Do You Contribute to NIL?

NT80 · October 21

NIL didn't win or lose the game for either team. Our decision to go for 4th down from our own 36 yard line and not make it helped Memphis with an easy TD. Our going for another 4th down instead of a FG again was aiding Memphis. etc

BillySee58 · October 21

1 hour ago, TheColonyEagle said:

I don't know man

I admire your passion and I can't speak for others....but it's exhausting dealing with this program. Trying to get others on this bandwagon...begging alumni to come to a game. Getting us just about to relevance only to get knocked back down.

People complaining about the program does mean they at least care about the program. I complain less and less as every year goes by. Yes, I get "don't bitch unless you're coming with a solution." But we don't get paid to provide the solution. The athletic department does. We're the customers and if the department doesn't see students, alumni and fans as the customer and treat them accordingly...then I don't know what to tell you.

I don't think I would go to a customer and say "if you would pay a higher price for my product, I would give you what you're getting from my competitor who isn't asking you for more money." (that competitor being entertainment for your eyeballs). That's not sustainable. I would rather create a better product, be smart about how I'm building it, do it better....give value...have a customer WANT to give me more money. This chicken and egg thing doesn't work.

North Texas is competing against apathy. That apathy turns around when the customer base sees NT as something they want to be a part of. But THEY have to do it first....don't ask me to do it for you. Win meaningful games, build a culture around accountability...that comes from holding those responsible for it to a standard. Like.....if you have the worst defense in the country, you don't deserve to have a job here as the DC anymore because we have higher standards than that and we believe that winning football games will bring more customers. If you let that subpar performer come back with his big salary, that tells me you don't take me seriously. If you're not holding yourself to a higher standard, don't hold me, the customer, to one. You can't win meaningful football games with the worst defense in the nation. Yes we're 5-2 and that's GREAT! (for a team that hasn't won 5 of the first 7 games like ever.....) After our next 2 games, we will more than likely be 5-4. So then what? If you're asking to get in the big boy world of NIL....that's not gonna cut it. Do better. Get ranked.

I know Adam at MeanGreenNation has pointed this out before, but our fanbase seems to be very conditional with how much support we are willing to give. Not being judgmental, but it’s just the truth. Every fanbase is like that to a degree but it feels more true with us than others.

Everyone is entitled to their own qualifiers and financial decisions, I just think we need to be honest with what our realistic expectations are going to be for our program as things currently are. I feel like there’s an opportunity being missed here at a crucial juncture in the college football landscape.

1 hour ago, TheColonyEagle said:

UTSA raises more money than UNT? I bet they didn't before they won 11 games and got ranked and got national attention. Frank Harris or not....they did it somehow. Figure it out.

**EDIT**

I'll add...if we're saying we can't win unless we get more $$ from alumni and fans....then we might as well shut down the program. 100 years of this says it's not gonna happen. So if that's the case, they need to do some sort of pivot.

For context, that UTSA roster was put together pre NIL. If we are going to get ranked, it’s going to happen in a post NIL world.

aztecskin · October 21

I do not think less of anyone not giving 10K (or any amount) to anything associated with the program. I would even understand that it is rational to NOT give any money or time.

I also understand when the SEC teams say "it just means more" is not just marketing speak. Those crazies, when compared to we rational fans here on gmg dot com who ask for some return on investment, will put football first, second, and third on the list.

(Even in Memphis while driving from my hotel near campus, I saw houses with MSST flags decorating doorways. I saw a Tennessee one. I saw a couple of Memphis ones as well. It's top-of-mind to talk about their football program)

Myself, being a crazy person, wrote on this board forever ago something to the fact that "we need someone to make the first move"

We need a FedEx, or a T.Boone Pickens. Or someone. I've been trying to get rich and I promise I will donate a very irrational amount of money to this silly program to try to get some footballing wins. It is hard as hell to change a culture. You need passionate crazies who do not care about the glory, because there likely will not be any in their lifetimes.

It is all the stuff at every level that needs to be consistently solid to great. Fan experience, marketing, game day, Hiring, firing, coaching, playing, supporting.

I cannot control about anywhere close to any number of things that make a great experience. But I can give $10 bucks a month.

(oh and yes, last year I was going to start the MGN NIL and do it very transparent and was fully ready for it to simply be $400 bucks total in the bank but I saw they fired the LTTNIL CEO who was unfit for the gig and the other NIL started up so I sat back)

GMG_Dallas · October 21

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

Going off of what JayD said as he has proven to have very reliable sourced info in the past. Plus they are the only school in the country with a 4-year starting QB who has spent their entire career with that school. That doesn’t happen without substantial NIL based on what we hear for the QB transfer portal market.

And we know FedEx is funding their NIL for all sports at $1 million annually.

https://newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/united-states/fedex-announces-nil-program-for-university-of-memphis-student-athletes

Uhhh it says $5 million per year. The gap may be larger than we think.

keith · October 21

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

I’m not trying to be the arbiter here of who can or can’t complain. Again, it’s a nuanced topic and I think there are a lot of angles of discussion here. If you want to make it a black and white issue then it’s not going to be a very productive conversation.

My personal stances are:

1. Why are we acting surprised when we fail to surpass teams whose fans have done more to give them a competitive advantage than we have?

2. Why are we getting so wrapped up in why NIL is bad instead of recognizing it as an opportunity to help us get where we very clearly want to be?

3. Why do so many on here spend so much time bitching about our program(s) while knowing about 1 and 2 above and choosing not to help that matter?

Again, these aren’t meant to be rhetorical. There are good arguments on both sides.

1. So again, it's the fan's fault. We're simply not doing enough or as much as the fans of BetterFans U. Let's say the option for a fan is buy season tickets or contribute to NIL and watch on TV. It's an either/or, not both. What's the recommendation from the AD in this scenario?

2. In theory, but I don't recall seeing what $ amount is necessary to win a game, what our current player payroll is or what it needs to be...for a winning record, for a conference championship, for a bowl win, etc.

3. If people were not here bitching, there would be a lot less content and engagement on GoMeanGreen.com. No content, no engagement, no ad sales. No ad sales, no GoMeanGreen.com.

TheColonyEagle · October 21

1 hour ago, NT80 said:

NIL didn't win or lose the game for either team. Our decision to go for 4th down from our own 36 yard line and not make it helped Memphis with an easy TD. Our going for another 4th down instead of a FG again was aiding Memphis. etc

Well if I follow the logic of this thread.....that's what we should expect from a $1.3 million per year coach. To get better decisions, we need another $1 million per year so we can afford a coach like Memphis has.

BillySee58 · October 21

23 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Uhhh it says $5 million per year. The gap may be larger than we think.

Oh man, you’re right. Misread that as a total over the 5 years.

TheColonyEagle · October 21

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

I know Adam at MeanGreenNation has pointed this out before, but our fanbase seems to be very conditional with how much support we are willing to give. Not being judgmental, but it’s just the truth. Every fanbase is like that to a degree but it feels more true with us than others.

Everyone is entitled to their own qualifiers and financial decisions, I just think we need to be honest with what our realistic expectations are going to be for our program as things currently are. I feel like there’s an opportunity being missed here at a crucial juncture in the college football landscape.

For context, that UTSA roster was put together pre NIL. If we are going to get ranked, it’s going to happen in a post NIL world.

Adam at MeanGreenNation is absolutely correct. I used to be an unconditional donor. Now I'm conditional.

People that give unconditionally....God bless you. I truly mean that.

As for me....conditional. I'll give when they give me a reason to give (such as win enough to gain national prominence like SO MANY other G5s have done.) The next time North Texas does that, will be the first. As for reasons to give: "do your duty for your alma mater" is not good enough anymore for me. If that's what they depend on to be successful, then we have the wrong people in charge.

That's just me.

If my lack of giving is what's holding the athletic department back and...I don't know......preventing the first 11 win season in the 100+ year history of the program then I don't know what to tell you. I guess NT will remain where it is.

I don't have expectations or demands for the program. I watch them play. Don't like it when we lose. Love it when we win. Would love for us to finally reach our potential.

NT80 · October 21

1 hour ago, TheColonyEagle said:

Well if I follow the logic of this thread.....that's what we should expect from a $1.3 million per year coach. To get better decisions, we need another $1 million per year so we can afford a coach like Memphis has.

A$M is paying a former head coach $78M not to coach. More $$ doesn't always = more competence.

ChiefTenBeers2015 · October 21

I can root for a championship and not pay any NIL. UNT already has my money. Exorbitant TV revenue deals with networks and conferences (and thereby schools) created this NIL mess, not me the fan. Why should I now pay to be able to cheer on my college?

MeanGreenFan94 · October 21

I do what I want. Go to every home game and travel as much as I can to away games that make sense for me. I am not contributing to NIL when there is no commitment from players to stay. 77 new players in a year? Why would anyone donate when there are no real rules to this new world? If I got a sense that my contribution would make an impact I would donate? I don’t think it changes anything for our teams with the way it is currently set up. So…I do what I want and complain when I want.

#firecaponi

BillySee58 · October 21

1 hour ago, TheColonyEagle said:

Adam at MeanGreenNation is absolutely correct. I used to be an unconditional donor. Now I'm conditional.

People that give unconditionally....God bless you. I truly mean that.

As for me....conditional. I'll give when they give me a reason to give (such as win enough to gain national prominence like SO MANY other G5s have done.) The next time North Texas does that, will be the first. As for reasons to give: "do your duty for your alma mater" is not good enough anymore for me. If that's what they depend on to be successful, then we have the wrong people in charge.

That's just me.

If my lack of giving is what's holding the athletic department back and...I don't know......preventing the first 11 win season in the 100+ year history of the program then I don't know what to tell you. I guess NT will remain where it is.

I don't have expectations or demands for the program. I watch them play. Don't like it when we lose. Love it when we win. Would love for us to finally reach our potential.

Seems like all very reasonable stances to me.

Big Z · October 21

A 100,000 dollars was given to the basketball team and we lose basically our starting 5 after one year...

Jonnyeagle · October 21

42 minutes ago, Big Z said:

A 100,000 dollars was given to the basketball team and we lose basically our starting 5 after one year...

There will always be richer programs than us. We also were able to bring in another class that was very good as well and I am sure NIL had a lot to do with that. I think our basketball program and the results speak for themselves.

Green Lantern · October 21

4 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

2. Why are we getting so wrapped up in why NIL is bad instead of recognizing it as an opportunity to help us get where we very clearly want to be?

3. Why do so many on here spend so much time bitching about our program(s) while knowing about 1 and 2 above and choosing not to help that matter?

Again, these aren’t meant to be rhetorical. There are good arguments on both sides.

First: I want to be clear from my original response to you, I include you in the Mean Green masochist fans that I salute and value. I think you’re a great fan.

To answer #2 for me: MGSF donations are philanthropic - at least to a significant degree. The idea of contributing scholarship money to kids going to college, many of those are first generation college students who are sacrificing to play football & other sports for our University, seems like a noble endeavor. I believe higher education changes lives.

NIL in this unregulated hellscape feels like a gun barrel to fan’s heads. Give or else you’ve screwed your program into irrelevance. The intent of Name Image and Likeness was quickly bastardized by the sports power broker programs into simply “pay for play” with ZERO regulations, structure, and transparency. It took the greasy underbelly of college sports and simply put it out there for all to see…and worse being guilted into participating in. It all just feels so transactional and grimy.

BillySee58 · October 22

1 hour ago, Green Lantern said:

First: I want to be clear from my original response to you, I include you in the Mean Green masochist fans that I salute and value. I think you’re a great fan.

To answer #2 for me: MGSF donations are philanthropic - at least to a significant degree. The idea of contributing scholarship money to kids going to college, many of those are first generation college students who are sacrificing to play football & other sports for our University, seems like a noble endeavor. I believe higher education changes lives.

NIL in this unregulated hellscape feels like a gun barrel to fan’s heads. Give or else you’ve screwed your program into irrelevance. The intent of Name Image and Likeness was quickly bastardized by the sports power broker programs into simply “pay for play” with ZERO regulations, structure, and transparency. It took the greasy underbelly of college sports and simply put it out there for all to see…and worse being guilted into participating in. It all just feels so transactional and grimy.

All sensible stuff here. Don’t disagree much if any, but to me I think the dollar figures that the players at are level are commanding make it less of all the bad stuff (transactional, grimy, etc.)

From everything I have heard, we’re talking about players at UNT getting mostly 4-5 figures in NIL, for the ones who actually are getting something. And players at schools with even less fan support mostly getting nothing or next to nothing in NIL. I get the qualms about transparency for sure, and any other qualms. Just feels like a low level of investment needed from the fans to actually seize the opportunity that NIL is presenting us with.

MeanGreenZen · October 22

19 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

The school we just lost to has guys making more in those positions.

The school we just lost to is underwritten by FedEx. Gonna take a LOT of “UNT average Joe’s” throwing in $100 “here and there” to compete with that.

With that being said, I do contribute a recurring monthly donation towards NIL.

Our NIL is not going to be enough to keep Chandler Morris or DT Sheffield from playing in the P4 next season, but it might be enough to find their replacements in the Sun Belt or CUSA.

BillySee58 · October 22

1 hour ago, MeanGreenZen said:

The school we just lost to is underwritten by FedEx. Gonna take a LOT of “UNT average Joe’s” throwing in $100 “here and there” to compete with that.

For sure.

1 hour ago, MeanGreenZen said:

With that being said, I do contribute a recurring monthly donation towards NIL.

Our NIL is not going to be enough to keep Chandler Morris or DT Sheffield from playing in the P4 next season, but it might be enough to find their replacements in the Sun Belt or CUSA.

Yup. That’s my point with crowd funding. Raising a few hundred thousand should be enough to keep starters who aren’t the top guys in the conference, and pluck some guys from D1 schools that don’t have a well put together NIL collective. It seems like we’re just talking about 4-5 figures being the market rate for a lot of these good non-QBs at the G5 level.

NT80 · October 22

2 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

For sure.

Yup. That’s my point with crowd funding. Raising a few hundred thousand should be enough to keep starters who aren’t the top guys in the conference, and pluck some guys from D1 schools that don’t have a well put together NIL collective. It seems like we’re just talking about 4-5 figures being the market rate for a lot of these good non-QBs at the G5 level.

That's all just a guess. Which is THE point. Nobody knows and nobody will say what players are getting, wanting, or offered. Maybe the Wizard of NIL knows...

I Am The Great And Powerful Oz GIFs | Tenor

TIgreen01 · October 22

On 10/21/2024 at 8:31 AM, Udomann said:

Without player contracts i won't be donating to player salaries. I contribute my share already.

Until it becomes a binding agreement and not an annual auction, I'll be staying away from NIL

This. Period.

TIgreen01 · October 22

On 10/21/2024 at 11:08 AM, 97and03 said:

About the only way I can see myself being a part of NIL would be through purchasing player branded merchandise, as NIL was meant to be. If I had a business I wanted to advertise, I would gladly sign a player to do it. But I don’t like the collectives, because they are non-transparent. We don’t have a clue what our own collectives are doing. I have no clue to which players that money goes or how that is decided.

I give to the scholarship fund because I know it goes to fund the player scholarships. If we don’t keep giving there, the university has to make up that money from somewhere. That likely means something else gets money taken away. And fans even give enough to fund all the needed scholarships as it it. Not even close.

This, too.

97and03 · October 22

On 10/21/2024 at 8:53 PM, jtm0097 said:

Maybe if we make a communism/trans rights fund or a Mean Green for Kamala fund we can get more UNT alumni to donate to it. Where in reality, all funds go to the NIL. Sounds legit right?

I hope this is a completely tongue in cheek post and you are just trying to make an innocent “woke” joke given the current political climate. If not, you are an asshole.
So which is it?

To @aztecskin’s point about SEC and other big program fans being all-in, I would comment that in return for that they expect immediate results. Those programs fire coordinators before the end of their first season and head coaches after a year. And the donors fund it. We can’t do that currently, so all we can do is vote with our wallets and feet. Hence the low donation numbers and attendance. If this university ever truly showed a full commitment to athletics, I would guess the money would follow. We have enough total alumni and more wealthy than we know that could do it. But 50 years of half-assed programs won’t convince anyone. Our current DC situation is further proof. That’s why you fire Craponi, not because you expect the defense to miraculously improve.

jtm0097 · October 22

1 hour ago, 97and03 said:

I hope this is a completely tongue in cheek post and you are just trying to make an innocent “woke” joke given the current political climate. If not, you are an asshole.
So which is it?

To @aztecskin’s

Of course it's a joke. I don't participate in the Eagles nest forum on this site.

Have you seen that episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where they try to make a quick buck by taking money from each political party? Same logic here but for the NIL fund to keep our players.

Now if this triggered you, yes I am an asshole, and you're overly sensitive.

untjim1995 · October 22

On 10/21/2024 at 5:09 PM, NT80 said:

A$M is paying a former head coach $78M not to coach. More $$ doesn't always = more competence.

It’s funny you bring this up. $78 million dollars to pay someone to never coach again at their school. Think of everyone that could have been helped by that amount of money, whether A&M students and faculty OR actual poor and needy people. Instead, Jimbo Fisher’s great grand kids are taken care of forever.

The portal is what drove me away from attending the sport or really watching it much anymore, but the NIL and that crap the Aggies—and others—are pulling with coaching buyouts just makes my decision easier.

I believe that paying players at this level without any kind of cap or restriction or contract is a timebomb. God bless you if you want to pay for it…not me.

Edited October 23 by untjim1995

BigWillie · October 23

On 10/21/2024 at 12:37 PM, TheColonyEagle said:

Yes, I get "don't bitch unless you're coming with a solution."

Even if we did have a solution, they wouldn't listen to us. It's all our opinion. I don't think Morris is coming on this forum for solutions.

On 10/21/2024 at 1:29 PM, Mean Green 93-98 said:

I would say that a fan who only watches on TV still has a right to complain-

This is the way. Whatever kind of fan you are, supporting the university in any way possible is what we need. Let's first worry about filling the stadium...

Many have said it, you do this by winning and I don't believe it only takes NIL for this, there are many examples of teams doing more with less.