 games no less.
 

Bluesnky

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My guess is not 35M high, but definitely duke has more than 10m in nil

Probably somewhere between 10m-20m
Probably closer to $10m would be my guess. It’s a well constructed roster, but it’s constructed around Flagg. A lot of those guys are role players who would cost a whole hell of a lot more now than they did last offseason. They picked well.
 
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LineSkiCat14

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Aug 5, 2015
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Probably closer to $10m would be my guess. It’s a well constructed roster, but it’s constructed around Flagg. A lot of those guys are role players who would cost a whole hell of a lot more now than they did last offseason. They picked well.

Lmfao if you think Duke is just paying $10m.
 
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35-50 mil easy especially if you count shoe deals, national ads, and national exposure.

One reason they aren't that aggressive yet is they're still playing. Second reason is i really think kon knueppel is legitimately coming back or at least will be very close. Same with maluach. So they really won't need much.

Either way, they will get every single generational player and any elite freshman they want. Cal is the only one that can recruit freshman vs duke because he has nba payday he can promise.

I tried telling people several days ago and just caught anger. Its a brand new nil world with insane money. Everyone has an agent. Our 10 mil wont cut it. Our murky revenue sharing wont cut it. Until uk gets serious, with or without mitch, this is how it will be.
 
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trueblujr

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Dec 14, 2005
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35-50 mil easy especially if you count shoe deals, national ads, and national exposure.

One reason they aren't that aggressive yet is they're still playing. Second reason is i really think kon knueppel is legitimately coming back or at least will be very close. Same with maluach. So they really won't need much.

Either way, they will get every single generational player and any elite freshman they want. Cal is the only one that can recruit freshman vs duke because he has nba payday he can promise.

I tried telling people several days ago and just caught anger. Its a brand new nil world with insane money. Everyone has an agent. Our 10 mil wont cut it. Our murky revenue sharing wont cut it. Until uk gets serious, with or without mitch, this is how it will be.
Wouldn’t be surprised if a significant portion of that dark money comes from ESPN.
 

Wunky

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Whatcha mean, Saul? If true, how would we compete with 35M? We thought we were loaded with 8-10M this year

The same way Saint Peter’s and Oakland competed with a team full of burger boys and NPOY’s and lottery picks.
 
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Wouldn’t be surprised if a significant portion of that dark money comes from ESPN.

If not directly they absolutely indirectly generate tons of nil. Easy pitch to national advertisers since the biggest name in sports will be riding your meat 24/7.

Plus think of all the leverage Disney can swing. More ads means more tuning in to watch them. Its incestuous but its a fact.
 

chasingwildcat

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Sion James wasn't NBA level when he left Tulane, and that's the point. You pay top dollar for elite portal players if you have $35 million/year to work with.

James wasn't even ranked in the top 60 composite transfer rankings. Duke could have had better, and if they had $35 million in portal cash each year, they wouldn't have settled on the #61 rated player and "maybe" cup of coffee NBA guy.
will not disagree

Do not think will be 35m high

But definitely higher than 10m
 

*Fox2Monk*

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Whatcha mean, Saul? If true, how would we compete with 35M? We thought we were loaded with 8-10M this year
They don’t have 35M a year to spend, they are just investing the money to use and it’s smart. We should have our donors do this as well. Start a collective and have the money make money to spend later. The money we don’t use we can build more in interest for the future. They will be well stocked no doubt, they are private and don’t have to provide details either so that in itself is a bonus.
 

Bluesnky

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Lmfao if you think Duke is just paying $10m.
You could tell me just about any amount of money was dedicated to Flagg and I’d believe it. But for the rest of those guys they’d be going way above market at the time. And that doesn’t make sense unless they’re just the absolute best at selecting players who fit together as a team. Which, if so, good for them.
 

chasingwildcat

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Probably closer to $10m would be my guess. It’s a well constructed roster, but it’s constructed around Flagg. A lot of those guys are role players who would cost a whole hell of a lot more now than they did last offseason. They picked well.
Greater than 10M

And highest in all d1 basketball teams
 

coriolanus92

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Mar 21, 2024
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They can only play 5 guys at a time, and no way are they going do what UCLA did with bench guys who could have been AA's somewhere else if they were playing. It isn't even a given that they're going to win it all this year.

I don't like it either, but just because they have the most money doesn't mean they're the favorites every year. For example, there's not a Cooper Flagg every season, and where would they be if they had a "regular" 5 star in place of him? They'd still be really good, but not the favorites that they are this year.
 
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chasingwildcat

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They can only play 5 guys at a time, and no way are they going do what UCLA did with bench guys who could have been AA's somewhere else if they were playing. It isn't even a given that they're going to win it all this year.

I don't like it either, but just because they have the most money doesn't mean they're the favorites every year. For example, there's not a Cooper Flagg every season, and where would they be if they had a "regular" 5 star in place of him? They'd still be really good, but not the favorites that they are this year.
If they just delete flagg, and change him with Harper or bailey, they may not even be in E8

Do not think boozer is flagg good next year...

Flagg is most dominant freshman since ad (yes, I think he is better player than zion)
 

chasingwildcat

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They don’t have 35M a year to spend, they are just investing the money to use and it’s smart. We should have our donors do this as well. Start a collective and have the money make money to spend later. The money we don’t use we can build more in interest for the future. They will be well stocked no doubt, they are private and don’t have to provide details either so that in itself is a bonus.
If they have 35M

They can buy an entire burger boy team (12 five stars)...

Or they can buy a team with flagg paired with 3-4 aa level transfer players and 3-4 five stars...

10-20M is more realistic
 
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*Fox2Monk*

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If they have 35M

They can buy an entire burger boy team (12 five stars)...

Or they can buy a team with flagg paired with 3-4 aa level transfer players and 3-4 five stars...

10-20M is more realistic
They probably have that much cash in the fund because they started that early on years ago. They just don’t want to spend it all in one year when they can get who they want and continue to grow the fund.
 
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*Fox2Monk*

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If they just delete flagg, and change him with Harper or bailey, they may not even be in E8

Do not think boozer is flagg good next year...

Flagg is most dominant freshman since ad (yes, I think he is better player than zion)
Overall yes he’s a better player for sure.