Could the NIL fund backfire?

[LXWildcat]

Let’s be honest Kentucky fans will only donate if their team is winning, the fund has already slowed down a lot since the A&M loss. So basically Kentucky will have to win a lot in this tournament and the following season if Cal wants to reach that $1 million goal

 

[Lempface]

Everyone give $10 after every tournament win.

 

[LXWildcat]

Everyone give $10 after every tournament win.

Been holding around $38k for a couple of days now.

 

[Wonky]

John Calipari needs to start producing results with all this talent he brings in yearly before I give a dime to a friggin NIL fund.

I understand the importance of funding but you need to show me you can coach an ultra talented roster out of a wet paper bag before you have my financial support. Especially since you have basically stolen your salary from my alma mater for the last 5 years.

 

[Lempface]

Been holding around $38k for a couple of days now.

You should put that in a bank before you lose it.

 

[LXWildcat]

John Calipari needs to start producing results with all this talent he brings in yearly before I give a dime to a friggin NIL fund.

I understand the importance of funding but you need to show me you can coach an ultra talented roster out of a wet paper bag before you have my financial support. Especially since you have basically stolen your salary from my alma mater for the last 5 years.

I used to get excited about the incoming talent but this years team has ruined that. If you can’t get it done with this much talent then next season won’t be any better, considering the class isn’t as strong as this one

 

[chroix]

Hit up the NBA players for the money. I’m tapped.

 

[FitchMields]

We're all saving up for the buyout ....... sorry

 

[RunninRichie]

Needs to go ask his 7 all stars for some cheese.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

Personally I think the whole crowdsourcing for NIL funds is largely silly.

I would advise UK to get rid of the tracker. Just boast about results that are undoubtedly boosted by a handful of monster donations after the fact.

I know NIL wars are the wave of the future of collegiate athletics. I just won’t be donating my money to kids that all make more money than me. My potential $100 donation to an athlete like Rob Dillingham making 7 figures, wearing designer everything, and a probably 100k diamond watch…I’ll hold off on.

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

Yes. $38,000 is embarrassing. Cal is a marketing wizard, but even he should not have launched this without announcements of donations from many of his NBA players, perhaps having those guys cut short video statements about it, too. Announce John Wall as the "Executive Director" of LaFamilia or something.

The video felt forced, and the players were awkwardly bad. It was more cringe than anything.

 

[H00SIER-Cat]

I used to get excited about the incoming talent but this years team has ruined that. If you can’t get it done with this much talent then next season won’t be any better, considering the class isn’t as strong as this one

I think a lot of BBN can copy and paste that statement every March

 

[Mike-D]

Yes. $38,000 is embarrassing. Cal is a marketing wizard, but even he should not have launched this without announcements of donations from many of his NBA players, perhaps having those guys cut short video statements about it, too. Announce John Wall as the "Executive Director" of LaFamilia or something.

The video felt forced, and the players were awkwardly bad. It was more cringe than anything.

We lost another 1st round SEC tournament game right after it was released that fans could support the program with NIL. I'm really not surprised.

 

[EliteBlue]

John Calipari needs to start producing results with all this talent he brings in yearly before I give a dime to a friggin NIL fund.

I understand the importance of funding but you need to show me you can coach an ultra talented roster out of a wet paper bag before you have my financial support. Especially since you have basically stolen your salary from my alma mater for the last 5 years.

This. Reality is if I made 9m a year before endorsements and my personal investments and I was a coach of a powerhouse program and I wanted to ensure I had NIL money, I’d personally renegotiate my contract for 1m per year of my salary to go into the basketball NIL prior to touching my bank account (that keeps out any NCAA grey area of a coach personally paying players) or set up Holding companies and LLCs to funnel the money through and out in the collective/Fund if the university can’t directly fund the NIL.

If he’s worried about not having enough of a war chest…he had enough to through in 500k-1m a year. All you’re getting from average ppl will be $1-100 bucks and while that will add up, it’s not the most efficient

 

[RunninRichie]

College sports have became a complete and utter joke.

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

We lost another 1st round SEC tournament game right after it was released that fans could support the program with NIL. I'm really not surprised.

I'm not, either.

But it's still embarrassing for the program to post that number. That's a mid-major tally.

 

[WeWant9]

College sports have became a complete and utter joke.

Asking fans to pay ridiculous ticket prices, get special tv packages to watch your team, and now fund the player’s NIL will push more people way. I eagerly await the “if you don’t donate to nil, you’re not a true fan” spiel from some.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Yes. $38,000 is embarrassing. Cal is a marketing wizard, but even he should not have launched this without announcements of donations from many of his NBA players, perhaps having those guys cut short video statements about it, too. Announce John Wall as the "Executive Director" of LaFamilia or something.

The video felt forced, and the players were awkwardly bad. It was more cringe than anything.

This is going to be in addition to what he can gather from boosters and his NBA players. He is not expecting Devin Booker to go into an online link and drop $500K. Those are being collected elsewhere.

This is only for fans to be able to contribute.

 

[mrdavisanddd]

This. Reality is if I made 9m a year before endorsements and my personal investments and I was a coach of a powerhouse program and I wanted to ensure I had NIL money, I’d personally renegotiate my contract for 1m per year of my salary to go into the basketball NIL prior to touching my bank account (that keeps out any NCAA grey area of a coach personally paying players) or set up Holding companies and LLCs to funnel the money through and out in the collective/Fund if the university can’t directly fund the NIL.

If he’s worried about not having enough of a war chest…he had enough to through in 500k-1m a year. All you’re getting from average ppl will be $1-100 bucks and while that will add up, it’s not the most efficient

Sounds cool but you can’t do that

 

[RunninRichie]

Asking fans to pay ridiculous ticket prices, get special tv packages to watch your team, and now fund the player’s NIL will push more people way. I eagerly await the “if you don’t donate to nil, you’re not a true fan” spiel from some.

There's a few of those guys on the football forum.

 

[cincitucky]

My how far we've come..........

A few years ago, Joe B's was shunned from the program for giving players free pizza. Now, a direct request for fans to throw money at players. The most money will win mentality. Is that really good for the sport and kids in general?

 

[KYExtemper]

With the way things are economically right now in the country, it's kinda tone deaf to expect people to donate money to these things at all.

 

[ukfan117]

I wouldn't give a dime to the NIL fund as long as Calipari is still the coach. He clearly doesn't like the fanbase, but some still kiss his ass.

I'm skeptical about this because Calipari doesn't care about the program anymore and remember, June is Calipari's March Madness.

 

[EliteBlue]

Sounds cool but you can’t do that

It’s never been tried. He can’t directly fund it but if it’s an agreement between he and the university and it never officially becomes “his money”, he’s just sacrificing 1/10th of his paycheck that the athletic dept is investing into NIL. As of Dec 2023 the Universiry can directly engage in NIL payments or a trust fund etc; only coaches and administrators are prohibited from directly contributing. If it never hits Cals bank account then it isn’t a direct contribution but reallocation of university funds….a good lawyer that knows how to draft legal documents and manipulate language of a document around bylaws could make it work…maybe the ncaa challenges but a lawsuit would shut it down as we’ve already seen the Supreme Court side w the schools and they definitely would in this case now that the schools can legally directly contribute to nil

LLCs and holding companies that have other purposes that then also contribute to a collective would be a bigger grey area and likely against the current rules than reallocation of uUniversity funds would be.

 

[bthaunert]

It’s never been tried. He can’t directly fund it but if it’s an agreement between he and the university and it never officially becomes “his money”, he’s just sacrificing 1/10th of his paycheck that the athletic dept is investing into NIL. As of Dec 2023 the Universiry can directly engage in NIL payments or a trust fund etc; only coaches and administrators are prohibited from directly contributing. If it never hits Cals bank account then it isn’t a direct contribution but reallocation of university funds….a good lawyer that knows how to draft legal documents and manipulate language of a document around bylaws could make it work…maybe the ncaa challenges but a lawsuit would shut it down as we’ve already seen the Supreme Court side w the schools and they definitely would in this case now that the schools can legally directly contribute to nil

LLCs and holding companies that have other purposes that then also contribute to a collective would be a bigger grey area and likely against the current rules than reallocation of uUniversity funds would be.

Cal's money mostly comes from endorsements, media rights, etc. that are paid the university. I believe his salary from UK is around 400k. IMO, there has to be a way to talk to some of those companies and have them divert a lot of the money they were paying the university into an NIL fund. The hit to the university would be the same because Cal's salary would be less. Just a thought of a way to get around it.

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

This is going to be in addition to what he can gather from boosters and his NBA players. He is not expecting Devin Booker to go into an online link and drop $500K. Those are being collected elsewhere.

This is only for fans to be able to contribute.

Well, I recall "La Familia" being rolled out for UK alums in the NBA to fund. This was a new thing rolled out and branded La Familia. So, in that sense, it's a marketing/branding/roll-out error.

 

[drew_ukfan]

How much is Cal donating?

 

[fadkins82476]

Wait, the dude making $9-10 million a year wants us to donate to this? I'm sure he could donate under the table somehow.

 

[NociHTTP]

This is going to be in addition to what he can gather from boosters and his NBA players. He is not expecting Devin Booker to go into an online link and drop $500K. Those are being collected elsewhere.

This is only for fans to be able to contribute.

But it ended up being a litmus test of the fan's support of the program under Cal. They unecessarily put themselves under even more of a microscope. I think Rupp Arena holds 24,000 people. Is that correct? If so, that's akin to every fan giving just over $1.50 after a game. Maybe they should have Cal explain why fan support is so poor.

 

[NociHTTP]

How much is Cal donating?

ZERO. Cal has no interest in giving anything to the University of Kentucky, or its fans. He's all about the NBA and "his guys". I'll never give UK or any of its funds or merchandise a dime as long as that man or Barnfart are in charge.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

ZERO. Cal has no interest in giving anything to the University of Kentucky, or its fans. He's all about the NBA and "his guys". I'll never give UK or any of its funds or merchandise a dime as long as that man or Barnfart are in charge.

Head coaches cannot donate money to NIL funds. It's against the law.

 

[NociHTTP]

Head coaches cannot donate money to NIL funds. It's against the law.

I'm not disagreeing, but my post wasn't really about Cal giving actual money to the NIL.

 

[drew_ukfan]

Head coaches cannot donate money to NIL funds. It's against the law.

All you have to do is sue the ncaa and they’ll back off. Cal should donate $5 million a year

 

[catsfanbgky]

John Calipari needs to start producing results with all this talent he brings in yearly before I give a dime to a friggin NIL fund.

I understand the importance of funding but you need to show me you can coach an ultra talented roster out of a wet paper bag before you have my financial support. Especially since you have basically stolen your salary from my alma mater for the last 5 years.

The fund is for the PLAYERS, not Cal. Save your $10 and sit back and gripe you want, nobody really cares. The big $ will come from former players, it is not like Cal or UK is banking on fair weathered fans to produce the bulk of it. Without Cal, there will be no NIL fund, his players are the ones who are going to make it work. Yes we do need fan and booster support, but not the kind like you that if you do not get your way or win enough for you, you keep your piggy bank full.

 

[DraftCat]

I'll pay for memorabilia and clothes.

Unless I hit the lotto tomorrow then I won't pay 2 cents to the "NIL"

 

[Tampa_cat54]

All you have to do is sue the ncaa and they’ll back off. Cal should donate $5 million a year

Not an NCAA rule, by my understanding it's an actual law associated with NIL.

 

[drew_ukfan]

Not an NCAA rule, by my understanding it's an actual law associated with NIL.

So cal could face prison time and Kentucky would get a new coach?

 

[Wonky]

The fund is for the PLAYERS, not Cal. Save your $10 and sit back and gripe you want, nobody really cares. The big $ will come from former players, it is not like Cal or UK is banking on fair weathered fans to produce the bulk of it. Without Cal, there will be no NIL fund, his players are the ones who are going to make it work. Yes we do need fan and booster support, but not the kind like you that if you do not get your way or win enough for you, you keep your piggy bank full.

You miss the point entirely.

First of all, nobody said the fund was for Cal. Everybody knows it’s for the players.

Second, how much or how little I could potentially contribute is irrelevant. It’s the principle of the request for fans’ hard-earned dollars that is the issue here. The gall, the nerve, the balls… whatever you want to call it.

NIL money serves one purpose: to secure a more talented roster than your competitors. Only we’ve already had that for the better part of the last decade, and have diddly squat to show for it. Why pay for mediocre results when you can get them for free?

 

[EliteBlue]

Cal's money mostly comes from endorsements, media rights, etc. that are paid the university. I believe his salary from UK is around 400k. IMO, there has to be a way to talk to some of those companies and have them divert a lot of the money they were paying the university into an NIL fund. The hit to the university would be the same because Cal's salary would be less. Just a thought of a way to get around it.

I almost tagged you to ask your opinion since I know you have experience in college athletic depts…glad you chimed in.

Without knowing nuances, that was my point; where there is a will, there is a way.

 

[Jont0805]

Fans already spend so much just going to games to the benefit of the school.

Someone much smarter than me needs to figure out a way for the school to sublease the tickets to basketball and football games to the NIL collective for $20 a ticket.

Then anything over $20 fans pay per ticket will be going into that collective that can be used to build a roster for your sports.

Teams that sell more tickets will have more NIL money as they should.

Would be nice to do this with merchandise, jerseys, etc. I mean how many Uk shirts wolf any of us own if not for UK basketball/football?

College is basically professional sports now, it is ridiculous that the school generates millions but cannot have a payroll.

I’m sure this “get around” would be deemed illegal by the NCAA, but not sure how much longer they will be around or if the school wants to give up all that money when they don’t care one way or the other.

Fans are still going to spend the millions on UK whether they support the collective or not.