Iowa NIL Update

1UNI2ISU

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Merely speculation, I'm curious if this drives some coaches away from the profession.
It already has. Jay Wright said '**** it, if I want to deal with this I'll double my salary and go to the NBA.' Roy Williams probably retired a couple years earlier than he otherwise would have.
 
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cymonw1980

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Three big problems:
(1) The mindset of wanting something direct and tangible in return, as in "What do I get for my $10 or $20 or $50?"
(2) There are areas in this country (e.g., the Southeast) where a large number of people tie so much of their personal identities to their university's sports teams. Iowa State isn't one of those.
(3) There are places with a concentration of affluent donors who give just to show how much money they have -- an ego/****-measuring contest. Iowa State isn't one of those.

#1: is a bigger problem for schools getting $1M checks from donors to their collective.... for $100 a year, I don't think you get much of anything other than knowing your part of the solution for ISU...

#2: Agree to an extent... but again, I picked Miss St, and Ole Miss specifically because a decade ago, we had more revenue form ticket sales and donations to the university than either of them. Their schools, athletic departments, and fanbases made a decision to compete and left us behind. I guess we will see if ISU fans can step up...

#3: Agree. This is why it will take a little from everyone to get this off the ground... can't compete with only our big donors. We don't have as many.
 

fsanford

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For every engineer that gives two ***** about sports there are probably 3 that don’t.

A major problem ISU also has in regards to NIL is that people graduate and leave the state, become disconnected from the school and it’s sports ball teams, and don’t want to give at all to ISU in any capacity especially sports that they can’t see in person or get any kind of added benefits from.
The school also disconnects itself and only focuses on those within a couple hundred of miles. When ISU played in Vegas a great opportunity to set up something for Alums in California, Arizona and Nevada and re-connect. Big time programs make it like recruiting and reach out across all parts of the country
 
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AuH2O

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Iowa very effectively managed, with Hayden Fry's arrival, to raise Iowa's athletics profile in the television age while Max Urick was bristling at the ickiness of all that in Ames.

Max done ****** up. That was an opportunity that will not be repeated.
I think people are overstating the values of individual schools as attractors of donors and undervaluing the importance of having a $30-40 million dollar media cushion generated by the Ohio States and Georgias in other conferences that allows for “realignment” in donations.

The reality for programs like ISU if they want to be competitive long term, the AD needs to figure out how to live off media and AD generated revenue. Get new donors, of course, but run a program in a way where most existing donor dollars is redirected to NIL.
 
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Gunnerclone

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I think people are overstating the values of individual schools as attractors of donors and undervaluing the importance of having a $30-40 million dollar media cushion generated by the Ohio States and Georgias in other conferences that allows for “realignment” in donations.

The reality for programs like ISU if they want to be competitive long term, the AD needs to figure out how to live off media and AD generated revenue. Get new donors, of course, but run a program in a way where most existing donor dollars is redirected to NIL.

Good luck with that in Iowa. This discussion is cave-worthy imo so that’s all I will say.
 

NWICY

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Vets need to adjust their fee scale. Cyclone fan: $50 for pet visit, Hawkeye fan: $500
Difference is slid into the NIL fund.

You could raise a lot of money in Benton and Linn Co doing that.
 

FriendlySpartan

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I think people are overstating the values of individual schools as attractors of donors and undervaluing the importance of having a $30-40 million dollar media cushion generated by the Ohio States and Georgias in other conferences that allows for “realignment” in donations.

The reality for programs like ISU if they want to be competitive long term, the AD needs to figure out how to live off media and AD generated revenue. Get new donors, of course, but run a program in a way where most existing donor dollars is redirected to NIL.
The 30-40mil cushion is a very new thing. Individual big-mega donors have been around a lot longer which is part of the reason for success of some of the athletic programs and also shows up in the mega endowments many of the schools have. It’s also a simple fact that donations for athletics are often tied into how much the athletics affected your time at the university.
 

cykadelic2

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If you outlawed collectives then only the school with major donors or connections would be able to compete. Honestly that would be even worse for schools like ISU that doesn’t appear to have many of those donors. Collectives in theory give schools with great fan bases a chance to be on the same level as the big time donors, ISU is just in a weird place where the fans are extra extra frugal.
The vast majority of those big donors are not legal NIL vendors for the athletes as intended by NIL policy or law. They are collecting money primarily as recruiting inducements.
 

AuH2O

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The 30-40mil cushion is a very new thing. Individual big-mega donors have been around a lot longer which is part of the reason for success of some of the athletic programs and also shows up in the mega endowments many of the schools have. It’s also a simple fact that donations for athletics are often tied into how much the athletics affected your time at the university.
And NIL is a new thing. The point is the athletics donations per year gap between a school like ISU and Iowa is much smaller than the media dollar gap. If ISU fell into an extra $30-40 M in media dollars tomorrow, it could realign donor funds to NIL and be in great shape. In other words, acting like ISU is falling behind because all these fans from Other schools are ramping up and giving big for NIL while ISU fans aren’t is probably not the big story. The big story is media dollars enabling realignment of donor dollars.

Not that we can do anything about it, but I think it’s fine to acknowledge the fact that the most important thing Iowa has going for it is Ohio State and Michigan, and the rest is details. It’s way less about Iowa or Mississippi having more generous or richer fans than it is about these ADs being able (and willing) to say that a donor’s money is best served in NIL due to the big jump in media dollars.
 
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amishclone

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Too lazy to read all the threads, but what's to prevent Pollard from saying all the gate receipts from games go directly into the NIL? Or at least the net profit?
 
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theshadow

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#2: Agree to an extent... but again, I picked Miss St, and Ole Miss specifically because a decade ago, we had more revenue form ticket sales and donations to the university than either of them. Their schools, athletic departments, and fanbases made a decision to compete and left us behind. I guess we will see if ISU fans can step up...

I'm curious how much of Mississippi State's revenue/donation advantage over ISU is linked to baseball, with their recent $68M stadium upgrade and waiting lists for seating areas that require $900-$2400 donation plus the cost of tickets.
 

FriendlySpartan

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The vast majority of those big donors are not legal NIL vendors for the athletes as intended by NIL policy or law. They are collecting money primarily as recruiting inducements.
NIL law makes no distinction in recruiting. It allows players to cash in on their name and image, so if a mega donor wants to give them money for a single Instagram post that is well within the law. Might not agree with it but that is part of it.
 
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FriendlySpartan

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And NIL is a new thing. The point is the athletics donations per year gap between a school like ISU and Iowa is much smaller than the media dollar gap. If ISU fell into an extra $30-40 M in media dollars tomorrow, it could realign donor funds to NIL and be in great shape. In other words, acting like ISU is falling behind because all these fans from Other schools are ramping up and giving big for NIL while ISU fans aren’t is probably not the big story. The big story is media dollars enabling realignment of donor dollars.

Not that we can do anything about it, but I think it’s fine to acknowledge the fact that the most important thing Iowa has going for it is Ohio State and Michigan, and the rest is details. It’s way less about Iowa or Mississippi having more generous or richer fans than it is about these ADs being able (and willing) to say that a donor’s money is best served in NIL due to the big jump in media dollars.
NIL is the new term of athletics donations and for a school like Iowa getting 6 mil in an NIL fund that is coming from a majority of smaller donors, not 6 people cutting a million dollar check each. For sure the media deal makes this even easier but it’s still other donors stepping up.
 

JP4CY

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The school also disconnects itself and only focuses on those within a couple hundred of miles. When ISU played in Vegas a great opportunity to set up something for Alums in California, Arizona and Nevada and re-connect. Big time programs make it like recruiting and reach out across all parts of the country
I went to Vegas and I think ISU had a tailgate outside of Mandalay Bay. I was partying at other casinos so I can't tell you how successful it was.
The biggest get together I've ever seen is the minor league baseball stadium in Memphis. It was absolutely full for the Liberty Bowl.
 
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cykadelic2

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NIL law makes no distinction in recruiting. It allows players to cash in on their name and image, so if a mega donor wants to give them money for a single Instagram post that is well within the law. Might not agree with it but that is part of it.
Wrong, original NIL law explicitly prohibits NIL being used as recruiting inducements. And that instagram post has to be at market or commensurate value as intended by NIL law. And obviously that is not occurring in a high % of instances and turning out to be prearranged illegal recruiting inducements.
 
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FriendlySpartan

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Wrong, original NIL law explicitly prohibits NIL being used as recruiting inducements. And that instagram post has to be at market or commensurate value as intended by NIL law. And obviously that is not occurring in a high % of instances and turning out to be prearranged illegal recruiting inducements.
NIL laws are allowed to be changed by individual states and even conferences can have guidelines. There is nothing specifically mentioned against recruiting. Also nothing has to be market value because there is no assigned market value. Market value is legit whatever someone is willing to pay. On the NCAA website it specifically directs recruits to ask coaches about NIL deals.
 

cykadelic2

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NIL laws are allowed to be changed by individual states and even conferences can have guidelines. There is nothing specifically mentioned against recruiting. Also nothing has to be market value because there is no assigned market value. Market value is legit whatever someone is willing to pay. On the NCAA website it specifically directs recruits to ask coaches about NIL deals.
Wrong again, see #11 in this ncaa.org link. And overpaying an athlete $1M for a single instagram post would be prohibited under Bullet #3 ($1M is for athletic performance, not the market value of a single instagram post)


Yes, states may have their own NIL laws that differ from NCAA guidelines but none of them that I am aware of explicitly permit NIL as recruiting inducements or pay for play.