Vols Players form Own NIL Club

#26
#26
Ha: This is ridiculous. Players forming a club aimed at soliciting cash from fans. Gee, I could have sworn that the fans supported the team by buying tickets to the game--and, now, through merch purchases. College football getting crass and absurd. Somebody remind the players and the activists who claim that athletes are "exploited" that a free college education plus all the rest of the perks/benefits of being a P5 revenue-sport athlete are valued a WAY more than $200K. Most college students are heavily in debt.

If people want to contribute dollars to this then what’s the problem? Players work their asses off and bring in millions of dollars to the university. What’s the big deal if they set themselves up to make money by people VOLUNTEERING to spend their money this way?
 
#28
#28
Let’s be honest here, a lot of these players aren’t in college for the academics. Several will never use a degree even if they get one. Some players during the course of their careers will be injured possibly an injury that follows them for life. Everyone and I mean everyone associated with big time college football is getting paid well, why shouldn’t player enjoy some of that money?

How many college students are out in the heat putting their life and limbs on the line while other make money off of them?

Nearly all of the money that UT gets from football ticket sales and TV contracts is reinvested in the program, in facilities and in all of UT athletics--it of course pays for all the non-revenue sports and a host of other things. They're getting a free college education--that is a freakin' big deal--plus free housing, food, coaching, medical care, counseling. In return for that they play football--just as others play tennis, basketball, baseball, etc. Are we supposed to lament the fact that kids are not smart enough to take advantage of the educational opportunity that's been given to them? That's their problem. Indeed, getting a degree is very important to these scholarship players because 95 percent of them will not play pro football and without a college degree they will have trouble finding a good job.

That said, it is unfortunate that college football has been so deeply corrupted and commercialized. I do agree that when you go from playing 10 games to 15 or more games--when you keeping expanding schedules and adding playoff games, you are putting a burden on the kids. I never used to agree much with academics who publicly spoke out against the corruption in college sports--namely, football and basketball--but of course they've always been right--and it's gotten steadily worse over the years. I have to laugh at how ESPN is trying to turn SEC Media Days into a thing--something akin to the college version of the NFL draft, which has also gotten comically stupid. Realignment, megaconferences--it's all gotten embarrassingly out of control. No administrators, college presidents have the guts to say, "enough"--we're not continuing down this road. But it's always about the money
 
#29
#29
Players union... Negotiating power for TV $$$. NFL Jr. Will also benefit lesser known players. New World...
 
#30
#30
Don’t people go to college to be able to make money? Why are athletes any different? NIL has taken some of the power away from the coach when it comes to allocation of funds. Now everything is in the open mostly, it’s all just been hidden behind the curtain until now except for the “scandals” where institutions were stupid enough to get caught, which is mostly boosters which probably graduated from said institution. Quality is ducation I guess. Also, why should the coaches and ad’s get Adair’s money and not the players that have to actually make plays?
 
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#31
#31
If you haven't joined Spyre (and even if you did but can still add), you should join this club. Benefits are super cool for even just $5 per month. If you do at least $25 per month you get a Hendon Hooker jersey.

 
#33
#33
Ha: This is ridiculous. Players forming a club aimed at soliciting cash from fans. Gee, I could have sworn that the fans supported the team by buying tickets to the game--and, now, through merch purchases. College football getting crass and absurd. Somebody remind the players and the activists who claim that athletes are "exploited" that a free college education plus all the rest of the perks/benefits of being a P5 revenue-sport athlete are valued a WAY more than $200K. Most college students are heavily in debt.
This point of view may have made sense back when college football wasn’t a multi-billion dollar a year industry, but as it stands… this argument doesn’t.
 
#36
#36
OK - I appreciate the effort and thought that the players put into this but here's where my brain goes --- we now will be paying to interact with the players? So where is the name, or image, or likeness coming from? If they want to have a shirt or something printed with all their names on it, I'll buy one or five. If they want to make and sell bobbleheads of each, I'll buy - the proceeds can then go to the 80 or so players that signed on to this... That's name, image or likeness...

...but this doesn't seem to fit the intent of NIL and even if it does, I'm a bit bothered by it.
Yes. . . what are the players actually doing to earn the NIL $? Events, commercials, merchandise?
 
#37
#37
Ha: This is ridiculous. Players forming a club aimed at soliciting cash from fans. Gee, I could have sworn that the fans supported the team by buying tickets to the game--and, now, through merch purchases. College football getting crass and absurd. Somebody remind the players and the activists who claim that athletes are "exploited" that a free college education plus all the rest of the perks/benefits of being a P5 revenue-sport athlete are valued a WAY more than $200K. Most college students are heavily in debt.
Lol smh.

These players are compensated, in total, at a rate of maybe 1:1 to 2:1 to merely their head coach 🥸

In a freer market, the nfl, the ratio is 25-30x.

So yeah, they are very, very undercompensated and anyone with knowledge of finance or accounting can tell.

Would you like to make 5% of your current salary because someone deems you an amateur (yet not your boss) and tries to limit how much you can make? Then laughs at your calls of exploitation making a mere fraction of what you do now?

Fwiw I'd say the universities and the billion dollar tv revenue model should be fairly compensating first and foremost. But, regardless, any and all human beings should be free to earn their own side incomes, especially as it regards their own identity and the value of such.
 
#38
#38
OK - I appreciate the effort and thought that the players put into this but here's where my brain goes --- we now will be paying to interact with the players? So where is the name, or image, or likeness coming from? If they want to have a shirt or something printed with all their names on it, I'll buy one or five. If they want to make and sell bobbleheads of each, I'll buy - the proceeds can then go to the 80 or so players that signed on to this... That's name, image or likeness...

...but this doesn't seem to fit the intent of NIL and even if it does, I'm a bit bothered by it.
Bothered...how?

No one has to contribute to Spyre. One can keep giving towards $800k weights again. Or $300mm to a stadium. Like we've done the last 15 years. Yay for more fancy capital assets. It's up to you.
 
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#39
#39
@WillAtSpyre, what is Spyres feelings about this?

I won’t speak for the company, but personally I’m good with anything that pays our guys.

But I’m always going to be biased that I think we provide the best bang for your buck for fans wanting to get involved with NIL. I’m always going to bet on our team at Spyre to continue to evolve and provide the best experiences for our athletes and fans. I don’t know enough about the experiences this company has provided at the other schools they’re involved with.
 
#40
#40
Between this collective and all the Spyre marketing that's crept onto the boards, this whole "college sports" thing is turning into a real circus.
 
#42
#42
I know nothing of this stuff and I get farther behind everyday......which is fine with me.Disney_com _ The official home for all things Disney.gif
 
#43
#43
Lol smh.

These players are compensated, in total, at a rate of maybe 1:1 to 2:1 to merely their head coach 🥸

In a freer market, the nfl, the ratio is 25-30x.

So yeah, they are very, very undercompensated and anyone with knowledge of finance or accounting can tell.

Would you like to make 5% of your current salary because someone deems you an amateur (yet not your boss) and tries to limit how much you can make? Then laughs at your calls of exploitation making a mere fraction of what you do now?

Fwiw I'd say the universities and the billion dollar tv revenue model should be fairly compensating first and foremost. But, regardless, any and all human beings should be free to earn their own side incomes, especially as it regards their own identity and the value of such.

For starters, coaches like teachers and administrative staff are paid positions; forget the coaching salary side issue. Students are the people who pay to go to the school and learn; that education in turn is what makes the students employable. The students who play sports at a school are still students - not paid employees ... except everybody seems to forget the tuition, room and board, cost of attendance, tutoring, and all the other stuff they are provided if on scholarship - stuff that no other mere student would even come close to receiving. For some of us, we did receive compensation for jobs performed such as graduate assistantships; but by and large most students pay to go to school and aren't compensated regardless of any income the school as an institution receives from student activity. There's no reason that a student athlete should be treated differently.

As far as NIL, remember this really all started with electronic games using player likeness. There were basically two ways to go with that. Either compensate the player, or not attempt to benefit from a player's ability and popularity to sell products. The second would have been better; the first simply makes the issue of commercialism and amateur athletics into a bigger monster.

According to periodic information, most schools regardless of income from their athletic programs lose money on athletics. There is a lot of overhead in maintaining athletic facilities and managing facilities during events - think about the percentage of time that Neyland is empty space with no real purpose vs the few days per year that games are held there. The lawn still has to be mowed, watered, maintained - same with the stadium. It's been a while since I was a UT student, but at least then the stadium did have dorm rooms - not the better facilities that athletes had, though. You have to quit looking at income and look at profit - real profit after all expenses are paid for facilities and student athlete expenses.

Of course students should be allowed to work on the side. I did, and I had the GI Bill for another job that didn't pay very well - and could be somewhat hazardous to your health. Student athletes can always make the decision whether to play sports or work on the side if the two are incompatible - it's a choice. Perhaps we should all recognize the fact that the NFL and other professional sports are the problem; they should have their own farm leagues or whatever and stop preying on college sports as feeders. In lieu of that then we simply need to recognize that hard work as a student may lead to a very lucrative career as a professional athlete. How is that different from the many monetarily uncompensated hours that professionals like doctors, engineers, and others spend in college to qualify them for a career after college? Education in the classroom, in the lab, or on a field is an investment that hopefully leads to future reward.
 
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#44
#44
This seems fascinating, wonder how it changes the NIL landscape?
Tennessee Vols Players Announce Player-Led NIL Club
Doesn’t Spyre already have a tier system for memberships where there are player obligations they have to meet and you get access to as a member for that particular tier? Thought I saw that. Seems like they overlap each other if I remember correctly but can’t find it now to confirm.
 
#45
#45
This is a grass roots effort by the players themselves. And they're sharing the funds equally.

It's almost like they just made themselves into a co-op. Making sure even the 3rd string walk-on offensive guard most no one ever heard of gets a little bit.

Spyre can keep hitting the mountaintops while this effort fills in the valleys a little bit. I can even envisage the big-$$ Spyre contract dudes joining this club but forgoing their share of the funds, so the guys without a Spyre contract get a little more.

Sounds great to me.

Go Vols!

Or they just cut Spyre out. I don’t think their plan is to share the money some have already gotten, but a way to get more money and then share that.
 
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#46
#46
Don’t people go to college to be able to make money? Why are athletes any different? NIL has taken some of the power away from the coach when it comes to allocation of funds. Now everything is in the open mostly, it’s all just been hidden behind the curtain until now except for the “scandals” where institutions were stupid enough to get caught, which is mostly boosters which probably graduated from said institution. Quality is ducation I guess. Also, why should the coaches and ad’s get Adair’s money and not the players that have to actually make plays?

In a corporation the CEOs always have and always will make more than the workers. It’s capitalism at its finest. And think about it, let’s take Nico’s supposed $8 million dollar deal. So by the time he is what, 21, he will have made over $8 million for simply playing a game.
 
#47
#47
Doesn’t Spyre already have a tier system for memberships where there are player obligations they have to meet and you get access to as a member for that particular tier? Thought I saw that. Seems like they overlap each other if I remember correctly but can’t find it now to confirm.
But a player’s club means that the money only goes to players. If a person transfers out and is no longer a player, they give up their cut.
 
#48
#48
In a corporation the CEOs always have and always will make more than the workers. It’s capitalism at its finest. And think about it, let’s take Nico’s supposed $8 million dollar deal. So by the time he is what, 21, he will have made over $8 million for simply playing a game.
“tHeY’rE geTtINg PAid tO pLay a GaMe” if that’s your mentality you’ve clearly never trained seriously for anything in your life. It is a full time job and their labor generates millions of dollars a year.
 
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#49
#49
“tHeY’rE geTtINg PAid tO pLay a GaMe” if that’s your mentality you’ve clearly never trained seriously for anything in your life. It is a full time job and their labor generates millions of dollars a year.
I understand your thoughts ..But we aren't their employer..Why do they always run to fans to pay their way?
 
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#50
#50
“tHeY’rE geTtINg PAid tO pLay a GaMe” if that’s your mentality you’ve clearly never trained seriously for anything in your life. It is a full time job and their labor generates millions of dollars a year.

It’s a game. I get they train a ton. But at the end of the day it’s still a game. And the players are never going to make as much as coaches at the college level and nor should they. Like I said, it’s a corporation structure. The workers always make less.
 

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