I don’t know. If you’re not giving to NIL and you complain about the quality of player (and therefore the play) we have on the field then you probably deserve people piling on you as much as you are piling on the play.
4 Likes
What size contribution to NIL buys you the right to complain?
This is true. Can’t have it both ways. Going forward, any P4 school without an adequate NIL program will spend a lot of time replacing their better players who move elsewhere to get paid.
1 Like
Not sure but it seems for many complainers, they give zero. So I guess it would be super easy to start there and not have to worry about any specific number.
I don’t contribute to NIL and I don’t complain about the overall product on the field. I do complain about boneheaded plays and decisions.
I simply compare UH football to my other entertainment options.
The KSU bought me in for another year.
3 Likes
There is nothing wrong with any of that but that is the difference between programs with a strong fanbase/strong NIL and a below average fanbase/below average NIL.
Again, while there is nothing wrong with anything you wrote, it is just the attitude of the below average fan. It is what it is.
1 Like
What do we have as a harcore fanbase? 15k maybe. That’s the point of this whole thing. We aren’t going to make any headway with a fan based NIL. Unless we all start tithing 10% to the NIL fund.
3 Likes
Okay, you guys are giving your answers. For most of you it is No.
Remember that when you keep insisting that if only our coaching was smarter or our players faster, bigger, and stronger, we could win the Big 12 in football.
If we don’t have a healthy NIL pipeline, we will not be consistently good. Not at this level. FCS? Sure. P4? Not a chance.
FWIW, the same sentiments are expressed over on GoCoogs.
2 Likes
So, it’s your belief that donating $10,000 year to Cougar Pride (and/or 46ers, 50/50, etc.) means that supporter deserves to be “piled on” because he didn’t give anything to the NIL fund?
We have precious few regular donors and CP members to start with. Compared to many other B12 programs, these donors carry a disproportionately heavy load. Now we have a subgroup of people who want to crap on those donors because they’re not ALSO paying players directly, as if that somehow would guarantee championships.
Fortunately, the people who matter realize this is a terrible approach and are working on NIL support from other sources. The needs filled by CP funds don’t go away simply because there’s NIL money out there.
I’m grateful for anyone who chooses to donate to our university or athletic programs. We need more of them. We don’t need any of them taking “friendly fire” from knuckleheads who don’t like how others choose to donate.
2 Likes
Me, too, which is why I said I get the reluctance of CP members (and other donors) to pay for a direct wealth transfer to players. Totally get it.
1 Like
Please don’t take it so hard.
Change is difficult for everyone, especially when it isn’t change for the better.
I am sorry my words made you feel poorly
I complain more about the coaching than I do the players performance. I wasn’t one of those who kept pushing for Ale to replace Chriss all season. I complained more about Barbay and his Tecmo Bowl playbook.
1 Like
Try again.
Unlimited free agency can not last. It is a ridiculous system that only benefits a few schools.
Why would I pay for an employee? I don’t pay for the actors at the alley or the performers at the Hobby. I pay a ticket price and it is up to the entity to make money.
This system is absolutely stupid.
Ok, I’m sorry what I wrote caused you to feel poorly.
Biggest problem with NIL is this entire thread.
Instead of talking about football, we are talking about this BULLSH!T……!!
Just think, this entire issue came about because of 1 court case for a player in a Calif school (big surprise) that was allowed to escalate to the federal court level. It should have stayed at the local level, but it involved a large company…… and look what happened.
2 Likes
UH fans are very cautious with their money.
We don’t want to make the same mistake like A&M did in 2022, I hear it all the time from my Aggie co-workers.
What probably needs to happen is some type of regulation. It is the Wild West right now. But me thinks regulation wont happen until the blue bloods like Bama, t.u., ND, etc start to get their recruits and players poached by smaller schools like say an SMU, or even a school like Vandy. Basically once they feel “threatened” then only will they raise hell about this NIL stuff and advocate for some type of regulation.
At the moment it feels sort of like a bubble.
In the big picture.
No need to stress NIL for UH long term.
There is great $ to be made in NIL and its Htown.
Whether a corporation or Strip Mall restaurant, etc.
Someone on commission will sign a % of Htown business for UH.
It will take time.
Perfect for this discussion.
Great Post.
I get this due to buying Sooner vs. UH hoops tix. Nice that the AD is out in front of this. The bolding is mine. Does OU not charge for sports passes? SMU has also been pleading for NIL to “keep the momentum going.” It’s challenging for private schools to rely on a relatively small (wealthy) donor base that may exhibit donor fatigue if the momentum slows.
++++++++++++++++
Dear Sooner Family –
As you are well aware, college athletics has been in the midst of vast transformation in the past several years, most of which has centered around the professionalization of football. In the spirit of our 130-year tradition of excellence in OU Athletics, we will continue to be at the forefront of these changes, remaining innovative, nimble, and ready to leverage the opportunity offered by both our entry into the SEC and the current collegiate athletics landscape. Now, more than ever, we are focused on how we can adapt to the current environment in ways that enable us to win at the highest level in all our programs. As we continue to evaluate and plan, I’d like to take this moment to inform you on where we are currently and how we plan to meet this moment to best position OU’s championship-caliber athletics programs for success.
Under the terms of the preliminary settlement for the House vs. NCAA class action lawsuit, we will be sharing revenue with many OU student-athletes. We are prepared to share the maximum allowable revenues with our athletes. Under the settlement, this means a baseline total of approximately $20.5 million in additional, annual costs for OU Athletics.
Notwithstanding these substantial new financial commitments to our student-athletes, OU Athletics remains steadfast in our commitment to all 21 of our sports and to proudly remain one of the few collegiate athletics programs that is economically self-sustaining, resulting in no student or public dollars contributing to the athletics enterprise. Our expectation, once the settlement is approved, is that we will be offering substantially more aid to our student-athletes because the proposed settlement would eliminate limits for athletics scholarships and instead set roster sizes for each sport. An additional impact of the settlement will be the contributions to funding the backpay financial damages required by the House settlement. I am confident we are ready to meet these challenges.
Our move to the SEC lands us in undoubtedly the most competitive conference in college athletics – a platform we have sought for all our student-athletes and programs to shine, and for our university to tell its story on a broader stage. Membership in the SEC also puts us in a much stronger financial position. Part of our financial planning will redeploy select resources to meet new demands, and we also will continue to invest in models that harness the force of Sooner Athletics to drive greater revenues and keep us on our fixed course of fielding winning programs. We are actively pursuing financial strategies to underwrite the increased expenses, aggressively exploring all new revenue-generation opportunities, and continuing to build on the generosity of our passionate donors, supporters, and fans.
The most successful major college athletics programs will be dynamic and innovative and draw from resources outside of those traditionally accessed in amateur athletics. To that end, we are engaging long-time OU friend and supporter, Randall Stephenson, to help counsel and guide our efforts. Randall, a proud OU alumnus, has proven the ability to navigate major industries through significant disruption, like college athletics faces now. He served as chairman and CEO of AT&T from 2007-2020 and led the Fortune Five company through tectonic changes in multiple sectors. He also led and oversaw many new approaches to sports programming, media rights, and sponsorships. Under his leadership, AT&T and its subsidiaries, working with its media partners, changed how America engaged with many of the world’s premier sports brands, including pioneering programming such as the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV, the NFL Red Zone, NBA on TNT, MLB Playoffs, and NCAA March Madness on Turner networks. With Randall’s direction, AT&T executed sponsorships of some of America’s most iconic events, venues, and athletes, including The College Football Playoff, AT&T Stadium, Jordan Spieth, and Tiger Woods.
In addition to his time at AT&T, Randall brings much knowledge in sports policy and business, having served on the policy board for the PGA Tour from 2012-2023 during a time of considerable change surrounding men’s professional golf, where he focused significantly on the operational challenges of the tour and helped make significant professional, complex executive decisions. He also served as the 37th President of the Boy Scouts of America from 2016-2018.
Randall, who has refused compensation, will serve as Executive Advisor to the President and the Athletics Director, working closely with President Harroz, Coach Venables, the athletics department, and me. He will help guide us into restructuring our budget for this new world of college sports and into developing a football structure with elements similar to professional sports teams. This includes building out a more expansive General Manager function and developing a dynamic model that will allow OU Football to become a national gold-standard around talent acquisition, portal management, and player development. College athletics remains unique, but adaptations that draw upon the professional model are necessary to compete at the highest level. As part of Randall’s work, he also will make recommendations for funding player compensation and offer insights into pioneering governance models and athletics structures that will set up OU Athletics for success far into the future.
If finalized this spring, the House settlement will not solve the complexities of the current open transfer portal system or other open legal questions related to college athletics. For now, these are challenges that still require solving. However, we are constantly mindful of our role as stewards of a significant and distinct piece of the Oklahoman and American culture of college athletics. Change is constant, and we will always rise to meet new challenges so that we sustain our championship excellence. We are steadfast in our dedication to our student-athletes, our commitment to providing them with a life-changing first-class education, our promise to maintain the tradition of exciting and competitive athletics found at OU, and our role in molding young adults into amazing human beings who proudly take us with them in their new ventures.
Thank you, as always, for your support of our programs and student-athletes. We could not do what we do without your continued investment in us. You help us create Sooner Magic every day.
Boomer!
Joe Castiglione
2 Likes