Yep, that's why I was a little miffed about the UK BW Game. That has traditionally been the first good look at the team. And for a knowledgeable fan base, we LOVE that stuff. You can have TONS of other NIL events (meet and greets, dinners, fundraisers, etc.) but this was the epitome of taking something away from the regular folks of BBN and that's not cool AT ALL. Again, I've said this alot lately, but I'm not Pollyanna. I know you have to raise money. But if that's the case, schedule a scrimmage with another school (like Duke or UCLA), make THAT a NIL event for both schools then split the proceeds. I mean, there's a great deal of rich UK and Duke alumni that would pay to see that.
I mean, Cal for all his faults, took the BW game to EKY and let the proceeds from the TV money and sales go to flood victims. Invited a hard working coal miner to come to the game with his family. Whether that was all for show or not, doesn't matter. Everyone who wanted to see that game was able to. Pope needs to address this a bit. This was not a popular decision and they couldn't have made what they wanted to for NIL.
Yeah, I cannot STAND elitism in this fanbase. That's not who we are. BBN is for EVERYONE that bleeds blue. Heck, we even let opposing fan bases talk amongst us as long as they are respectful. The one thing that grinds my spices like a pestle and mortar is when parts of our fan base acts like they are better than others because they are either one, UK alumni, or two, financially well off. Neither makes you more or less of a fan than those who are third generation fans or even new fans from the hollars of WKY. There are countless numbers of us who have laughed and cried with our team, have jammed a finger playing backyard hoops wearing a UK jersey (pretending we were our favorite player or playing for our childhood coach), buried family with UK gear, sat up nights with a sick loved one watching a game with them so they'd have company, etc. From Kentucky Bend to Elkhorn City, we are ALL BBN, and the elitism is disgusting.