Exactly. I was just reusing the OP's bullet points while also highlighting later in the post (and another thread) that our angst with NIL should be redirected at the 5.9 million fans (6th largest fan base in America) and 4th richest overall endowment ($760M). Somehow UF needs to tap into that while being aligned to the coach recruiting priorities. For example, look at the fiasco between Hugh Hathcock and Jaden Rashada. Imagine if Hathcock kept throwing $10M at players that maybe the coaching staff did not want, or perhaps would not want a donor spending that kind of cash on. NIL is detached from the schools by rule, but there should be synchronization with the coaches. We can see this is happening at Auburn and Ole Miss. They do not have more money per se than Florida, but they have better alignment of NIL and recruiting.
You have some info I don’t regarding Hathcock and Rashada. I’ve yet to see anything other than wild speculation on this topic. Our fanbase and big money is more reserved. It is what it is. I think, since the laws were revised, our athletic dept is working closer with the collective. I think the money isn’t there. What money is there, is not going to be used in bidding wars. Auburn and Ole Miss fans want to win at all costs and put their money where their mouth is. UF fans aren’t doing that.
It is all wild speculation because nobody has come forth and acknowledged what happened. Here is an open article from NY Post that cites a paywall article from The Athletic: Controversy over Florida QB recruit Jaden Rashada's $13 million NIL deal
The only speculation is Hathcock's role. We should be evaluating all the Hatchcocks of the Gator Nation to make sure Florida Victorious does not repeat the mistakes of Gator Collective and Gator Guard. There are plenty of report quoting Eddie Rojas and others that they learned from the Rashada incident (Gators launch 'Florida Victorious' to revamp, streamline NIL following Jaden Rashada saga | FOX Sports). This time around they have insider input from Anthony Richardson, Danny Wuerrfel, Trey Burton, Laura Rutledge, and Patric Young.
It’s only on paper. You can do like we always done, we pretend just like we’ve pretended that’s athletes are amateurs
I still see nothing backing up the 13-14 million dollar claim, just more speculation. I still have seen nothing definitive about what fell through in the deal, or which side baulked. . Just speculation. Supposedly some of these “sports writers” have copies of the contract. Where’s some direct quotes from it? Where’s some direct quotes from anyone? If there was a signed contract and one side reneged, why have you seen no litigation over it? If someone signed a contract to me worth 13million bucks, then backed out of it, you can bet your ass we’d be talking about it in court. There was also a bunch of speculation that the attorney handling the deal placed a big commission in the final contract that neither side agreed to, and neither side was willing to eat. It’s all speculative, and not worth talking about, yet people keep bringing it up and talking about whichever speculative story strengthens their narrative like it’s fact.
Some yes some no. I do know a few that won't let their kids play football. They direct them to other sports.
The other point I will make is that the NCAA is a flawed and feckless institution that plays favorites in college sports. But one point you made that I do like, and one point I do agree with you on is that we need to fix the NIL and the portal. That is one thing we can both agree on.
This is the only thing that actually matters in this philosophical debate. The only answers are contracts directly with the school/athletic association or a collective bargaining agreement involving a major shift in the structure of the NCAA. Want to limit transfers, non-compete clauses. Want a pay structure, CBA.
The money is going to the myriad of other sports programs that operate at a loss. Seems like the inevitable conclusion is going to be the unfortunate destruction of many of those sports programs.
I would like to actually have transparency and see the amount of money fans are giving to their respective school's NIL programs and how it is being divided up and spent. The UAA is talking about spending $200 million on stadium upgrades. Why can't some of that money be diverted to NIL? Is there a law that prevents that? Some of us either don't have the individual resources to help pay for college athletes who are already on scholarship. Others of us just have different priorities. However, historically the University of Florida Athletic Dept. has been one of the few to annually show a profit and the income generated by the UAA is Top 10 every year. I just won't believe, unless the numbers are shown to prove it, that UF can't compete with other big time programs in the NIL realm. My belief is that our AD and UAA people are not yet willing to get on board with allocating enough resources in that direction to compete, while other schools' leadership have made the commitment. But to add to all that, I've come to believe that our current head coach is in over his head and things are wrong inside the program that are causing starters to leave, elite portal players deciding not to come here and long term HS commitments to change their minds about signing. That is my honest opinion, to which I'm entitled, whether I write a check or not.
So which other schools are going to sign onto this because it seems all the schools that think they should be winning in football whether there is NIL and the transfer portal or not are doing just fine. We’re the only fans belly aching.
Non Profits have to produce some type of financial report. As far as the stadium money. It would be better spent on the stadium and those donations were made for the stadium, redirecting would piss off the donors that made them.
The school can’t contribute to NIL. Laws prevent that, yes. The money used for the stadium upgrades comes from a different coffer. Some of that money is definitely from donations, which otherwise could be spent on NIL. Some of it is from tv revenue, ticket sales, licensing, etc, and no, that money cannot be used for NIL. You’d have to talk to the folks who are giving their money away about why they’d prefer to fund a stadium upgrade rather than give money to some kid. Maybe they’re already doing both. My belief is that other teams fanbases have stepped up to the plate with regards to NIL, while ours prefers to point fingers.
SEC paid $50M/school in tv rights this year. That ignores gate/licensing revenue , and most importantly alumni donations. Should go to $100M/year soon. https://footballscoop.com/news/data-firm-projects-sec-100-million-revenue-end-of-decade UF has paid coaches 10s of millions not to coach, and ADs millions for bad hires. Minor sports will lose revenue- but that is capitalism. You and I can lament football players not subsidizing volleyball, but that is not capitalism. You can blame players all you want but this multibillion dollar gravy train hasn’t paid the players until the last 2 years. The billions have gone to coaches, star, athletic dept., ncaa and minor sports. Players are just joining the trough.
Unfortunately, the reports that non-profits produce are ludicrously obtuse for many reasons. Many are small organizations doing good that cannot pay for accounting. Others are huge entities benefiting wealthy operators who dare the IRS to challenge their non-profit status. Think the Harvard endowment of $50B or mega-churches with private jets. A gutted IRS with the politics of left and right institutions? No, the requirement for non-profits to file anything is not a deterrent.
The only real solution is for fans to loose interest and for viewership and $$$ to decline. If the ever growing financial pie starts and continues to shrink these problems will be solved quickly. If the viewership & $$$ continue to grow you will get more of the same IMHO.
