NIL vs. MGSF: What is better ROI?

[greenminer]

Okay, let's just say in an alternative universe, GreenMiner actually has his financial footing and has some fun money to donate to my Mean Green fam.  What better serves the school: money towards the NIL fund, or money towards MG scholarships?

This thought just crossed my mind and is challenging the way I think about how NIL is impacting college athletics resources.  I have already considered that, because of NIL, you are very likely to see a drop in funds towards everything else, like facilities.

Edited August 20, 2022 by greenminer

[GrandGreen]

NIL is a bad idea, that needs to end.

In theory it benefits the players, but in essence it is just a way to buy players.

Yes, individuals players will benefit and some have hit the motherload. 

The problem is that IMO in the long run,  is going to ruin any hope second tier programs have to be relevant. 

More programs will drop football because they can't be competitive, and the number of ships available will substantially drop. 

The surviving schools and I doubt there will be over 50, will consolidate and their loses will increase and their fan base decrease.  

A lot of people will wonder why support a second pro-league that is much less competitive than the NFL.  

The NFL having drafts, salary caps and other rules that foster competition compared to the NCAA's model of what program can generate the most NIL money.  

[NT93]

MGSF

NIL as is stands is possibly the worst thing to ever happen to college sports.  Now, get the NIL instituted with some rules and regulations that honor its original intent and this is not even a question because boosters aren’t supposed to be bankrolling “NIL.”

[UNT 90 Grad]

Mean Green Scholarship Fund

[Jonnyeagle]

Definitely NIL.  How can you field successful teams without players?

[greenminer]

2 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

NIL is a bad idea, that needs to end.

In theory it benefits the players, but in essence it is just a way to buy players.

Yes, individuals players will benefit and some have hit the motherload. 

The problem is that IMO in the long run,  is going to ruin any hope second tier programs have to be relevant. 

More programs will drop football because they can't be competitive, and the number of ships available will substantially drop. 

The surviving schools and I doubt there will be over 50, will consolidate and their loses will increase and their fan base decrease.  

A lot of people will wonder why support a second pro-league that is much less competitive than the NFL.  

The NFL having drafts, salary caps and other rules that foster competition compared to the NCAA's model of what program can generate the most NIL money.  

I was asking which is better for the school, our NIL fund or the MGSF. So, thanks.  I think.

[Hunter Green]

Great question. I suppose in a perfect world, fans and supporters would/could match their MGSF donation to the NIL. I am not a big doner, but something like that would/could be possible, perhaps with a payment plan.

[UNTcrazy727]

As it stands right now, NIL. Not even close. 

[GrandGreen]

24 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I was asking which is better for the school, our NIL fund or the MGSF. So, thanks.  I think.

After stating that the NIL is a bad idea and needs to end, you might have a hint on my preference.

Any short term benefits of buying players will be quickly overturned by the fallout, bidding on players than renegotiating every season, spending very limited funds on things other than coaches, facilities, promotions, etc.

[flyonthewall]

7 hours ago, greenminer said:

Okay, let's just say in an alternative universe, GreenMiner actually has his financial footing and has some fun money to donate to my Mean Green fam.  What better serves the school: money towards the NIL fund, or money towards MG scholarships?

This thought just crossed my mind and is challenging the way I think about how NIL is impacting college athletics resources.  I have already considered that, because of NIL, you are very likely to see a drop in funds towards everything else, like facilities.

 

7 hours ago, greenminer said:

Okay, let's just say in an alternative universe, GreenMiner actually has his financial footing and has some fun money to donate to my Mean Green fam.  What better serves the school: money towards the NIL fund, or money towards MG scholarships?

This thought just crossed my mind and is challenging the way I think about how NIL is impacting college athletics resources.  I have already considered that, because of NIL, you are very likely to see a drop in funds towards everything else, like facilities.

so,  obviously.  we (my wife and i) are invested in the light the tower collective.  My advice is don't change what you donate to MGSF.  If you have any additional money that you can donate, consider splitting it between MGSF and the collective.  The big loser in this at all universities, not just us, in the short term are any attempts to improve facilities.  We have a fabulous football stadium, and decent arena for basketball compared to our future peers in the aac.  So we can put this off if we need to.

You have to eat an elephant one bite at a time.  Especially here.  We talk all the time about how the same cows are getting milked over and over again at North Texas.  This collective is starting with a great base, but we are going to find some new blood to take it to the next level. 

So... A.  don't change any commitments to MGSF  B.  If you can donate, give to the collective. Even if it is 100 a year for 3 years.......  C.  It is in good hands with successful people running the show.

Go Mean Green!!!!

[TIgreen01]

For all the hand wringing, to do what Tech just did ($25k salary) you need to raise $2 million to cover an 85 man football team.  If you want to cover the walkons and basketball players it goes to $3 million.

That’s a lot of money for me, but for the level of competition we’re stepping into it is the expectation to have donors who can cover that.  As others are saying, NIL is robbing Peter to pay Paul.  It’s going to be $3 million that could have gone to other projects, every single year, coming off the top.  So unless we tap new donors expect to see some dated looking facilities in a few years.

[wardly]

24 minutes ago, TIgreen01 said:

For all the hand wringing, to do what Tech just did ($25k salary) you need to raise $2 million to cover an 85 man football team.  If you want to cover the walkons and basketball players it goes to $3 million.

That’s a lot of money for me, but for the level of competition we’re stepping into it is the expectation to have donors who can cover that.  As others are saying, NIL is robbing Peter to pay Paul.  It’s going to be $3 million that could have gone to other projects, every single year, coming off the top.  So unless we tap new donors expect to see some dated looking facilities in a few years.

Agreed. It appears that we are just asking donors to reallocate their giving. I just don't see many UNT fans who have not previously given to the university all of a sudden jumping on the NIL bandwagon. While I did not attend Friday's NIL meeting at the stadium I would suspect we are milking the same cows. Personally I have an amount that I annually budget for the Athletic Department. Do I split it between them and our NIL program as I don't plan to increase my giving? Hopefully Rick can attract new donors with deep pockets because once opened the genie will not go back in the bottle. My concern is where does it end? SMU is offering $3,000 per month. What will BIG 10 and SEC programs pay? It would be nice if we could get coaches salaries back to real world value and use the excess of Athletic Department needs but thant;s not going to happen. In summary, college football is a mess and the NCAA is powerless to control it.

[NT80]

2 hours ago, TIgreen01 said:

For all the hand wringing, to do what Tech just did ($25k salary) you need to raise $2 million to cover an 85 man football team.  If you want to cover the walkons and basketball players it goes to $3 million.

That’s a lot of money for me, but for the level of competition we’re stepping into it is the expectation to have donors who can cover that.  As others are saying, NIL is robbing Peter to pay Paul.  It’s going to be $3 million that could have gone to other projects, every single year, coming off the top.  So unless we tap new donors expect to see some dated looking facilities in a few years.

This is the bigger issue I have with NIL.  Unless the NIL funds are truly from new sources that would not have come forward otherwise, this is stealing from the Athletic Department resources used to run the program and update facilities.   

Those facilities are far more important to me than John Doe getting his $2000 per month sports car money.  John Doe will be gone in 2-4 years, but new facilities last a long time and help attract more fans, donors, and athletes.

There are thousands of high school and JUCO players out there just begging for a chance to play FBS level football, all for only the opportunity and/or perhaps a scholarship too.   I say send the paid players elsewhere.  Let the new facilities and upgrades and AAC Conference status be our bait to lure quality athletes.

[Dannymacfan]

1 minute ago, NT80 said:

Those facilities are far more important to me than John Doe getting his $2000 per month sports car money.  John Doe will be gone in 2-4 years, but new facilities last a long time and help attract more fans, donors, and athletes.

The problem with that is the American conference and who resides in it.  Your desire might have been realistic in the Belch or a watered down CUSA, where the member schools have limited resources.  But in the AAC we are facing rich private schools like Tulane, SMUt, Tulsa, Rice heck even Navy has access to big funds as a service academy.

[NT80]

8 minutes ago, Dannymacfan said:

The problem with that is the American conference and who resides in it.  Your desire might have been realistic in the Belch or a watered down CUSA, where the member schools have limited resources.  But in the AAC we are facing rich private schools like Tulane, SMUt, Tulsa, Rice heck even Navy has access to big funds as a service academy.

None of those small privates, except Smut, are very good now in the NIL era.  Many also have higher entrance requirements or an appointment to Navy. 

I think the biggest factor in success at this level (AAC) is not the athlete, but the Head Coach.   I say put our NIL money into a HC Fund to buy the best coach we can find!

[UNTcrazy727]

2 hours ago, NT80 said:

None of those small privates, except Smut, are very good now in the NIL era.  Many also have higher entrance requirements or an appointment to Navy. 

I think the biggest factor in success at this level (AAC) is not the athlete, but the Head Coach.   I say put our NIL money into a HC Fund to buy the best coach we can find!

It doesn’t matter how good your coach is if they don’t have any athletes. 

[UNTcrazy727]

2 hours ago, NT80 said:

This is the bigger issue I have with NIL.  Unless the NIL funds are truly from new sources that would not have come forward otherwise, this is stealing from the Athletic Department resources used to run the program and update facilities.   

Those facilities are far more important to me than John Doe getting his $2000 per month sports car money.  John Doe will be gone in 2-4 years, but new facilities last a long time and help attract more fans, donors, and athletes.

There are thousands of high school and JUCO players out there just begging for a chance to play FBS level football, all for only the opportunity and/or perhaps a scholarship too.   I say send the paid players elsewhere.  Let the new facilities and upgrades and AAC Conference status be our bait to lure quality athletes.

Fans are attracted to new facilities? WTF?!? Fans only care about winning and to do that you need the best athletes possible. We are only going to do that with a well funded NIL collective. 
I’m shocked how many people on this board would rather see UNT slip into total irrelevance than give 1 dime to NIL. 

[NT80]

1 hour ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

It doesn’t matter how good your coach is if they don’t have any athletes. 

Wrong.  It's a chicken and egg thing..  What comes first to make the best?   I say Nick Saban could have taken our team last year to 8-9 wins.   Players can be made better players with better coaching and quality coaching can identify traits in players to improve or reduce.   It's all about the coaching at this level.

[NT80]

1 hour ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Fans are attracted to new facilities? WTF?!? Fans only care about winning and to do that you need the best athletes possible. We are only going to do that with a well funded NIL collective. 
I’m shocked how many people on this board would rather see UNT slip into total irrelevance than give 1 dime to NIL. 

No.  I know fans that stopped coming to games because Fouts was a dump.  Apogee attracted new fans that had never been to a UNT game before.   Fans pay a lot of the bills for UNT Athletics.   Keeping fans (besides good teams) is totally about Fan experience and a big part of that is amenities and better facilities for fans.  

NIL in current form will be gone in a couple years.  Either modified and limited.  

 

[Venson]

I say it depends on if you only care about Football and MBB. Let's face it, no one is going to get NIL money from the other sports. So if you only care about a winning football program and MBB program, then give to NIL. If you want to see the non revenue sports do well, then give to MGSF because that is the only way those sports will get any scholarship money. Other than MGSF, they have to rely on football and MBB to have the revenue to help support them.

[UNTcrazy727]

1 hour ago, NT80 said:

No.  I know fans that stopped coming to games because Fouts was a dump.  Apogee attracted new fans that had never been to a UNT game before.   Fans pay a lot of the bills for UNT Athletics.   Keeping fans (besides good teams) is totally about Fan experience and a big part of that is amenities and better facilities for fans.  

NIL in current form will be gone in a couple years.  Either modified and limited.  

 

A new stadium gets you increased attendance for a year, maybe. But other than that fans don’t care about any other facility. People aren’t going to more games because we built an indoor facility. 

[UNTcrazy727]

1 hour ago, NT80 said:

Wrong.  It's a chicken and egg thing..  What comes first to make the best?   I say Nick Saban could have taken our team last year to 8-9 wins.   Players can be made better players with better coaching and quality coaching can identify traits in players to improve or reduce.   It's all about the coaching at this level.

No, it’s not a chicken and egg thing. Ever heard “it’s about the Jimmys and Joes, not the Xs and Os”? 
And Saban could have gotten us to 9 wins last year? Lol sure. 

[drex]

Two things that are going to happen relative to NIL.  One, there will be a student revolt concerning student service fee usage by the athletic department and two, there are going to be law suits from women's sports to get a piece of the NIL money. This will not be just a North Texas problem, but across the nation.

[keith]

14 hours ago, drex said:

Two things that are going to happen relative to NIL.  One, there will be a student revolt concerning student service fee usage by the athletic department and two, there are going to be law suits from women's sports to get a piece of the NIL money. This will not be just a North Texas problem, but across the nation.

This is my feeling exactly.  There will eventually be push back from the general student population or various groups.  Why don't band members, cheerleaders, dance squad members or any of the other student group or individual that participates in putting on the show get paid?  Women's sports and/or all the olympic sports athletes deserve their fair share too, right?  It will be a mess.  

[meangreenfaninno]

8 minutes ago, keith said:

There will eventually be push back from the general student population or various groups.  Why don't band members, cheerleaders, dance squad members or any of the other student group or individual that participates in putting on the show get paid?  Women's sports and/or all the olympic sports athletes deserve their fair share too, right?  It will be a mess.  

Well the simple response to that is they don't generate the revenue, the players do.   I see your point and agree it will be a mess.

The only thing that might help this is if coaches and administrators took a haircut.  Seth is the highest paid employee at UNT by a lot.  It's not fair that he and Wren make so much and the players struggle to pay their bills when the players are the ones who put their health out on the line for the game.