What donor fatigue means as NIL enters its third year of impacting college sports

[Coach Andy Mac]

At the same time, a generous collective donation still has a mirage element. 

It is not the price of winning. There are no on-field, on-court guarantees. It’s merely the price of short-term optimism. Filling a collective’s coffers provides a jolt of adrenaline for an athletic program, however temporary. So for the garden-variety State U. collective donor, sources say, where’s the guaranteed return on investment?

If the ROI is a College Football Playoff berth, that’s one thing. If the ROI is a Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl berth, that’s quite another. Well-heeled boosters have deep pockets.

But those pockets are not bottomless. 

Leaning so heavily on donors begs the question: Is this model sustainable?

“I don’t think that the current model will exist going forward,” Bubba Cunningham, the North Carolina athletic director, told On3. “The never-ending need for more resources will continue to be. But how we go about prioritizing and how we go about asking for resources is going to have to change.”

More than two-thirds of NIL transactions come from school-specific collectives. Of the more than 200 collectives, some rank-and-file Power 5 school-affiliated ones raise $3 to $5 million annually, with the most ambitious SEC entities amassing anywhere from $5 to $15 million. 

Here’s the buzzkill: Until CFP expansion in 2024, there are only four playoff berths and only four Final Four berths. Not every season ends with a parade, so what’s the donor benefit? 

read more:  https://www.on3.com/nil/news/what-donor-fatigue-means-as-nil-enters-its-third-year-of-impacting-college-sports-ncaa-collectives/

[southsideguy]

who do you give money to , the NIL branch or the mean green club?

[DentonLurker]

I give my $’s to the MGSF. I think players deserve to be paid what they can get, but I don’t feel led to contribute to them getting paid.

[Wag Tag]

19 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

who do you give money to , the NIL branch or the mean green club?

Do you give money to the NIL or donate $$$ to help build the new Mean Green Athletic facility? Where is the biggest bang for the buck?

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, southsideguy said:

who do you give money to , the NIL branch or the mean green club?

Is there any difference when it comes to tax writeoffs?

[97and03]

1 hour ago, southsideguy said:

who do you give money to , the NIL branch or the mean green club?

MGSF for sure.

[NT80]

3 hours ago, Coach Andy Mac said:

At the same time, a generous collective donation still has a mirage element. 

It is not the price of winning. There are no on-field, on-court guarantees. It’s merely the price of short-term optimism. Filling a collective’s coffers provides a jolt of adrenaline for an athletic program, however temporary. So for the garden-variety State U. collective donor, sources say, where’s the guaranteed return on investment?

If the ROI is a College Football Playoff berth, that’s one thing. If the ROI is a Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl berth, that’s quite another. Well-heeled boosters have deep pockets.

But those pockets are not bottomless. 

Leaning so heavily on donors begs the question: Is this model sustainable?

“I don’t think that the current model will exist going forward,” Bubba Cunningham, the North Carolina athletic director, told On3. “The never-ending need for more resources will continue to be. But how we go about prioritizing and how we go about asking for resources is going to have to change.”

More than two-thirds of NIL transactions come from school-specific collectives. Of the more than 200 collectives, some rank-and-file Power 5 school-affiliated ones raise $3 to $5 million annually, with the most ambitious SEC entities amassing anywhere from $5 to $15 million. 

Here’s the buzzkill: Until CFP expansion in 2024, there are only four playoff berths and only four Final Four berths. Not every season ends with a parade, so what’s the donor benefit? 

read more:  https://www.on3.com/nil/news/what-donor-fatigue-means-as-nil-enters-its-third-year-of-impacting-college-sports-ncaa-collectives/

NIL is the second worst thing to happen to college football....right behind $mut.

[Pavlovs Eagle]

4 hours ago, Coach Andy Mac said:

Well-heeled boosters have deep pockets.

But those pockets are not bottomless. 

Except for a few select SEC, two Big10, and USC, there will be big a pullback on NIL contributions in the next 3-5 years.

As the article mentions, the fundraising portion of a NIL collective isn't sustainable.  Unless you own a car dealership where you can write off a few nice car leases as a marketing expense, the average wealthy person would rather have the write-off associated with donating to a 501c3 versus no write-off to a NIL collective.  And if you're REALLY wealthy, you'd probably rather have a timeless gift of having your name on a building/room/cornerstone by leaving a huge Estate gift.  The flip side would be a huge estate donation to a funny money NIL collective that will contribute to a senior grad transfer to have drinking money and a nice apartment for 1 year while your team enjoys their Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl berth.

Keep donating to the MGSF.  

[DentonStang]

NIL is the greatest thing to happen to college football.

Instead of wasting, say a moderate sized donation of $20M on a stadium upgrade that could easy translate into zero additional success, you can route it to NIL at $2M a year for 10 years and have a real tangible impact on wins, and give money to players not construction firms.

[NT93]

10 hours ago, DentonStang said:

NIL is the greatest thing to happen to college football.

Instead of wasting, say a moderate sized donation of $20M on a stadium upgrade that could easy translate into zero additional success, you can route it to NIL at $2M a year for 10 years and have a real tangible impact on wins, and give money to players not construction firms.

I feel certain that NIL will have a negative impact on academic achievement.  If I’m an 18-22 year old making $100k, I’m not too worried about my education.  Once I run out of eligibility and I don’t make it in professionally, I’ll burn through that money pretty quickly.  It’s all short term thinking with no vision for the future which seems counter to what SMU would endorse with their academic status.

Edited June 29, 2023 by NT93

[Zeleny' Orel]

18 minutes ago, NT93 said:

I feel certain that NIL will have a negative impact on academic achievement.  If I’m an 18-22 years old making $100k, I’m not too worried about my education.  Once I run out of eligibility and I don’t make it in professionally, I’ll burn through that money pretty quickly.  It’s all short term thinking with no vision for the future which seems counter to what SMU would endorse with their academic status.

This is my concern as well.  I see the NIL hurting the desire of many, many athletes for getting a degree and concentrating on getting an education that will last them a lifetime.  I hope the NCAA makes some modifications to the NIL.  I am all for meeting college expenses, plus spending money, but can't endorse "pay for play" at the college level.  Leave that to the pros or develop a pro minor league that pays for play and leave the college game for those wanting an education while playing.

[DentonLurker]

7 hours ago, DentonStang said:

NIL is the greatest thing to happen to college football.

Instead of wasting, say a moderate sized donation of $20M on a stadium upgrade that could easy translate into zero additional success, you can route it to NIL at $2M a year for 10 years and have a real tangible impact on wins, and give money to players not construction firms.

I dont think NIL in and of itself is an issue for me. If an athlete wants to make a few bucks selling autographs or being in commercials for Bill Utter Ford, I don’t care about that. What I have an issue with is these collectives where athletes are guaranteed something just for being athletes.

Also, in your scenario, I think we are going to find out pretty fast that a lot of “donors” are not going to continue giving forever with no real benefits (no tax deduction, no ticket benefits, etc.). Not everyone is going to buy success on the field consistently and that’s when the coffers will stop being filled, in my opinion.

[NT93]

16 minutes ago, DentonLurker said:

I dont think NIL in and of itself is an issue for me. If an athlete wants to make a few bucks selling autographs or being in commercials for Bill Utter Ford, I don’t care about that. What I have an issue with is these collectives where athletes are guaranteed something just for being.

This seems to be how a lot of people feel, myself included.

[DentonStang]

13 hours ago, NT93 said:

I feel certain that NIL will have a negative impact on academic achievement.  If I’m an 18-22 year old making $100k, I’m not too worried about my education.  Once I run out of eligibility and I don’t make it in professionally, I’ll burn through that money pretty quickly.  It’s all short term thinking with no vision for the future which seems counter to what SMU would endorse with their academic status.

Really?  Do you think they cared before?

 

Reality is, the players making real money think they will go pro, just like they thought before. Some have the sense to care for their educational opportunity in front of them, some you just hope to keep eligible.  None of that has changed. And I'm OK with that.  You can lead a horse to water, and such.  I expect the university to give them what they need - majors they can benefit from, professors that are flexible with schedule and understand the load of a FBS football player, all the academic support needed to help them through when they may not have had a good academic background. But the job is theirs. Either way, they are there to play football 

[southsideguy]

Why not make players have to go through the admissions process like any other Joe or Jill or other.   Otherwise called itminor league football and form a league for the players who just want to play football.  The NFL could pay for it instead of having college working as the farm teams.

Maybe a Luxury cap on schools that are rolling in money.  It might just level the playing field again.   That what was so magic about college football in the old days the upsets.  Now it has become who can out bid who.