Do Supporters of UF Have Enough Money for UF to Compete in the Transfer Portal?

Apparently 3 straight seasons of .500 football with losses to the likes of Vandy and Kentucky don't loosen the purse strings. It's been discussed here that some boosters aren't happy with the coach/on-field results and are withholding their support until things change on the field, or in the coaches box.

 

There are many major problems now with the NIL world but from a fan who donates, the lack of transparency is frustrating.

We don’t know how much $ any collective (UF, Georgia, etc) collects monthly -( I get they don’t have to disclose and why would competing collectives do so? Doesn’t make it any less frustrating). Or how it is distributed nor to whom.

why does this matter? Well, if I knew that Bama, FSU, Georgia and UF had the same total NIL contributions monthly / annually and yet Bama and other schools spent it all while UF sat on money and spent less, then as a fan I’d be mad at the UF collective for not paying market rates/competing for the best players. then I would think my contribution doesn’t matter so why bother?

Now, if the info on collectives were public and fans could see that Bama, FSU, Georgia, etc had larger collectives /money collected it could motivate me to give more so we could compete with others in the NIl market. But I don’t really know.

Just because a teams coach or booster says we need more NIL money to compete doesn’t make it the truth. Saban preached he needed NIL money when he already had #1 classes and had thousands of under the table $ flying around. People tell tall tales to raise money in every industry/business/etc. quite difficult to believe them. but if numbers were published/transparent and shared…different story.


I think more would donate if they truly KNEW it would make a difference. Right now..who knows?

 

I just love people that complain about what other people choose to do with their money. Taxes….I won’t go there

I personally think the younger alumni base and student body are just different from the older generation of fans and alumni. Football isn’t as big of a deal. I don’t think UF will ever hurt for money and will always be decent in all sports, but I don’t think it can compete with those single state power houses. UF has a lot to compete with in its own state. 2 other programs with championship history, a plethora of professional teams and a population that is coming from other regions of the country. Many of the programs stealing UF’s lunch money don’t have that problem.

However, I will say winning does help open up the wallet. BN needs to do that soon.


In an effort to be transparent. My business donates 250 a month to the collective. I am no longer a season ticket holder because I live in the NE. I have 1 son that plays college soccer and another that plays for an academy team. My weekends in the fall are usually full. I have a daughter getting ready to go to college and two others that will follow. That $$ spent is more important. My wife and I will be happy to give more when we are empty nesters. However, when I see kids leave to go to rivals it does leave a little bit of a bad taste, so I don’t have a problem with the big money guys maybe preferring their big bucks go to different things. Just my take.

 

It appeared to me that in the OP, Silver King was simply asking the question is what Shane and others are saying true. I’ve heard different — that we have a strong NIL fund, but are not throwing it around like some of the other programs

 

This

 

How many recall the Tampa Bay Bucs under the ownership of Hugh Culverhouse? I see a number of parallels with the way Hugh Culverhouse ran the Buccaneers from a financial standpoint and the way the those with financial oversight authority of Florida Gator Football conduct the financial deelings of the Gator football program. There was never any incentive from a financial standpoint, for Hugh Culverhouse to spend money on player contracts or for player acquisition via free agency, because Mr. Culverhouse's Buccaneers were a porfit making football team regardless of the number of wins and losses the Buccaneers accumulated. Nothing about the operating mindset changed until the franchise was sold to the Glazers.

With the Florida Gators I do believe in reading between the lines, that the Gator collectives while not directly operated by the Gator athletic association, were not properly prepared to operate in NIL enviroment initially. I believe however reading between the lines, adjustments are being made so that the Gator collectives operate in a more fullent manner moving forward.

The thing that may disappoint some however, is that I dont believe ultimately there is a mindset within the athlectic department to establish a dynasty type football program like we see at Alabama or UGA. My perception is that the mindset currently in place is to have a successful yet structured run football program. Napier fit that calling in as far as "The process", he's however fallen short in particularly this past season in running a successful program. I believe that's why were seeing the type of changes were seeing with the coaching staff as well as from a adminiistrative standpoint within the fotball program. I believe those with oversight authority,feel that the program is acquirring suffiicent talent to be succesful.....Napier this past season was unable to put a successful product on the football field, that had to be a concern.....thus the changes we've seen tae place to correct that! He however continues to check all the boxes with sticking with the process they also envision!

The 12 team playoff format opens the door for more opportunity to compete for a potential championship, recruiting at the present levels Napier has recruited at the last 3 classes. It does however require Napier coaching and achieving better results, as well as putting a better produuct on the field. Bottom line I just dont see Florida football ever playing it free and loose from a financial standpoint when it comes to player acquisition......The trick for these folks is staying within their structured financial way of doing business and fielding a winning product....(with the potential ocassional championship maybe mixed in). Unless things turn into a complete cluster next season, I see Napier here all of next season as well as the season after, as long as some measure of improvement is seen with the on the field product along the way.

 

You now have a $20 vote in a hundred million dollar matter.

 

Complaining on internet forums is unlikely to create a positive change. If you want something changed, go make changes. Get directly involved in the decision making process. It will take more effort, time, and money than most are willing to dedicate. People have been crying about the way the administration runs things since the beginning of time. People will complain constantly about the way you would run it too.

If you want UF to have a transparent collective, create one. That’s not going to force all the other collectives to be transparent though. All NIL money doesn’t funnel through a collective either, so having transparent collectives still isn’t going to give you all the info you desire. Huge sums of money move outside of the collectives.

You have to do what’s right for you. I think it’s obvious that more people donating more money is going to add more to the budget. The money raised has to be spent in a sustainable way, but it doesn’t do much good to just sit on it like some people think we’re doing. People harp on things like, “coach says we’re not getting into bidding wars”, but if an individual stepped up and got the deal done to land a top recruit, I have a hard time believing we’re pulling scholarships. If you personally stepped up, beat Auburn’s offer to Waller and got him back in the fold at UF, you believe UF would not send him an LOI? I don’t. The coach may use his influence over the collective to direct funds in a more frugal manner, but if someone working outside of that framework is getting deals done on their own, I have a hard time believing they’d be turned away, unless they’re doing something illegal.

Fundraisers fundraise. There is no magic number, they’ll always need/want more. Even if you had transparency, these numbers change daily, and you’ll constantly be one upped.

Unfortunately, there are also hundreds of other variables at play in landing top prospects. For some kids/families, it may be all, or at least mostly, about the money. For some it may be winning. For some it may be coaching. For some it may be depth charts and their path to the field. The list goes on and on. You’re never going to have complete control or complete transparency over all the variables. Win games, have a good coaching staff, have a well managed roster, and boatloads of cash available for NIL and you’re likely going to be competitive. Most of that is easier said than done.

 

You don’t even get a vote. You gave your vote to the guy you gave your $20 to.

 

Well, congrats on your son getting into an academy. Annapolis?

 

Lol. He wishes. No it's a soccer academy. He’s 15. Our oldest plays D1

 

Well, I guess he can dream...

 

I’m not worried about it.

 

Yes

 

Except we haven't lost 3 straight

 

Fans have the power though collectively as we are the money.

 

You know better than that. Even collectively, the majority of us mean little. The top few guys move more money than all the rest of us combined. Those guys in combination with the heads of the athletic dept, and university are the ones who make decisions and they care little about what the rest of us think. If you want to be a real part of the process, you either need to be moving tons of money or get yourself placed in the room by working your way into that position. The guys pulling the strings can see the same things we do, plus a whole lot more. They don’t really care what we cry about. They already have all that info.

It’s the way everything in this country works. The guys at the top have the control. The crybabies may get someone cancelled occasionally, but the system doesn’t change. If you want to affect change, you get yourself elected, or in this case appointed. Or you buy your way there. Unfortunately, by the time you’ve done what you needed to do to get there, you’ve likely been corrupted and are now just a part of the process you thought you hated. Annnnnnnnnd, nothing really changes.