I canceled my contribution to Spyre

#101
#101
volfan411 said:
I never have and never will contribute. If these kids want to make 2 million they need to get out and earn it by marketing their name, likeness and image. NIL was never meant to pay the players it was meant to all allow them to profit from their name and image.
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Thanks for saying this. I thought I was losing my mind with what I thought NIL is supposed to be. I have no issue with a kid being in a nike or Gatorade commercial or the local ford dealership. It’s these collectives handing out money is where we have a slippery slope.
 
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#102
#102
Delmar said:
That’s fine and you are probably right. Younger viewers and fans obviously don’t mind the mercenary aspect of all this and the changes. A lot of older fans are not as happy and I know a number who have already checked out. Put it this way. They aren’t spending the money on tickets and donations like they used to. I know I’m not. I still watch on TV but it’s not all consuming like it used to be. Grandkids and golf have overtaken it.
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A lot of us will be "checking out" to Orange and White flowers on our chests in a decade or less and the younger generation will be there.

We can talk about fans leaving or losing interest but UT fans showed up in Columbus in newsmaking numbers. That wasn't a cheap trip and a LOT of UT fans went.

I believe there's still a waiting list for season tickets and as we age and our hips and knees say no to Neyland, we see almost every other game someone here saying "I'm taking my kid to their first game in Neyland......"

I support Spyre, in part, because when UT Athletics was winning in previous years and I was in the stands loving it, I KNOW money was being passed to recruit and I never gave a dime toward that effort which helped us win. Now I can and I feel I should because I've stood on the backs of fat cats for years.
 
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#103
#103
ntxVOL said:
Can't do it anymore, what a sh*t show CFB has become. I can't in good conscience contribute anymore. That's all... flame a way.
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No flame here.

If you're not feeling good about it don't do it anymore.

At least you tried for a little while 🧡
 
#105
#105
NEO said:
It’s a double edged sword.

We don’t pay NIL we go back to Pruitt and jones type records.

We pay NIL we cheer on a bunch of paid mercenaries who don’t give a damn about UT.

There had to be a happy medium.

Find guys local who grew up in or near TN and build with the best of those.

We gotta stay out of Cali etc. We get burned every time it seems. Thinking of Toto.
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In state and regional talent alone would never win us a Natty. That said Casey Calusen, Tyler Bray, Von Pearson.. I could list more are from Cali. California puts out some of the best talent year in and year out.

California ranks third (and sometimes first) for the most players in the NFL.

This is a bad suggestion.

I would argue part of our problem is the inability to get good California players here. We need to not only put more into it but restructure our pipeline and connections so we have players coming here for the right reasons and not purely finance motivated.
 
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#107
#107
VawlIn said:
We’re a Graham Mertz gifted fumble and Jalen Milroe not forcing a bad throw to Ryan Williams in the endzone away from having Butch Jones record last year and there’s no telling how much money we spent on NIL
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.... and we were a Nico running out of bounds play from finishing the regular season at 11-1. He had an open receiver near the end zone against Arkansas.

That "we were __ away from ...." line of thinking can go both ways.

For all of the cry-baby whining and the attempts to be dismissive of Tennessee's 2024 season on here .... the fact are Tennessee did beat Alabama and Florida, they did make the CFP and they did finish the season ranked in the top 10.

Some of you sound like spoiled children.
 
#108
#108
BowlBrother85 said:
... or we may not. LOL.

2 of Heupel's 4 seasons ended with 10 victories. Neither Jones or Pruitt did that.
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I dont doubt for one second that JH is a much, much better coach than either of those 2 doofuses were. Thats not the point we are discsussing though and believe you are missing my point. I originally responded to the post that essentially said, if we don't pay up in regards to NIL we are not going to be able to assemble a roster that gives us a chance to compete for the playoffs ever year. If we do "pay up" then we bring in a bunch of entitled kids that don't care about the university and that's all they want is to get paid and then you have a situation like Nico. Like it or not that also puts us in a position to not be able to compete for the playoffs because you can't keep a roster together, at least enough key pieces. Until some kind of "guardrail" system gets put in place, what we have seen happen in the last week or 2 will continue to happen and it's going to make it hard to see consistent 10 win seasons.
 
#109
#109
BigOrangeFanatic said:
if we don't pay up in regards to NIL we are not going to be able to assemble a roster that gives us a chance to compete for the playoffs ever year. If we do "pay up" then we bring in a bunch of entitled kids that don't care about the university and that's all they want is to get paid
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Aren't most teams having to navigate through these same conditions though? I don't believe that this is unique to Tennessee.

As one example, Missouri paid out the nose for Williams Nwaneri, an in-state, top defensive lineman .... only to see him bolt for Nebraska after one season, without ever making much of an impact for them.

That's just how it is in the current climate of college athletics. It's a mess.
 
#110
#110
dalton_vol said:
Absolutely l agree, California has not been great for recruits staying with Tennessee besides the clausens
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Stallworth, Arian Foster, Bray and the vegan Cody Pope. And most recently Bru McCoy. Could be a generational lapse but many more in the 80’s/90’s helped establish the Decade of Dominance.
 
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#111
#111
ntxVOL said:
Can't do it anymore, what a sh*t show CFB has become. I can't in good conscience contribute anymore. That's all... flame a way.
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Always spend your money how you want. Either greed of the player wanting more or greed of the fan wanting more.
 
#112
#112
VawlIn said:
We’re a Graham Mertz gifted fumble and Jalen Milroe not forcing a bad throw to Ryan Williams in the endzone away from having Butch Jones record last year and there’s no telling how much money we spent on NIL
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Sorry we won.
 
#115
#115
VawlIn said:
We’re a Graham Mertz gifted fumble and Jalen Milroe not forcing a bad throw to Ryan Williams in the endzone away from having Butch Jones record last year and there’s no telling how much money we spent on NIL
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And we’re a silly roughing the punter penalty by a freshman in Fayetteville from playing for the SECCG last year and making the 2nd round (at least) of the CFP, either by virtue of a bye or getting to host round 1.

These “what if” games can go either way…for every team. Hell, Ohio State was one play going a different way against Nebraska from not even making the CFP.
 
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#116
#116
ntxVOL said:
Can't do it anymore, what a sh*t show CFB has become. I can't in good conscience contribute anymore. That's all... flame a way.
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You sir, are the singular reason that Tennessee Athletics will go down in flames in a matter of moments. First football, then all of the other sports. I suspect the color orange will be banned in the Senate. After a 90 day adjustment. Anyone wearing orange or shouting anything that sounds like or is “volunteers” will be decapitated on the spot. Shame, shame, shame!
 
#117
#117
I personally have no problem contributing. These kids brought in over $137M in 2022-2023. That's just the football program. And were hemming and hawing about spending $12M on he whole team when our competition is spending double that. Texas is spending $22M. We are the 8th highest NIL value, not in all of college football, but the entire SEC. If we were still doing East West divisions, we would still be in 3rd place. Are the negotiations ugly? yes. does knowing how the sausage is made bother you? don't watch the process. Just look at the results on the field and decide if the money is worth it.

It's pretty clear that the answer isn't pulling back. The answer is pouring on more steam. We need MORE money.
 
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#118
#118
volfan411 said:
I never have and never will contribute. If these kids want to make 2 million they need to get out and earn it by marketing their name, likeness and image. NIL was never meant to pay the players it was meant to all allow them to profit from their name and image.
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I’m in the same boat. I’m not donating to the school on one end AND supplementing individual players on the back end with another direct donation. I’ve got no problem supporting them indirectly with them getting a cut if I buy merchandise or support a company that sponsors them, but the collectives have to be reined in somehow.
 
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#119
#119
The answer to fix this is revenue sharing. The schools are getting rich off of the athletes, not the fans, yet we have been asked to pay them. If each school shared 50% of their revenue, it would make the nil dollars we are currently paying pocket change. These greedy universities are the problem. Google ut’s endowment.
 
#121
#121
Carp said:
I don't get the point for threads like this. Do you want us to talk you out of it? Or do you want an award?
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It’s a catharsis. Kind of like when you don’t get as many chicken nuggets as you asked for. You know there’s nothing anybody can do about it, but somehow it feels better if you tell the internet.
 
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#122
#122
once Tennessee loses 4 or 5 games this year there will be a whole lot of people who follow you. people aren't going to donate without continuos improvement in the results. NIL will get tight in this economy with a (relatively speaking) losing team.
 
#124
#124
Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va said:
I think most people can be convinced the players should be compensated fairly for yield efforts and making the product what it is, just like the NFL.

The problem is there is no contracts or guidelines in place to help regulate the market for that talent and keep it fair.

Nothing about the current system is fun. Tampering is rampant. Smaller teams are organ donors for the rich teams. Players blatantly extorting schools.

It’s pretty hard to support any of that.
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There are contracts and the courts have ruled on this "fair" regulation you seek.

When the players had been cut out for so long the response was always going to be huge once the door opened. It will likely be different in 5yrs once things stabilize

The real issue is unlimited transfers, not money. No one will pay a transfer to sit the bench for a year but they will buy an immediate starter
 
#125
#125
BowlBrother85 said:
Aren't most teams having to navigate through these same conditions though? I don't believe that this is unique to Tennessee.

As one example, Missouri paid out the nose for Williams Nwaneri, an in-state, top defensive lineman .... only to see him bolt for Nebraska after one season, without ever making much of an impact for them.

That's just how it is in the current climate of college athletics. It's a mess.
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Most teams will go through it too, but the upper echelon teams seem to navigate it better or have so far. I wouldn't put us in that category yet. I still don't think we're on par from a depth perspective as UGA, Bama, Ohio St. Etc. Those teams lose good players but they aren't losing their best players, and they still have plenty of them to replace and recycle. I just don't think we're there yet and that was evident with the OL last year in the OU game where we had to play multiple back ups for an extended period of time.
 
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