Spyre Questions

[VOLfrombama]

Let me know if Spyre answers them. But I suspect you want to see more than their answers. Just an answer to a question is no guarantee that is how operationally they work.

Be surprised if legal allows them to actually show details.

I sent Will an email last night. We will definitely find out if they are willing to shed any light into it.

 

[VOLfrombama]

It wasn’t a guess though. Information is out there if you want to find it.

Please point me in the right direction. I am more than happy to admit I can't find anything other than general info.

 

[VOLfrombama]

Let me know if Spyre answers them. But I suspect you want to see more than their answers. Just an answer to a question is no guarantee that is how operationally they work.

Be surprised if legal allows them to actually show details.

He responded with an enormous amount of details. I am waiting on his consent to share it here and if he is ok with that, I will copy and paste.

 

[VOLfrombama]

Let me know if Spyre answers them.

From Will:

We provide a lot of resources to student athletes that are signed to event series contracts to help them with money management, from Financial advisors to tax consultants, at no charge to the student athlete just because there are fans in those industries that want to help the student athletes.

We do have behavioral clauses in our contracts. At the end of the day, these are marketing agreements based on their ability to help the Volunteer Club continue to grow and gain new members. If they do something on Friday night at 2 am that doesn’t represent the Tennessee/Spyre Sports/Volunteer Club brands in the way that they should be, there is a chance their deal could be terminated. One of the many good things about NIL is that players seem to understand that they have to stay out of trouble.

The money is guaranteed as long as the athletes can fulfill the obligations of their contracts. Again these are marketing contracts, so just because a player might get injured doesn’t mean he can’t help our company and be valuable to the fan. Think Inky Johnson, he got hurt but fans would have still loved to interact with him after his injury so having him at our events would have been great for our business.

Each contract is unique to the player. They are designed based on several factors (social following, buzz around the player (i.e VolNation, VolQuest, GoVols247), how they have performed thus far or are expected to perform (obviously the best players are the most popular, etc) These contracts are very similar to the hundreds I’ve done for influencers in the past with my previous jobs running marketing for major companies.

There are no performance clauses because that would violate one of the basically two rules the NCAA has placed on NIL. (No pay for play and no inducements)

The athletes are paid out monthly. This allows them to learn to create budget and also goes to help control some of those concerns you mentioned about getting into trouble with too much money. All our deals are run through OpenDorse. This is a place that keeps all their tax information in one place while also automatically disclosing their deals to the university per NCAA rules.

 

[LWSVOL]

From Will:

We provide a lot of resources to student athletes that are signed to event series contracts to help them with money management, from Financial advisors to tax consultants, at no charge to the student athlete just because there are fans in those industries that want to help the student athletes.

We do have behavioral clauses in our contracts. At the end of the day, these are marketing agreements based on their ability to help the Volunteer Club continue to grow and gain new members. If they do something on Friday night at 2 am that doesn’t represent the Tennessee/Spyre Sports/Volunteer Club brands in the way that they should be, there is a chance their deal could be terminated. One of the many good things about NIL is that players seem to understand that they have to stay out of trouble.

The money is guaranteed as long as the athletes can fulfill the obligations of their contracts. Again these are marketing contracts, so just because a player might get injured doesn’t mean he can’t help our company and be valuable to the fan. Think Inky Johnson, he got hurt but fans would have still loved to interact with him after his injury so having him at our events would have been great for our business.

Each contract is unique to the player. They are designed based on several factors (social following, buzz around the player (i.e VolNation, VolQuest, GoVols247), how they have performed thus far or are expected to perform (obviously the best players are the most popular, etc) These contracts are very similar to the hundreds I’ve done for influencers in the past with my previous jobs running marketing for major companies.

There are no performance clauses because that would violate one of the basically two rules the NCAA has placed on NIL. (No pay for play and no inducements)

The athletes are paid out monthly. This allows them to learn to create budget and also goes to help control some of those concerns you mentioned about getting into trouble with too much money. All our deals are run through OpenDorse. This is a place that keeps all their tax information in one place while also automatically disclosing their deals to the university per NCAA rules.

Thank you. seems well organized.

 

[VOLfrombama]

Thank you. seems well organized.

I agree. I like that Will (et, al) seems to have a lot of previous experience doing similar things so they aren't reinventing the wheel.

 

[CagleMtnVol]

 

[VolGee4]

Please point me in the right direction. I am more than happy to admit I can't find anything other than general info.

About their books? No. But what the previous poster stated was not a guess…just part of my point. They have info on their site. A member also gets some merchandise at a $25/month level, so even if you aren’t sure about what goes to the athletes, you do get a return. You get an autograph per quarter at the $100 level.

 

[VOLfrombama]

About their books? No. But what the previous poster stated was not a guess…just part of my point. They have info on their site. A member also gets some merchandise at a $25/month level, so even if you aren’t sure about what goes to the athletes, you do get a return. You get an autograph per quarter at the $100 level.

see my post above for a great summary straight from Spyre of almost all the questions I asked. Thanks for pointing out the basics, but I was looking for more than just what you get from being a member.

 

[Raebo]

From Will:

We provide a lot of resources to student athletes that are signed to event series contracts to help them with money management, from Financial advisors to tax consultants, at no charge to the student athlete just because there are fans in those industries that want to help the student athletes.

We do have behavioral clauses in our contracts. At the end of the day, these are marketing agreements based on their ability to help the Volunteer Club continue to grow and gain new members. If they do something on Friday night at 2 am that doesn’t represent the Tennessee/Spyre Sports/Volunteer Club brands in the way that they should be, there is a chance their deal could be terminated. One of the many good things about NIL is that players seem to understand that they have to stay out of trouble.

The money is guaranteed as long as the athletes can fulfill the obligations of their contracts. Again these are marketing contracts, so just because a player might get injured doesn’t mean he can’t help our company and be valuable to the fan. Think Inky Johnson, he got hurt but fans would have still loved to interact with him after his injury so having him at our events would have been great for our business.

Each contract is unique to the player. They are designed based on several factors (social following, buzz around the player (i.e VolNation, VolQuest, GoVols247), how they have performed thus far or are expected to perform (obviously the best players are the most popular, etc) These contracts are very similar to the hundreds I’ve done for influencers in the past with my previous jobs running marketing for major companies.

There are no performance clauses because that would violate one of the basically two rules the NCAA has placed on NIL. (No pay for play and no inducements)

The athletes are paid out monthly. This allows them to learn to create budget and also goes to help control some of those concerns you mentioned about getting into trouble with too much money. All our deals are run through OpenDorse. This is a place that keeps all their tax information in one place while also automatically disclosing their deals to the university per NCAA rules.

Sounds like it is exactly what you where wanting in the organization. So are you donating a dollar?

 

[VOLfrombama]

Sounds like it is exactly what you where wanting in the organization. So are you donating a dollar?

 

[Cpatter4]

the thing about donations to the Tennessee Fund, a persons actual dollars could be going to the scholarship fund for the Tennis team. Could be funding a minor sport. No way to know specifically where your dollar goes.

That is true giving to Spyre also. Could go to a cheerleader.

It absolutely could but I’m not just a Tennessee football fan. I’m a Tennessee fan. So I would like all sports associated with the University to be great. I trust Spyre to spend the money where it is needed to be most impactful. However, in order to do that they have to have the money. Some fans resist giving Spyre $5 a month but will waste much more than that a week.

You have to have the recruits in order to get the results we all crave. And yes you can develop and overachieve with “high potential” recruits but I remember several years ago there was a statistic that revealed no team has won a national championship when their roster had more 3 stars than 4 & 5 stars combined. Now I know we’ve had some amazing 3 star players so this is not an attempt to put down any former or current Tennessee player. I’m just restating the facts of the study. Give Spyre a chance. Donate until they give you a good reason not to.

 

[Cpatter4]

LWS is right.

If you go to church, you put some money in the offering plate. You ask the preacher or priest how much they and each of their staff are making beforehand?

If you donate to St Jude's, you ask how much each doctor, nurse and administrator makes before you do?

We all give to causes. Some charitable, some hobbies (like football), some professional. The average person probably contributes to a half dozen causes each year. And that's before we even get into all the other services and goods you pay for.

Do you really ask all those people how much they're making before you contribute? How often they get paid? How the money is disbursed?

I get it, that you want your contribution to be used effectively, and efficiently, and even wisely. Makes sense.

So you'll be very pleased to hear this: at 90% throughput to the athletes, Spyre is already at the top end of that general kind of organization (75% to 85% is the usual, and widely accepted legitimate range).*

That should be all you need to know; getting into the salaries of each member of the staff is a bit overboard.

Go Vols!




* An organization called Charity Watch, which grades charities on how efficient they are with donations, sets 75% as the gold standard. Any charity that is able to push 75% or more of the funding it receives through to the targeted beneficiaries is considered "highly efficient." Spyre is not a charity, but its business model kind of works in the same way, and so the comparison seems apt. Charity Rating Process.

Very good points JP

 

[LWSVOL]

It absolutely could but I’m not just a Tennessee football fan. I’m a Tennessee fan. So I would like all sports associated with the University to be great. I trust Spyre to spend the money where it is needed to be most impactful. However, in order to do that they have to have the money. Some fans resist giving Spyre $5 a month but will waste much more than that a week.

You have to have the recruits in order to get the results we all crave. And yes you can develop and overachieve with “high potential” recruits but I remember several years ago there was a statistic that revealed no team has won a national championship when their roster had more 3 stars than 4 & 5 stars combined. Now I know we’ve had some amazing 3 star players so this is not an attempt to put down any former or current Tennessee player. I’m just restating the facts of the study. Give Spyre a chance. Donate until they give you a good reason not to.

after 45 years of donating, I've retired. There are plenty of good Vol fans like yourself that need to carry that banner now. I've more than done my share..