There isn't any ROI for fans and never has been. It's mindless entertainment and an obsessive hobby. Nothing more.
Even if your team wins the title the net impact to your life is minimal and fleeting, if any.
UK offers Caleb Wilson over a million bucks
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There isn't any ROI for fans and never has been. It's mindless entertainment and an obsessive hobby. Nothing more.
Even if your team wins the title the net impact to your life is minimal and fleeting, if any.
Of course he is, he’s a legitimate top 10 player. That is their value and this is a good class.
I think the best formula is get one maybe 2 good freshman ready to produce year one, and get 1-2 multiple year freshman, and have the rest be portal guys and stack the roster up that way
Maybe, when I watch Wilson’s game I just don’t see the value or the asking price. But I for sure want him here, and if pope gets it done, it would have been a good recruiting job
That's a lot of money for an unknown at the college level.
I know my poor a** is just yelling from the clouds as it isn't my money. However I can't imagine that donors and uber rich people would continue to pay for players for years to come.
Eventually you will have situations where a player is paid millions and the player pulls a Sharpe and refuses to play. Does he have to pay that money back? Or donors are sick of paying money to a team that doesn't gel and misses the tournament.
Just a lot of scenarios in my opinion where they money dries up. They need to be made employees and get $100K a year from the University with a stipulation that any money received elsewhere they'd be fired.
I know my poor a** is just yelling from the clouds as it isn't my money. However I can't imagine that donors and uber rich people would continue to pay for players for years to come.
Eventually you will have situations where a player is paid millions and the player pulls a Sharpe and refuses to play. Does he have to pay that money back? Or donors are sick of paying money to a team that doesn't gel and misses the tournament.
Just a lot of scenarios in my opinion where they money dries up. They need to be made employees and get $100K a year from the University with a stipulation that any money received elsewhere they'd be fired.
If any kid gets a Million dollars to play for any school they should sign a contract for 4 years and the money be put in a trust fund and if they leave before the 4 years are up they only get part of the money. I know that will never happen but changes have to be made .
I wouldn’t be too worried about guys being overpaid in a scenario where everyone is essentially on a one year deal. This isn’t like pro contracts where you are counting on the front end of the deal being good value and the back end is likely to be crap.
Kentucky basketball is very well positioned right now. Maybe down the road a school like Texas will be outbidding everyone like the Steinbrenner Yankees, but that isn’t happening now. For now we are one of only a few Yankees. It’s a good place to be.
Kentucky basketball is very well positioned right now. Maybe down the road a school like Texas will be outbidding everyone like the Steinbrenner Yankees, but that isn’t happening now. For now we are one of only a few Yankees. It’s a good place to be.
Back in my day you could get an Anthony Davis for $250k and he came with a ring.
Well, the Mormon church has billions and billions .... they could build a basketball team overnight if they really wanted to just to see how it goes for their flagship university.
Anyone else alienated by all of this? It certainly has made me less passionate and intense as a sports fan. This all feels like inconsequential and somewhat absurd theater. Like it doesn’t really matter or deserve any serious attention or investment.
I'm barely hanging on. The new hire of Pope is just barely keeping me invested.
If they’re going to get paid like pros then treat them like pros. No more kid gloves. So when they don’t perform night in and night out Burn them at the stake. And no one should come to their defense and say they’re just college kids. ********
I’m hoping the Pope hire will keep us competing in the SEC and NCAA tournaments. Unlike his predecessor for the last several years.
I prefer that to recruiting championships.
You can’t be for bringing in top talent AND be against NIL in 2024. It’s literally the same thing
The real strain on fans will come when many of them have either voluntarily, or to some extent involuntarily, “ponied up” in this new era of professional college basketball, and the newly minted millionaire 18-19 year olds on the team struggle with the transition to college basketball, and the team is just so-so, at best.
He’s pretty versatile and you put 20-30 pounds on his frame and he’s gonna crush. Very skilled for a big man.
I think contacts are a necessity now. So much money means both parties need protection. It’s a pro sport model now.
The numbers thrown around are ridiculous. Don't believe any of that BS. Nobody really knows whatsoever.
not to doubt you, but how does the average fan know how UK stacks up against other schools in regard to NIL funding?
there is no way that UK can compete with states that have major industries or corporate headquarters in their back yard.
All this NIL crap is going to do is knock out the grass root fans that have supported UK for years. These fans have grown up following UK on the radio, then tv, because they don't have the $ to see a game in person. Just like the blue white game. This used to be a sold out event for years. Compare that to this years fiasco. Many people are just trying to survive since covid. Everything, especially food, has basically doubled since then. Everything except the salaries.
That itself won’t happen but that’s an intriguing idea about multi-year contracts. If a top 20-30 kid looks like a 2-year player for example, could they offer him like 1.2 million over 2 years and he’d have to pay back the 1st 600k if he enters the draft or transfers after 1?
We just raised $750K in a single event that most of us think was a spectacular failure. I have no idea why anyone would be po’mouthing UK basketball’s ability to raise NIL funds. We may be screwed in football, but in basketball we have an advantage in that we care about it more than pretty much anyone.
I miss the days of hookers and 100 dollar handshakes. Seems more wholesome in retrospect.
Something like that would be perfect. Or just make the checks payable at certain intervals over the 2 years. If he leaves he cuts off his “employment” basically.
Remember, these million dollar offers Coach Pope is throwing around all started in the late 80’s when that bogus package of $1500 (15 HUNDRED 
) “popped open” at that DSL facility that was addressed to Chris Mills!
No Chris Mills, no Eddie Sutton leaving.
No Eddie Sutton leaving, no Rick Pitino.
No Rick Pitino, no NC Capt. Mark Pope, and the rest as they say, is history
) “popped open” at that DSL facility that was addressed to Chris Mills!No Chris Mills, no Eddie Sutton leaving.
No Eddie Sutton leaving, no Rick Pitino.
No Rick Pitino, no NC Capt. Mark Pope, and the rest as they say, is history
Well it cant go back to the old way, its deemed unconstitutional. and honestly it was. if you want it to change, the only way is to have the players get considered employees and have them form a union where these things can be negotiated like in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL ...
We're going to see a lot more coaches get canned far quicker than in the past including proven coaches like how title winning coaches are pushed out in football like 3 years after winning titles. Instead of just big boosters being furious over wasting money helping out the coach, it will be all the fans giving NIL . Then the next coach will come in and with optimism and hope the people will NIL players for that coach and the cycle continues.
The blue white game raised $750,000!!!!!
Holy crap, I guess I have to eat my words
that is unbelievable
I still don’t see how this current model is sustainable, but it’s the state of affairs for college sports. I wonder when we’ll get our first college lockout where teams refuse to play.
It is hard not to quickly sour on this new era. I am all for this kids making money off their their name, image or likeness. I do however hate what this has quickly become and that is just outright paying players a salary.
The butterfly effect at workRemember, these million dollar offers Coach Pope is throwing around all started in the late 80’s when that bogus package of $1500 (15 HUNDRED
No Chris Mills, no Eddie Sutton leaving.
No Eddie Sutton leaving, no Rick Pitino.
No Rick Pitino, no NC Capt. Mark Pope, and the rest as they say, is history
That is absolutely correct.
I agree. Just don't pay attention to it if it bothers you. We are getting more information (likely false anyway) than ever before. Just limit yourself if you can't handle it.
Old men retiring from jobs that are getting harder is probably a good thing. These guys coaching into their late 70s probably means the job has been too easy in the past.
I'm on a work meeting as we speak, with like 6 PMs babbling about something and providing no actual substance or value.
When I think about sports players making a ton of money, I'm at least GETTING something for it. My teams are better, I get to see them win, etc. And I often think about just how many other jobs are out there were people are making anywhere from $100k to $10m a year to do next to nothing. So it's hard for me to care that an 18-year old basketball player just made a few million.
I can assure you that they won’t allow UK to play in an empty arena. NIL will do next to nothing as far as ticket prices. The NIL is actually helping keep college basketball relevant. I think you will see more players that are on the fence about leaving to turn pro decide to stay as they can earn decent money. The best players were already being paid or compensated in some way by many colleges anyways. At least it isn’t something we are pretending isn’t happening any longer.
An elite player at Kentucky or Duke is bringing more eyeballs to the TV screen than some rookie coming off the bench in the NBA. College basketball is probably not the size of the NBA market share wise, but it isn't so much of a blowout that its laughable. If you can get someone who will be one of the faces of the sport that is worth quiet a bit of $ even if they aren't as talented as all the NBA players.
It is probably also true that these values are currently inflated, but the idea that no college player should make more than any NBA guys is incorrect.