An insider tidbit on where Michigan is headed with NIL money
And a tidbit follow up:
https://twitter.com/DFF_Blizzard/status/1479547458527113225
Apparently Michigan is all-in now, intending to rival the schools that have gone all-in already with NIL.
p.s. this may have already been posted. but I couldn't find it on the board.
January 8th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
The argument that Michigan fans have a ton of money and can compete with Texas, A&M, OSU, etc is interesting to me. Maybe these very wealthy individuals don’t want to sponsor high school seniors to sign with Michigan. I’m not a wealthy individual but if I was I cannot imagine wanting to drop millions each year to sign players. Maybe others do and great if that’s how they want to spend money but I’m sure a lot of fans aren’t invested enough to just empty bank accounts.
January 8th, 2022 at 10:38 AM ^
MIchigan cannot be on the bleeding edge of the NIL topic. Every time they have been there on other topics (satellite camps, etc.) they have gotten smacked down by public opinion and the NCAA like no other program would be. Now that precedent has been set by others I expect a lot more aggressive tactics.
January 8th, 2022 at 11:20 AM ^
As a season ticket holder for 52 years, I realize this is probably the way to end it. I am watching the love for the game melt away in front of my eyes on this very board. The COLLEGE game. Obviously it is moving to become a professional minor league. Whether Harbaugh goes or stays that will not change now. It's over. I will always be thankful for that hour after the end of the college game as I know it. GOne Blue.
January 8th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
The sport has been a big business for decades now. You apparently have not been paying attention all these years.
January 8th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
Seriously, anyone for whom NIL is changing how they view the sport has been lying to themselves. And beyond that the idea of college football they had never existed. The first years of college football involved players who weren’t students, yost was accused of playing games and cheating. The sport has never been pure COLLEGE whatever the fuck that means.
January 8th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
The book about the building of Michigan Stadium "The Big House" by Robert Soderstrom gives an interesting perspective on this.
It tracks the events in the 1920's leading up to the construction of Michigan Stadium, even though Ferry Field had just recently been expanded.
It walks through the seasons from 1922 to 1927, year by year in a very compelling "you are there" narrative. The success of Michigan football, and the rabid interest in it, quickly outgrew the recently expanded Ferry Field.
What you quickly realize is that Michigan was just as football obsessed then as it is today. Even then, college football was a big business having little to do with the academic mission of a university,
The "over-emphasis" on football at Michigan has been going on for 100+ years.
And . . . so what? Nothing bad actually ever came of it.
Michigan was an elite academic and research institution then, and it remains an elite academic and research institution now. Even after 100+ years of over the top football obsession.
Whatever corrupting influence big time college football was supposed to have on the university never happened.
January 8th, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
So a computer engineering student can design and sell a product but an athlete can’t do the same thing?
January 8th, 2022 at 12:41 PM ^
Well one less blue hair telling us “down in front”
January 8th, 2022 at 11:47 AM ^
Agree that we'll still not be there. Get ahead of bama and a&m. Don't catch up. LEADERS AND BEST. Not, follow behind meekly.
Isn't there a non sleazy way to get in the game?? Maybe encyclopedia Britannica can sponsor us???? Just think we can still do this in a smart way that brings the same high character kids that we like to cheer for
January 8th, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
Because you can drastically overpay under NIL, it does not matter who the sponsor is or what they actually do. They just need to be an effective conduit for large amounts of coordinated booster money,
You can pay a recruit a million dollars to wave at traffic for an afternoon wearing a t-shirt with his picture on it if you want to. It's insane, but true (and legal).
This is the loophole that is being exploited. It is not about a car dealer calculating how many additional customers he thinks he can get to show up on a Sunday because the local college's star wide receiver is making an appearance and signing autographs on his picture.
There does not have to be any financial return on investment at all. Just like there is not for boosters who pay via bag.
There is no prospect of a financial return on the $25 - $30 million Texas A&M boosters are spending on NIL. But that's not the point of it.
January 8th, 2022 at 5:31 PM ^
"You can pay a recruit a million dollars to wave at traffic for an afternoon wearing a t-shirt with his picture on it if you want to"
NIL is at its early stages. The point you make and other reasons is why the rules will have to tighten up. I see a day when NCAA rules will limit the marketing or cap NILs for players. It will need to happen.
January 8th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
Here is where the next bit of Wild West NIL craziness is going to go:
Scholarship limitations. They won't mean anything anymore.
Boosters are going to ne able to pay elite players to be walk-ons under the NIL umbrella. If their favorite team is at the full scholarship limit and they still need some key players, the ability to drastically overpay under NIL will allow boosters to essentially de-facto pay the scholarship. In addition to the NIL money they would normally pay.
The glamour teams will be able to stockpile talent beyond 85 scholarship players.
January 8th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
What you are saying makes total sense, but I think you are leaving out the reality that they still only allow 11 players on the field at once, 22 starting positions, and probably around 50 or so on the true 2deep that really play. So even if one team has 130 players with great Power 5 level ability, half of those guys still transfer elsewhere through the portal. Pre-portal this would have been a bigger concern. Still though, that can major tip the scales even more, as even more of the talent will still all funnel through the Bama’s and A&M’s before making its way to other schools. At that point, let’s beef up our ability to get great transfers. All of this is more reason why Michigan needs to get on board with being committed to competing with the best. Also, there needs to be some kind of regulatory way to level the playing field a bit (not at all getting my hopes up on this one)
January 8th, 2022 at 1:06 PM ^
So even if one team has 130 players with great Power 5 level ability, half of those guys still transfer elsewhere through the portal.
Correct… but let me ask you this: if you had to field a team of 22, would you rather be picking the best players out of 130 options? Or out of 85.
And do you care if the players that didn’t “make it” transfer?
This is the same logic that’ll make a Class 6A Texas football team always better than a Class 2A Texas football team. More players from which to choose = greater likelihood of having higher caliber players across the entire roster. Let the extra 40 players transfer.
January 8th, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
I spoke to a little birdy.
For those of you hoping for TAM like NIL...
Stop.
January 9th, 2022 at 2:54 AM ^
Didn't you say you were going to leave Michigan football?
Kindly do so Mr. Boomer, let the new generation take over
January 8th, 2022 at 1:49 PM ^
The sum of all fears.
Texas A&M made this beast explode onto the scene as fast as Guth's Inflation.
January 8th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
Jimbo: NIL deals were happening before, it's just legal now
Jimbo Fisher breaks down the changing landscape in college football with NIL deals and how that affects recruiting.
https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/32877709
January 8th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
Blah blah blah. I’ll believe it when I see it.
January 8th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Michigan found a way to give the football team study abroad trips costing millions of dollars but can’t figure out what Texas teams do in terms of NIL? I guess Michigan can toss out the slogan leaders and best and go with left behind and slightly above average.
January 8th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
The only thing Michigan fans bitch about more than the coach (many of whom I have admittedly bitched about) is the AD. As much as fans don’t understand coaching, I think they understand running an athletic department even less. Somethings, like messing up abuse allegations are well worth bitching about. The nebulous ideal of “full NIL commitment” is not one of those things.
January 8th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
Let's not forget what NIL stands for and means. The whole change to the rules was basically only to remove previous restrictions on allowing players to be compensated for allowing others to use their Name, Image, and Likeness. In theory, this should open up opportunities for players to be paid in exchange for doing a TV commercial, being featured in an NCAA video game, etc. I think the use of the NIL is a key component of the transaction, and payments to induce recruitment to a particular school is still against NCAA rules, at least on paper.
NIL compensation is apparently being used as a loophole to effectively remove all restrictions on payments to players. To me, the various progams used at certain schools go far beyond reasonable compensation for NIL. Specific examples include the TAMU $25M+ slush fund, MSU flat-rate payment to all football and basketball players, and others. Deals for specific players, like the Cade McNamara TB12 deal and Hunter Dickinson BDE merch shop, or position groups, like that BBQ restaurant that's paying the entire Wisconsin OL fall within the spirit of the NIL allowance. Checks just for showing up on campus and doing nothing else seem to be outside that box, at least to me.
I'm not against compensating players, at all. They should get as much of the total cash in the industry as possible - at the expense of coaches, administrators, and facilites, which have inflated recently because the money had to go somewhere. The system still sucks, and should be improved. NCAA rules that say a school cannot pay a player for committing, but leaves open an obvious workaround that involves an outside donor network, off-the-record coordination among the school, players, and boosters. It leads to dubious NIL compensation and still maintains inequality between schools that work within the system and those that push the boundaries.
My solution would be to dump nearly all rules and restrictions on what payments can be made. Let anyone with cash that is willing to give it to anybody else, for any reason. There will be issues with a complete deregulation, competitive balance being the biggest (most likely), but I find those problems to be preferable to the complexity of rules and problems with the current way things are.
January 8th, 2022 at 2:33 PM ^
A year ago, JH was put into a take-it-or-leave-it position and chose to swallow his pride and re-sign for half the price. I think he is intent on staying for life but wants to get a better deal on NIL - Schlissel is a short-timer so I think Warde and the Board of Regents will make the call - JH has time (a few more weeks) to push for a better deal. If UM is entrenched on not giving in, JH will have his choice of Raiders and Bears and maybe Dolphins. Those teams will need to interview at least two minority candidates, including at least one in person - so JH will likely be waiting a few weeks before getting a call. Someone will hire Bienemy from KC - he is more than ready - but da Bears and Raiders need a splash hire.
As far as I'm concerned, I support whatever decision JH makes. He delivered the goods this year - best year since at least 2003. I fully supported the short leash he was given after 2020 but would love to see him get rewarded with Mel Money after this year and stay for life, finishing behind only Bo for most UM wins. If he feels UM is acting prudish in this new era, then that is on UM, not JH.
Sooner or later, we will need to compete with TAMU and others for NIL - alumni aren't going to support 7-8 win seasons while maintaining our "tradition and honor" - sign up now or sign up later. But NIL isn't going anywhere but up.
January 8th, 2022 at 3:31 PM ^
The rich schools are all going to have their own fully developed and booster backed NIL program in the next 1-2 years. Schools like A&M were early and are going to benefit from it. Really wish Michigan got theirs together sooner so we could take advantage because in 2-3 years the competitive advantage won't be that much IMO. We could have stacked up a couple of monster recruiting classes and used it to grow the profile of the program so that we could keep it going once everyone else catches up.
Opportunity missed
January 8th, 2022 at 10:24 PM ^
We did not have the infrastructure in place from cheating all those years.
It's like the Russian Oligarchs that popped up immediately after the fall of Communism. They were just the existing bureaucrats already in place that were cheating the old system.
January 30th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
When will this be announced?
January 30th, 2022 at 10:28 AM ^
It seems like we are in an ideal position to really take advantage of NIL monies. More so than other schools.