OSU NIL plan
- Thread starter phatcat_rivals223240
- Start date
We are building a stadium dammit!! Another hit to my college fandom. Thank you NCAA and greed for this......
I would give to a fund like this for NU athletics. I give to the Wildcat Athletics Excellence fund annually. I would be happy to give to this. NU has an endowment of over $10 billion. It got that way through donors, big and small. If NIL rules the land, let us at least start to play by these rules and play competitively. Why be reactive?
If Eastern Michigan (yes, you read that right) can do it, Northwestern can do it.
Greed? Stupidity!
Never associate with malice what which could be adequately explained by stupidity!
Cardale Jones being involved in this is extra triple funny. They indeed are not there to play school.
I understand why you would think Cardale Jones being involved 'is extra triple funny'. However, to Mr. Jones credit, he recognized the error in his statement. He then went on to finish his degree at Ohio State. He has been nothing but a stand up person here in Columbus. He is exceedingly affable and sincere, whether he meets you at the trampoline park with your kids or at a fundraiser for the university. He happens to be a close friend of Brian Schottenstein, who is starting the NIL fund.
I have said and done many stupid things in my lifetime. As I age, I have learned to own up to these errors and hope that my present and future activities outweigh those mistakes. We are all human beings and should not be defined solely by one stupid remark made years ago.
I attended Northwestern from 1988-1992. I attended a fair number of football games when we had to walk to the game with no buses and in weather that was “pre-climate change”. I attended a ton of games in the ‘95 season. I purchased season tickets in ’96 and haven’t given them up in the last 26 years. I watch virtually every game on TV. I have dragged my family (wife NU ‘91 and daughters) to bowl games in Nashville and San Diego - neither were particularly pleasant weather games even if the results were wonderful. In short, I hope I have proven my bona fides as a Northwestern fan.
Outside of the ticket price and the mandatory $100 donation to the program, I give $0.00 to the athletic program in general, and the football team in particular.
My wife and I have chosen to be reasonably charitable to Northwestern for student scholarships. I could not have afforded to attend Northwestern without significant financial aid. Northwestern changed the trajectory of my life and I wish to give back.
My hunch is that I am not alone.
Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Clemson et. al. do not have this same dynamic. Whether reliant on state revenue to fund colleges or otherwise, it is understandable that a vastly larger share of generosity to Northwestern comes in the form of donations directly to student aid or academic aid than to athletics.
I am aware of the relationship between athletic success (our front door) to general success at the institution. But, I remain comfortable with the choice my wife and I are making.
Such decisions by me and others like me, will have a detrimental impact on the NU Football program in an NIL era.
Outside of the ticket price and the mandatory $100 donation to the program, I give $0.00 to the athletic program in general, and the football team in particular.
My wife and I have chosen to be reasonably charitable to Northwestern for student scholarships. I could not have afforded to attend Northwestern without significant financial aid. Northwestern changed the trajectory of my life and I wish to give back.
My hunch is that I am not alone.
Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Clemson et. al. do not have this same dynamic. Whether reliant on state revenue to fund colleges or otherwise, it is understandable that a vastly larger share of generosity to Northwestern comes in the form of donations directly to student aid or academic aid than to athletics.
I am aware of the relationship between athletic success (our front door) to general success at the institution. But, I remain comfortable with the choice my wife and I are making.
Such decisions by me and others like me, will have a detrimental impact on the NU Football program in an NIL era.
That’s fine. It’s your money, you have the right to do what you want with it. I am not an alum and have not donated to anything at NU other than the athletic department. That’s not going to change. That endowment seems pretty darn robust to me for the academic side. Need is 100% met, if I am correct. If every alum makes the same decision and you, NIL could be detrimental. We already know of some high rollers that feel differently. Now find a few more and the sky won’t be falling.
The differences between us and most other FBS universities in this regard are 1a) size of alumni base 1b) size of LOCAL alumni base and 2) most importantly, size of subway alumni base. Now, for (2), I don't necessarily mean non-college graduates. I know dozens, scores of people that attended other universities/colleges but have a lifelong rooting interest in the behemoths. I am not talking about the stereotype Walmart Michigan fans. I am talking about people that attended somewhere like Kettering University or Lawrence Tech, but have their maize and blue on come Saturdays. Same for OSU fans that attended Wittenberg, Marietta, Denison etc. Iowa fans that attended Luther College or Wartburg. What are they supposed to do, find Wartburg on ESPN8, the Ocho? My close friend is a Lamar grad that bleeds Texas orange. My FIL is a tech school grad - brilliant guy - that is all about Michigan. My boss is a small college grad that has an office emblazoned with OSU stuff. These folks aren't university supporters. They couldn't care less about the OSU economics department. They support the football program. If/WHEN they send money, it is to athletics. At the big boys, there are folks lined up, checkbook in hand, to support player NIL $
I still firmly believe that the athletes deserve compensation. A year or so into the mandated and unregulated NIL program, it is clear that G5 and smaller P5 schools are at a huge disadvantage. Nevertheless, as I said earlier, we either need to get in (real NIL program) or get out. We are not alone, there will be many other punching bags, but we are alone in the B1G.
I'm not anti Cardale. I loved Cardale the moment he first sent out his infamous tweet. I just think it's funny that he's involved. It's the ultimate insult to the old farts who blocked player compensation for years and acted like Cardale was some kind of monster for stating the obvious. His only crime was he said the quiet part out loud.
Well the quiet part is now officially very, very out loud, and the Cardale Jones of the world are having the last laugh, big time. Money is like water and life: it flows downhill and it finds a way. That's why it's funny.
Somebody ought to call up Kain and see if he's interested in continuing his support of players getting paid in this same capacity at NU!
Nobody has an answer for this? If they are ostensibly paying for a player's NIL, what are they going to do with it?
The model, first floated in Texas and now floated here, seems to be some network of nonprofits. One which is essentially a shell corp for player pay, and more nonprofits for whom the players go do work of some kind. I continue to think this model has IRS issues if not handled seriously. The other major model out there is the A&M model where a point booster connected recruits and major individual booster business owners without any formalized structure.
I appreciate you clarifying your post. I misunderstood that you appreciated the irony of his position on a different level than I thought. Cheers.
I guess I'm still confused as to how this in any way resembles actual compensation for a player's name, image, and/or likeness.
I know. I hear he is a likeable and sincere guy, and by all indications fairly bright. I bear no malice.
But that is which is heard cannot be unheard. So his association with the NIL scheme just seems so fitting. I know it was uttered by a teenager, but at the time I found it revealing. Not so much about Jones, but about the culture of big time college football. Jones just got sucked it into it.
And what’s wrong with it? Around that same time John Anderson was on Sportcenter making cracks about schools like OsU being minor league athletic factories masquerading as athletic institutions. Cardale was just the honest one.
I dunno, they like show up to some fundraisers as a featured guest, take some pictures with the VIPs for extra donations, cut some adds for some charities, whatever.
At Northwestern, any major push to create an NIL pool of money would be met with "will this impact our ability to grow the endowment?"
At Auburn (and the like), the opposite question is being asked.
Objectively, Northwestern is choosing to fight the smart fight...but that doesn't help us on those 12 Saturdays in the fall.
At Auburn (and the like), the opposite question is being asked.
Objectively, Northwestern is choosing to fight the smart fight...but that doesn't help us on those 12 Saturdays in the fall.
The boosters should set up their own NIL fund with no direct involvement from the university. Isn't that how it's supposed to work?
I agree with you; what I'm saying is the bean counters at NU know that 100% of the money is coming from the same relatively small pool of wealthy power brokers, and I think they'll do what they can to maintain a captive audience and "keep the main thing...the main thing." It's clear NU considers the endowment its crown jewel and will do what it can to program all friends of the university to share that vision.
I think this script is flipped at many other institutions, that will make sure its athletic programs eat before any other entity suckling at the donors' teats.
Endowments are dumb, at a point. Dick-measuring.
MSU has set up an interesting portal that connects local businesses with athletes.
MSU has set up an interesting portal that connects local businesses with athletes.
Just one final thought here...it will be interesting 2-3 years from now if NIL "investment" wars have become less eye-popping. Investing in high school recruits is worse than speculating on NFTs or crypto. I am envisioning one of two things happening (or both):
1. All the money goes to the portal for proven talent looking to get their payday there. CFB starts to look more like CBB with one-and-dones, but "taking their talents" to other college programs.
2. NIL deals evolve into contracts that require starting jobs and other incentive-laden milestones - cash on delivery only.
Bottom line: this all creates a very, very tragically adversarial relationship between schools, fans, and players. Many programs will not survive in their current form, and FBS/FCS will make way for some other differentiation based largely on market conditions. If NU settles into a "lower" tier where we are competing with other programs that have not gone mad with NIL deals...I'd be fine with that.
1. All the money goes to the portal for proven talent looking to get their payday there. CFB starts to look more like CBB with one-and-dones, but "taking their talents" to other college programs.
2. NIL deals evolve into contracts that require starting jobs and other incentive-laden milestones - cash on delivery only.
Bottom line: this all creates a very, very tragically adversarial relationship between schools, fans, and players. Many programs will not survive in their current form, and FBS/FCS will make way for some other differentiation based largely on market conditions. If NU settles into a "lower" tier where we are competing with other programs that have not gone mad with NIL deals...I'd be fine with that.