Here's how we can thank Blake!:

I donated also.. i saw that a few guys donated $45.23 and it took me a minute to figure it out... what a dumbass i am!!   --- lol

go blue!

Nice. I donated the MOON game amount, but I wish I could donate the 45.23 instead

Where do you see the live total? I'd love to track it over the next few days.

EDIT: You can see it in the donate link. Up to $69k now.

Really? Thank goodness most don’t think that way

Personally I find it much more compelling to compensate guys with (a) proven contributions to the team, and (b) demonstrated pro options that come back, over shelling out money to recruits looking for the highest bidder (as many schools are doing) so this seems much better to me.

Except it is a new slush fund that boosters used to pay recruits and it's legal now.  You're correct that the point of the NIL was to allow players to profit from their name, image and likeness but for good or bad, that's changed.  The SEC teams in particular are using these funds to buy recruits and make no aplogies in doing so.  We're taking a slightly different approach and seem to prioritizing our funds towards existing players, not recruits.

If it makes you feel more comfortable giving you can rest assured no cheeseburgers will be purchased and the monies will go straight to Blake.  Because if i've learned anything these past few days it's $180,000 recruiting trips to Texas are A-OK in the NCAA's eyes but two unreported cheeesburgers in Ann Arbor need to have someone punished and punished severely.

You know what else is direct, CTE. Pay the men. 

KSmooth,

you have a point. But it won’t help Michigan win anything.  The more M fans that feel like you articulated, the more the program is held back as fans at other schools clearly don’t agree. 
 

At the very least there is still an avenue for fans who feel like you do. Go to the MDen. Buy the jersey/t shirt/card/autographed piece of any player and then you are truly supporting their NIL as intended. That will help M show recruits more lucrative options. 

And? Who's the victim here?

I'm not negging you for this comment, but your standard of what's appropriate seems a bit outdated at this point.  Yes, this is bag money, plain and simple.  But it's legitimate and within the rules as per the University itself.  If we're not contributing to sanctioned collectives like this one, our boys aren't going to stay at Michigan.

My only concern in all of this is the sources of these funds are for the most part zero-sum, meaning, what a donor puts into a collective is going to mean reduced funding to the department or the UM general fund.

That is, with the exception of a donor like me who's never given the UM a nickel -- I always figured the massive endowment was enough that my pittance of charitable giving could stretch further elsewhere.  But now, with the opportunity to pitch in to a collective, I'm happy to do it.

You are paying him for his name image and likeness to suit up in a Michigan uniform one more season. Im confused? You are having him represent your football team for up to and god willing 15 football games. "That is too direct" is the strangest thing I may have ever heard. You want slush fund hands getting in there? A few more made up admin positions to make sure the fan/alumni money gets back to a zero balance by years end? John Malcovich from Rounders put it best-

"Pay that man his money"

I'm not at all opposed to it on principle. But whenever I'm considering donating money I think about the charities I probably ought to spend it on...

When it comes to "true market value" (i.e., the system defining everyone's income, at least in the democratic west), the directness or indirectness of the payment is irrelevant. Utterly so.

Your and my incomes are the same way, it's just that our booster slush funds are likely limited to "holiday checks from parents and parents-in-law."

I'd rather donate to players than to the athletic department or ticket master. 

I think a certain MSU player or two are going to be funding GG directly...

You must be stopped! 
 

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a post is a good guy with a neg. 

I think we can get a lot higher than 100k but who knows. These guys are going to make more money then just this. This is just something extra, I assume they will have other "oppertunities"

The big money doesn't come from individual fans.  It's the mega donors at Michigan and other universities that pay the big dollars.  This is surely not Blake's only compensation.  I believe he told someone last year he was making 6 figures.

I do think funds like this may mean more to the players.  I would think that a bunch of random people I'd never met donating their money as thanks for the contribution I made to the Michigan football team would mean more than money from a wealthy donor.  

Good point, but if I could raise $10,000 for a teammate who was unlikely to pull that in otherwise, that'd be a big deal to me too. 

Then donate $51.45

If you ordered it from the MDen, then yes...