Tom Izzo: NIL fundraising most important part of J Batt’s job at Michigan State

Tom Izzo said that he was “really impressed” by new Michigan State athletic director J Batt during his introductory press conference. Batt addressed a number of topics during his introductory press conference last facing the Spartans brand.

That included NIL, which Tom Izzo said is going to be the most important issue for the Spartans AD to tackle. Specifically, when it comes fundraising.

“It just has to be,” Izzo said following Batt’s introduction. “You can look at it any way you want to look at it, but it is what’s critical for all of us. Then, fundraising in general that $20 million that we’re going to spend — that wasn’t just given to us. Every athletic department is going to be subject to raise money to help that, the facilities and how much we give to each program. So I think fundraising is a major part, yet as a business man you have to understand the athletics to that.”

Izzo hasn’t been shy about voicing his displeasures about certain aspects of NIL in the past, as well as the NCAA transfer portal. Now that the historic House Settlement has been approved, it further shifts how revenue distribution and paying athletes in general will be handled.

This will see a $20.5 million revenue sharing cap go into effect beginning on July 1. Power Four football programs will eat up roughly $15 million of that, with other top programs in other sports adding to the overall budget with “over-the-cap” deals from third parties.

Izzo, as well as Batt, expect Michigan State to be at the forefront of these efforts as a staple in the Big Ten Conference. However, the fundraising efforts will be the greatest challenge to Batt as he gets comfortable in his new position, according to Izzo.

“We are gonna be extremely successful and competitive in that space,” Batt said during his first meeting with the media as AD. “We’re gonna be intentional about providing all of our coaches the resources to be successful at a championship level. I’ll tell you, as we head into the revenue share (era), the post-House settlement, hopefully, what that requires will change, and how we approach that space will change.

“But I can tell you we’ll have a great plan. We’ll be united in that plan, we’ll be aligned in that plan from President Guskiewicz to our coaches to our board as we head into that era.”