Would you give up football NIL

[Drew0311]

To switch all NIL to basketball for a couple years to compete for the national title? I’m getting to the point where it’s would rather compete for a national title in basketball than competing more for stuff in n football.

I just don’t think we will ever compete for anything in football.

 

[CycloneT]

If you want to be Kent St in football go right ahead. We wouldn't get anything above walk on talent. Would also lose every coach worth anything and could possibly get kicked out of the Big12 for not trying.

 

[BCClone]

To switch all NIL to basketball for a couple years to compete for the national title? I’m getting to the point where it’s would rather compete for a national title in basketball than competing more for stuff in n football.

I just don’t think we will ever compete for anything in football.

Good way to tank the whole AD in about 2-3 years. This would be like trading a 100 bill for a dollar bill because you like George Washington more than Ben Franklin.

 

[Cyched]

If you want to be Kent St in football go right ahead. We wouldn't get anything above walk on talent. Would also lose every coach worth anything and could possibly get kicked out of the Big12 for not trying.

I mean besides all that

 

[NorthCyd]

I knew from the thread title I should just avoid it and not waste my time.

 

[nfrine]

I knew from the thread title I should just avoid it and not waste my time.

Yet here we are...

 

[NorthCyd]

Yet here we are...

As I often tell my wife, I don't know why I do the stupid things I do.

 

[ruxCYtable]

It’s not a stupid question. We’re last in the Big XII in NIL and last I knew it wasn’t close. Choices will eventually have to be made.

 

[jdoggivjc]

Nope - football pays the bills... even for the basketball team. Sure, we could give more money to basketball players if we dropped football NIL for basketball for a few years... but at the end of the day the Big 10 and SEC schools will still be able to pay more for talent than us even if we did that.

In other words, you're literally destroying the athletic department as a whole for some shortsighted, naive belief that we could buy a natty doing that. It'd never work.

 

[simply1]

lol

 

[NorthCyd]

It’s not a stupid question. We’re last in the Big XII in NIL and last I knew it wasn’t close. Choices will eventually have to be made.

We were just in the conference championship in football and ranked in the top 10 in basketball for most of the year. Maybe we can give it a few years before we decide we need to sacrifice one for the benefit of the other and see how it goes.

 

[RonBurgundy]

To switch all NIL to basketball for a couple years to compete for the national title? I’m getting to the point where it’s would rather compete for a national title in basketball than competing more for stuff in n football.

I just don’t think we will ever compete for anything in football.

Something tells me you probably don’t give jack squat to either program.

 

[ClonesTwenty1]

 

[ClonesFTW]

Can’t take funding away from the biggest revenue generator.

 

[Dgilbertson]

Thought this was going to be a hypothetical. ‘Would you make it to the Final Four if it meant never winning more than 6 Gabe’s in football’ sort of thing

 

[chuckd4735]

I would rather everyone on here take a look at their budgets and make a monthly donation of some sort to We Will so we can be competitive in both.

 

[cyclonehomer]

No lol also a healthy ISU could definitely have made a run, through the non con Keshon was playing at roughly an All-American level. Just isn't necessary and the football team was 1 win away from the playoff last year.

 

[snowcraig2.0]

Can we delete this thread jfc.

 

[cayin]

I would rather everyone on here take a look at their budgets and make a monthly donation of some sort to We Will so we can be competitive in both.

yep, there is so much of our fan base that doesn't give to our NIL. I think they don't understand. I mentioned in another thread I'm in a group chat with 5 other Cyclone fans. I implored them to donate to the collective. Here is the response to one of the guys in the chat. "I don't mind giving money via buying tickets, beer at a game, and even parking. But somehow raising money to expressly pay a 19 year old to play for us..just seems wierd to me."

I explained to him if we want great players to come here we have to pay, we may not like the way college athletics is going, but reality we need to pay. Anyway, I don't think a lot of our fans understand. If they are not on Cyclone Fanatic how would they know the situation. I have other Cyclone fans at my work, they have no idea about the collecitive or how it works. I will hit them up too.

 

[Cloned4Life]

No lol also a healthy ISU could definitely have made a run, through the non con Keshon was playing at roughly an All-American level. Just isn't necessary and the football team was 1 win away from the playoff last year.

Unfortunately this is the attitude that will doom Iowa State athletics.

“See how close we were this year! We do more with less! That’s us!”

We are in the baby stage of the next evolution of NIL and revenue sharing. The fact that we had “successful” seasons in 2024/2025 means nothing; the landscape will continue to evolve, and we may not even recognize it in 10 years. And we’ll do what we do best - blame others for having too much money, and tap ourselves on the back because we do it “the right way!”

As for the OP’s thought provoking question- it’s interesting for sure. Obviously we’ll never actually do it and it will never, ever happen but it does make ya think as a brainstorming exercise - turn Iowa State into UConn or a Big East school - we absolutely have the base ingredients to be an elite basketball school.